In The Demon's Head: Story Art; Your Middle, Your LIfeline

In The Demon's Head #57: Story Art; Treat Your Middle: Your Lifeline

September 5, 2012

Hello everyone and welcome to edition number 57 of In The Demon's Head, today we continue our journey into Story Art by discussing why the middle of any piece of writing is your lifeline. In case you've missed it we've already talked about the beginning of pieces, and how to generate ideas, so I figured in logical order we'd talk about the middle.

Now to clarify I recently read part of a book called the portable MFA in Creative Writing. It's a book featured on Writer's Digest.com and I would suggest picking up a copy because so far it's made me look at things a lot differently and one of those things is the middle of your story, not for how important it is, but how it's built so let's start there.

I was reading this book and they talked about how your beginning raises the question and how you end your beginning and merge into the middle. First off, the middle is usually built of three pieces where a beginning, middle, and end of the middle. The middle merges into the end and of course the end is your story conclusion.

Now onto the answer for the question I posed in the title, Your Middle; Your lifeline. The question is, is that a true statement with the answer being a resounding yes.

Why do I call your middle the lifeline? Because the middle serves as the lifeblood of your work, if it becomes boring your reader will skip right to the end of the book to find out the answers they seek, or worse they'll just stop reading period, then your repeat reader is lost and worse they'll pass the information along to their friends.

But just what makes the middle good? Three things, great writing, conflict, and something that ties the beginning to the end, and of course it has to be interesting. A reader wants to be attached to a story that carries them through the ups and downs and makes the characters 3 dimensional and fun to follow.

There are other elements that goes into the middle but if you can write a compelling middle to your story and help develop your character into something special then you'll have no problem writing a great book that many people want to read.

That's going to do it for me for this edition of “In The Demon's Head” I will be back on Friday with the final post about how to write a good ending. If you have any questions about any of the post please don't hesitate to ask by writing me an email here. Until the next time that you want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the Demon's Head I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to surface.

In The Demon's Head: Story Art- In The Beginning

In The Demon's Head #56: Story Art- To Begin at the Beginning

August 31, 2012

Hello everyone and welcome to the weekend, I hope the rain hasn't splattered down on you like it did us here today, then again if you were like we were then the rain is never a bad thing. I hope that this post finds you doing well and also that your about to enjoy your labor day weekend. Hard to believe that 2012 is already 2/3 of the way over.

Today's post isn't your typical Friday post, Today actually is the continuation of the blogging series “Story Art” last Tuesday I talked about how I got ideas and before we begin with today's post I'd like to expand on that a bit.

In case your wondering there are 4 things that you can do to improve your idea generator, and while I had heard these before I didn't think to include them so I thought no better place then here. The four things you can do are, 1. People Watch- This may seem a bit creepy to some people, hell it does to me but there's no better way to improve your ability to not only generate ideas but you can get a better idea of how to improve your dialog writing. 2. Travel- Now I know this may be hard for some people but if money is an issue then that's fine just go to your local park, go wherever you don't go often so you can get a breath of fresh air into your life, you never know when the next great idea may be sitting on a bench next to you. 3. Talk to people- Now you can do this on social media websites but in reality it's better if you do it in person. Either way you do it, just ask questions, about a persons life, about the way they think, about everything they've seen and done, an idea could be right around the corner that way. 4. Read- I know this goes without saying but the more you read the better your writing is, and you never know if you may find an idea for your next poem or short story written in the headlines or in a book from someone else, it all depends but your next idea can be found in the words of others.

Now that I've finally covered that base let's move onto today's subject, this one is kinda touch for some people because they're all different but I'm gonna give you my take on it and from there you can think how you want, today's topic is where to begin a piece.

Writing for some come naturally, for others they work, and it's that work that some people find appealing but one thing that naturalist and workaholics share is where to being their pieces. You've seen every type of opening if you've read constantly. You've either seen the really bad non-attention getting headlines, or you've seen the amazing openings that sucked you in but why did they chose that event to start with?

I think it really depends on 2 things, the first is the style of the writer in question. I love to start with a kick to the gut every time that it's possible. If I can immediately ask a question that you want an answer to then your gonna want to keep reading to find that answer and that's the beauty of a captivating opening. Now that's not taking away from the openings that aren't so direct those openings also serve great purposes but I think it's really more toward what the author in question wants. 2. It all depends on the story in question as well, I think the story's depth should determine if it has a hard opening or a gradual one.

That still begs the question how do you chose an opening scene?

The answer to this is very simple, begin at the beginning. What this means is wherever you believe the beginning of the story is that's where you start. If you think the story should start Post car crash then by all means start it post car crash. If you feel the story should start right before the crash then start it there. However, choose the opening wisely because should you start to far into the heat of the story then there's a lot of backstory and questions that you'll have to answer then deliver a twist and turn leading to the climax, on the flip side, should you choose to start too far back of the event then your going to be going through a long and drawn out process leading to the final resolution and conflict and in that middle unless it's beautifully told then your going to lose a lot of readers.

A safe bet when it comes to choosing a beginning is to choose the middle ground between these two. You don't want to start to far back and give yourself too much ground to cover but don't start so far ahead that you have to stretch your mind to take it up and up and up only hoping that resolution and climax were worth the climb. You'll also want to avoid these two extremes if your just starting out, though that's a harder ground to crack. Trust your judgment and find a few readers who are willing to review your work for you. It's always a great idea to have a support group especially in a situation like this.

That's gonna close out this week ending edition of “In The Demon's Head” I'll be back on Tuesday with a segment on the middle of your stories and finally Friday we'll be covering the endings and then the following Tuesday we'll talk about how to wrap it all together. Remember, you can find out more about me and the stuff I write at my website, on there as well are the social media channels that I use, as well a more. You can also subscribe to this blog by putting your email address in the upper right hand box and have In The Demon's Head delivered to you hot off the presses.

Until the next time you want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the demon's head, I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.

In The Demon's Head: Story Art: Getting Ideas

In The Demon's Head #55: Story Art: Getting Ideas

August 28, 2012

Hello everyone I hope everything is well for you this Tuesday, I'm very excited to be bringing you this edition of “In The Demon's Head” as it is a continuation of our new blogging series “Story Art” I did an intro this past Friday and today I'd like to start with our first conversation, Getting Ideas.

This is a topic that some people feel they should never share any light on, I'm not sure why but I've heard that. On the flip side there are also people who share a lot of information on this topic and none of it seems all that important. I hope that I can share some of my experience with you without boring you or you thinking that it wasn't worth reading.

First, I'd like to make something clear, while it's not this way for everyone for a lot of people the best ideas seem like they come from nowhere. It doesn't make any sense but they will be walking along and boom an idea hits them that leaves them unable to think about anything else.

I'll share a story with you, there's a story in “More Than Memories” called the “7^th Circle Railway” the idea came to me while I was riding along with Liz and we passed a railroad track that I had never seen before. I grabbed my phone and wrote a note down so I wouldn't forget it. Like that I had an idea for a short story.

Poetry tends to be a little different for me, ideas for them seem to come a bit harder. I think that those things come while writing. You start with a barebones idea and it evolves as you write. Now again these aren't things that are customary to every person but for me this is how it works.

Now how do you defer a good idea from a bad idea? First, before you say that you've never had a bad idea, this may be true for you however, you need to decide which stories you should tell. That's a hard thing to do when you just want to keep writing everything that comes into your head. This was something that I read in Stephen King's “On Writing” Not every story is yours to tell, so how do you decide which ones are yours?

You sleep on it.

What I mean is that if you come up with an idea that won't go away go to sleep. If you can sleep and wake up and the idea is still there then it's an idea that you should keep ahold of. Now if the idea won't go away then write it down somewhere, I keep everything in a journal, write it down then in a few weeks read the idea again or if you remember it think it over, if it still offers you the same amount of excitement that it did the day it was born then you have something you should write. If it doesn't make you excited then it's something that needs pitched because if your not excited to tell that story then it will come through in your writing and become one of those things that you should never have put out for the eyes of man in the first place.

For some people, ideas are hard to come by, for others it seems like the ideas do nothing but come to them time and time again. Those people may never use the ideas that they found, I've met a couple people like that, then there are people who would kill just for one or two ideas. In reality it's all about execution. You have to be willing to write the ideas that you have.

That closes out my Getting section of “Story Art” hopefully I didn't bore you. I'll be back Friday talking about where to begin a story. Until the next time you want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the demon's head I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.

In The Demon's Head: Why Patience Is A Virtue

In The Demon's Head #53: Why Patience is a Virtue

August 21, 2012

Hello everyone how are you this afternoon. I'm coming to you once again from the couch in my living room and highly enjoying the weather and this day off from my real job so I thought what a better way to spend some time today then to talk to you all of my readers about different things.

Before we launch into the full on of today's edition, I'd like to take a moment and tell you about the new free writing for August for your reading pleasure. “Mind of Madness” a short piece that will be complete with some artwork from Tom, my neighborhood art designer. I'll have that piece up later this afternoon.

Either way I'll move into the meat of this edition, I'd like to explain why patience is a virtue as it comes to your writing. There are a number of ways that I could explain this but it's mainly coming down to the final process, because let's face it writing doesn't require patience.

Now when I say that I don't mean that the writing process itself doesn't take patience, I'm not talking about formulating and plotting ideas because I understand that does take some patience and time, what I mean is when you sit down to write you don't want to take time to think, you write, write and write some more. Write until your fingers go numb and you forget why you started writing in the first place. What I'm referring to is everything after that.

Your editing is the first stop. I know a lot of people believe that you can just jump right into editing a book or story as soon as it's finished but this couldn't be further from the truth. The reason they say let everything sink away for a while before you begin editing is because they want you to take a moment to let everything disappear. This allows you to approach the piece with a fresh set of eyes that you wouldn't have had otherwise.

Another aspect, especially in today's world of self-publishing dominance is publishing before your ready. I made this mistake a few years ago and attempted to publish my first short story on Amazon with no real knowledge of what I was doing and without editing it first. This made the story not only bad, but it was bad and people knew it so it never sold a copy, on top of that I wasn't confident with it which made things worse. What I'm getting at here is that you never want to rush into the publishing aspect of things, should you tend to do that you will end up putting something up that isn't your best work and everyone will realize that.

Another thing where patience is a needed tool is in platform building. Now I understand that everyone wants to sell their books and understandably so, I do as well, but you can't do it without a platform. This was another mistake I made, I didn't have an established platform at all and it showed. The message for my story didn't get outside of the small circle of people that I knew and that lead to no one buying the story.

What I'm getting at here is that there are ways to go about things when it comes to your writing. But sit down, pace yourself, and slow down, you never want to rush into anything, it could cost you a lot more then you realize in the long run. You always want your best stuff out there and available and the only way that's going to happen is if you allow yourself the patience to give it your best shot. 

Have you ran into any problems where patience has cost you, or a situation where it's helped you improve your writing? I'd love for you to share that in the comments section below.  

That does it for this edition of “In The Demon's Head” I'd like to remind you that you can connect with me on all aspects of Social Media as well as have the blog directly emailed to you by signing up for the mailing list and receiving my free “Promotional Techniques” E-Book here or by signing up with your email address above. You can send me questions via email and I'll be sure to get back to you.

There won't be a general update this week as I'm starting a “Story Art” blogging series talking about how to formulate and put together a story and that starts Friday and will continue through next week. Until the next time you want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the demon's head, I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.

In The Demon's Head #49/50: Special Duel Edition

In The Demon's Head #49: How Stereotype Can Limit Your Writing

August 10, 2012

This is the first of a duel edition of “In The Demon's Head” I was a bit behind when it came to writing this blog. I had personal things that prevented this post on Tuesday so I thought that maybe I would just add both post together and give you a two for the price of one scenario. We'll start first with How Stereotypes can limit your writing.

Recently I've been reading a lot of blog post and books about how writer's think, how self-publishing authors continue to have problems with getting their name out there, as well as a number of other things that I've read about in the last few months, and now I feel like I should share some thoughts on the situation.

One post I read was on a blog that I found through a circle that I belong to on Google Plus and was by a man named Dean Weasly. If for some reason he reads this and takes some words to heart or doesn't that's fine. First and foremost, I think he's someone who has a lot to offer writers of all experience levels however, his post that I read recently rubbed me in all the wrong ways, mainly because he used a lot of generalizations and stereotypes of writers that I was far from pleased over.

The two post were about how self published authors shoot themselves in the foot and kill their sales. While a few of the tips I read made sense there were a couple that seemed like out there cases where someone might find themselves on the horrible end of a good situation. One of those cases was that Indie Covers don't work or that Photoshopped Covers weren't that great. However, I want to step in and say that I don't think that's particularly true. I've seen quite a few covers designed by amateurs and self publishers that looked fantastic.

The one point on this that he made that was true is that you can't have just random slop thrown together and expect it to attract attention. My very first E-Book I attempted to publish was “The Text Message” and among other things that I should have done (like editing) the cover that I designed for this book was complete shit. It was a very poorly thought out idea that went absolutely nowhere and attracted no one in the slightest.

Another thing that he said was that you should have a brand new pen name for each Genre of writing that you do. I highly disagree with this, now yeah I know you could argue with me that I have no clue because let's face it what have I done, (and I expect that) but let's face the facts here. Authors don't have to have new pen names for each genre, I've seen quite a few Authors successfully jump genre to genre using the same pen name. 

 

Now I'm not writing this post to smash another writer. Far from it in fact. As I said earlier in this post I really believe that Dean has a lot of insight to offer writers and I will likely continue reading his post from this point forward, BUT I wrote this to say that writers who might be new to the game and read these post could see themselves in the group that would or does make mistakes.

I know that when I was first starting out had people criticized my every move I would have likely given up writing and never learned the joys of this great craft like I have in the last decade. So I wanted to say to anyone who may be reading criticism that way, learn from it but never expect to make those mistakes because if you learn from the mistakes of others you won't have to worry about making those same mistakes in your career.

In The Demon's Head #50: 6 Months and Counting

August 10, 2012

Well this is the second post in the Double Header that I promised you. This is the normal Friday general writing update but I thought I'd take a chance to celebrate with this edition of “In The Demon's Head” I'm on edition #50 and I'm celebrating 6 months with this blog and you my readers. I know this isn't the worlds greatest accomplishment but I'm very proud of myself for having made it this far and look forward to going so much further this this over the next few years.

The last six months have been a roller coaster and I have a lot planned heading into next Febuary which will mark the 1 year anniversary. Including 2 series about platforming and story art, in case you missed it I have the entire Promotional Techniques as a free E-book on my website.

As far as the update goes for this week, I'm very happy to announce that I have finally sat down and planned out a 10-story arc. What this means is that I'm looking toward writing a Short Story Series. I don't know the name of it or any of the stories yet but I have a general story arc for the entire series which I'm very excited about beginning to write here soon.

Also, I'd like to say that there are updates to the website. I'm taking down the tout page because trying to keep up with the videos as well as other things was just a lot of work that right now I couldn't do. However, on the flip side I will be putting up a specific “More Than Memories” page that will showcase the artwork and current table of contents for the book, this is by no means final but we're taking the steps to get there. Also, any news concerning “More Than Memories” will be posted there.

I'm very excited about the process moving forward. I can't wait to share the completed product with you. I'm aiming for “More Than Memories” to hit shelves sometime in late October. With the first edition of this new short story collection to follow in December. But there will be more on that later.

That will conclude my Duel edition of “In The Demon's Head” I'll be hard at work over the next few weeks to get everything in order and start writing the next project. In the meantime you can follow me on all aspects of social media by going to my website and clicking the meet me on social media page. Also you can receive a free copy of “Promotional Techniques” by signing up with your email address. There's also a section above to provide your email address and get “In The Demon's Head” sent to you directly. As well as a donate button should you feel generous.

Until the next time that you want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the demon's head, I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.

In The Demon's Head: Brand New Rummage

This is the Cover for The Promotional Techniques E-Book

In The Demon's Head #48: Brand New Rummage

August 3, 2012

Hello everyone how is everyone this Friday Afternoon? Today's issue comes to you live from my living room. It's been a very long week for me, I actually started my first physically demanding full time job in over a year. I've only done a couple days of orientation so far but I'll be back at it Monday and will be working pretty much every day through August.

I digress, we're not here to talk about the real jobs that I've got, I'm here to talk about the writing that I've been up too and that's a subject that I'm more then happy to share with everyone. Let's start with some progress.

Everyone whose been reading these post for the last few months have heard a lot about “More Than Memories” I'd like to give you another update here today. I have enlisted the great picture efforts of Mr. Thomas Bente. Without a doubt one of the best photoshop experts that's never hasn't hit the big time yet. I have very VERY HIGH hopes and I know he'll do a great job.

Also on the E-book front, and this really applies more to my writing friends more then my Reading fans, there's a new E-Book available written by yours truly, entitled “Promotional Techniques” it's a 16 page book that is centered completely around promoting yourself and your work. The E-Book is free of charge all you need to do is go to my website and on the bottom of the page, you'll see a place to enter your email address, once you do that you'll get a free copy of “Promotional Techniques” so be sure to check it out there. Just click the link above and it will take you to the homepage.

I figure I should tell you the concept behind the new email for the download form is so I can build an email list of people over the next few months. These people will be entitled to special freebies that not everyone will get, you'll get free stories a couple of weeks before anyone else, as well as some other free things that I haven't thought up yet so I'll say again visit the website and check out the bottom of the page and sign up today.

If the “Promotional Techniques” isn't up your alley that's fine, just sign up and don't download the free book, you'll be on the list and therefore entitled to all the benefits that come with it. Just something to think about.

Finally on the “More Than Memories” front once more. I'm attempting to finish up the editing process for the whole book, I've been falling behind lately due to a number of factors the biggest of which is myself. But I do intend to have a lot more of it done by this weekend and hopefully we'll be able to have it COMPLETELY finished by this time next week.

As always you can subscribe to the blog by dropping your email in the address bar above. You can also donate in the box in the upper left hand size of the blog page. I'll be back next Tuesday and Friday. As always, I would love your suggestions for future blog topics. Until you want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the demon's head, I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.

In The Demon's Head: Which Social Media is a Bigger Help?

In The Demon's Head #47: Which Social Media Is a Bigger Help?

July 31, 2012

Hello everyone and welcome to what is the beginning of the end of Summer. It's been a real great few months and man it's flown by but we're about to enter the months of Fall. I for one am ready to get away from the 100 degree temptures but I'm not excited about the ice and snowing and all that stuff that winter brings.

Today's post is kind of an extension of my Promotional Techniques Series, which I'll share with you will be available as a free downloadable E-Book very soon, that was my big surprise. But today's post centers more around the Social Media Side and I strive to answer, which Social Media is a bigger help to your efforts as a writer?

When you sit down to figure it out, you realize there are four big name players in the Social Media world right now, you have Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, And Pinterest. But if your going to just sit down and spend time on a couple of these which ones should you choose?

The answer there is very simple, you should focus on Facebook and Twitter. Not taking away anything from Google, which has managed to become very popular in the short amount of time that it's been main stream. And nothing from Pinterest, whose only real draw is showing pictures with little to no text. Facebook and Twitter are the way to go when it comes to getting your name out there.

Now that's also not to say that you should just limit yourself to these two sites. In fact I'll go on record and state that you should have your name a social profile in as many places as possible. This is a good way to have the most eyes see you and it helps build your platform even sturdier and quicker.

Twitter's got it's followers but let me give you a bit of advice when it comes to Facebook. If your going to set up an author highspot for yourself then I suggest that you do it as a page and not a group. I had a group at one time and when Facebook changed it's formatics I went from having 210 people in this group to about 140 because so many people were tired of all the notifications they were getting.

I took a step back from the group page for almost a year a half and then finally this past February I decided that I wanted to refocus on my writing and got serious so I developed the Facebook Page that I have today as well as the twitter account. Setting up either of these things will only take you a few minutes but it's something that is completely invaluable when attempting to build your platform.

That's about all I got today, I'll be back Friday with my regular weekly update and I hope to have some very good news to share by then. Don't forget there's a box in the upper right hand corner where you can subscribe to these post, all you have to do is put in your email address. All my social media outlets, news and other stuff can be found on my website, if you want to add me, like me, or follow me, be sure to check out the “Meet Me on Social Media” section. You can also check out all my writing tips under the new “Demon's Head Writing Tips” section of the site.

Until the next time you want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the Demon's Head I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.

In The Demon's Head: Promo Techniques- Conclusion

In The Demon's Head #46: Promotional Techniques- Conclusion

July 29, 2012

It's been a very good few days and I'm very excited about all the things that I've been able to share with you. I hope that I've been able to share you some information that you may not have otherwise known about the different styles of promoting yourself. If you haven't had a chance to read them all yet they are:

Introduction

Blogging

Advertising

Social Media

Websites

Now I understand that these aren't all the promotional techniques out there by any means so I thought that I would take the last post to kinda of spotlight real quick a few of the other means that some may find more effective and some may not but they are great if used correctly:

Public Reading: I've read that many authors have anxiety when it comes to getting in front of the crowd and reading or talking and that's a very understandable fear. However, if you read from your book this gives your audience a chance to hear your book first hand and could inspire them to want to pick up a copy.

Book Clubs: Book Clubs are a great way to build up a fan base, you can go to different clubs in some cases you can even meet the clubs on skype now which means you don't even have to travel.

Youtube Videos: You can use Youtube without blogging, You can just throw some videos of your reading up there and some thoughts and other tings. I intend to do this once my book is finished and it would offer more stuff for your website.

In Conclusion...

The phrase, “Any publicity is good publicity” is never more true then when you first start out. Whatever it is you do that can get people talking then by all means do it because the more people that hear your name then that's more people who now know who you are.

I think that would be a fitting end and a good wrapping point for this series. I'll be back tomorrow for another post and we will be returning to our regular schedule of 2 days a week for the time being, I hope you've enjoyed this series as much as I have. There will be more that's a for sure thing. If you want to connect with me on social media you can check out all the channels under “Meet me on Social Media” as well as news videos and other tidbits that are available on My Website.

Until the next time you want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the Demon's Head, I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.

In The Demon's Head: Promo Techniques- Websites

In The Demon's Head #45: Promotional Techniques- Websites

July 28, 2012

Hola everyone, today's the final and second biggest piece to the promotional puzzle, building yourself a website. If you missed the post on Blogging, Advertising, and Social Media, then be sure to check them out. For so many building a website is a daunting task, especially If you've never done it before and that is completely understandable. I've been building websites since I was 15 so I”m used to them but for someone whose never decided to build one setting one up can be almost impossible. For those of you all I can say is hire someone, hey I'm available if your looking for someone super affordable and quick. Take a look at my website and if you like what you see drop me a line here. But if you want to know then why building a website is an investment that is important then I've got some news for you.

For those of you who do know how to build a website and can do it pretty simple then I don't have to explain to you why it's important to have a website. But you may be wondering where to start and what's the most cost effective route and in fact I've found a very good hosting site that allows for you to develop a professional website and give it a professional looking url for free so you could essentially develop a website for free. I look to answer those and a couple more that you may have here in today's post so lets not waste any more time.

Why Do I need a Website?

A website is more or less your home on the internet. It can house everything that is vital for your fan base and your readers to know in one specific location. You can give your fans a schedule of events that you'll be attending, you can sell e-books of your for full profit, You are in control of your home. You can build it from the ground up.

Websites are also something that gives you a space to showcase your work, your thoughts, all the news about a coming release, Interviews, Book Reviews and other things. Your website is your calling card and in today's world you never want to be stuck without your calling card and in terms of websites it's the best type of calling card available.

Where Would I start?

This question truly depends on you and your ability at building your own site. If you can build your own website then by all means get to work, it's better to have the bare bones of a website then not have a website at all. That was my biggest holding back was that I didn't think I'd be able to keep a website fresh enough for people to want to look at but I've managed to do pretty well so far and for that I'm very proud of myself.

If your on the other hand and don't know how to go about it then save up some money or if you already have the money available then hire someone to set up a website for yourself. You can host them through Weebly, everything you need for a writing website you can pretty much get for free so everything in that regard is perfectly fine. You also have an unlimited number of pages and storage space which makes Weebly a great web hoster compared to some of the others out there (Trust me on this one, I've used most of the free ones that are available and so far hands down Weebly is the best bet)

I think the two most important things to have on a website is your bio and a bit about yourself or the site on the home page as well as links to your works, be them free like some of the poems that I have up and available, or to the works that you sell. These are the bread and butter of any writing site and having the bare bones of one without having these is almost pointless.

Update Regularly

This doesn't mean update daily as so many people seem to believe, I was one of those at first but I've learned that it's not necessary however, updating regularly in necessary. You want to freshen up your website with news, videos, podcast, or something so be sure to update the website on a regular basis.

Now these don't have to be on a schedule so much like your blogging traits. If you touch a fan they will bookmark a website and check it every so often. It's that way with a lot of writers, they're website might not change for a couple weeks on end but you never know when someone might stumble across what you have set up and check out the content and that is a great thing. Once you've reached a fan, if you've done it right they'll stay a fan for a long time.

In Conclusion...

Websites are the future, In fact I'm going so far as to believe that Websites will eventually replace almost every form of media that we have currently including TV and Radio. You need to get yours set up and ready to go as soon as possible because the sooner that you have everything set up and ready then the better off you'll be should a Traditional Publisher feel the urge to want to come looking for your calling card.

As with every technique that we've covered in this series if you've built a website or have a story about a website experience with a company or someone that wasn't so great then please share it in the comments section below.

You can check out my website for some ideas of a way to set yours up and what you may want to include. Keep in mind my website is far from the best one out there but considering the funding budget I had and what I worked with I think it turned out spectacular.

We'll be back tomorrow to wrap everything together and close up our first blogging series together. Until the next time you go through the gates of hell into the demon's head, I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.

In The Demon's Head: Promotional Techniques- Social Media

In The Demon's Head #44: Promotional Techniques- Social Media

July 27, 2012

Hey everyone we're on Day 3 of our Promotional Techniques Blogging series and so far I feel that I've been able to share quite a bit of information that will hopefully give you an edge as you start promoting yourself and your work. So Far we had our introduction and talked about blogging, and yesterday we covered Advertising. Today we're looking at one of the two biggest pieces of today's promotions puzzle, Social Media.

Now I'm willing to bet that almost everyone who is reading this has an account in at least one type of social media website. If you don't then your WAY behind the times because this is a trend that I don't think is going anywhere for a while. The question here today is how do I use Social Media to promote myself?

I'll explain using the 3 biggest social media sites (Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter) I will explain what you need on each of these to get your name out there.

Facebook

Facebook has two tools that are great for promoting yourself and your writing, you have pages and groups. Experience has told me that in regards to yourself and your writing promoting using a Facebook Page might be a better bet for you then a group simply because on pages, while people who “like” it are notified of your updates they are not delivered dozens of notifications every time someone says something or comments on something on your page whereas with a group notifications fly around all the time, it tends to get annoying. Setting up a Facebook page is just like setting up an account, you find the create page button and you follow on screen directions. It ends up looking like your Facebook Page is an extension of your personal Facebook timeline. Something to remember as well when using Facebook pages, keep your professional and personal profiles apart, I have a Kyle Robinson (Author) page and then my personal Facebook account, unless the personal event has to do with my writing it is not included on the Author Page.

Twitter/Google Plus

I only include these two together because in all reality they are almost one in the same. Twitter is the 140 micro thought sharing website with trends and Google Plus is like a hybrid between Facebook and Twitter, with possibly lengthy status updates and it's own trending list. When setting up these accounts make sure that you do so with your writing in mind and make the usernames reflect your writing and what your out to achieve.

The other difference is that Twitter has followers (people who are reading what you say) and people you follow (People whose stuff your reading) and Google Has circles.

I suggest setting up a profile on all of these three websites because believe it or not some people have abandoned one website for one reason or another and you could possibly find them on another site. The registration process for these doesn't take that long and it could lead to a massive payoff down the road.

Also remember that when setting up these accounts you want to keep them active and update them every day or so, you can attract more fans and followers if your active and showing that your out there to have yourself heard.

In Conclusion...

Social Media is something that isn't going away and something that your going to have to learn to work with if your expecting to amount to a career in writing via the self publishing route, and even in some cases having a social media presence is required for traditional publishers to want to take a look at you. Do yourself a favor now and go set up all these Social Media Sites with your accounts if you haven't done so already.

Have you been on the fence about some social Media Site, got a story to share about social media? Let us know in the comments section below.

Tomorrow we're going to take a look at the last piece to the promotional puzzle, building a website, then on Sunday I will wrap it all together and give you one final breakdown of the promotional puzzle. You can learn more about me and my writing by visiting my website and until the next time you want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the demon's head, I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.

In The Demon's Head: Promo Techniques- Advertising

In The Demon's Head #43: Promotional Techniques- Advertising

July 26, 2012

Hello everyone and welcome back to our Promotional Techniques blogging series. Yesterday I gave an Introduction to the Series and then talked about Blogging, today we're going to talk about promotional technique number 2, Advertising.

Now in the introduction I talked about how Advertising was seen by some as a technique that was a waste of money that would never repay itself. I'm here to say that anyone who thinks like that likely has never had a successful advertising campaign. I'd like to explain to you first why I believe advertising is effective.

Currently I've only ever used Facebook to advertise and I advertised my own Facebook Page. I paid 50 bucks for a month of the advertising and it netted me almost another 30 likes on the page. It averages out to 1.67 a person. Now this is 30 new people that have never heard of me and now like my page, Now lets say those same 30 people buy my next book at 3 dollars a piece that turns into 90 dollars and I just made a 40 dollar profit, and those same 30 people could tell another 30 which would now double my profits and fan base and so on. These are some just estimate statistics but you see adverting can pay some massive dividends for your writing career.

The different types of Advertising that you can do include Radio, TV, Internet, Billboard and Direct Mail. While this may not be all of them I'd like to focus on these because these would be the most common types that you may encounter.

TV Ads

These Ads run on different programs on Cable and Satellite TV and are hands down the most expensive. In all honesty, unless you've got some good money stored away or get on with a major publisher that's willing to shell out the money it's likely you'll never use TV spots but if you do like all Ads you need to to the point because you have a lot of ground to cover with no time.

Radio Ads

Radio ads are considerably cheaper however, they are usually given to a much more limited audience. These are also easier to work with because there's less work involved with the actual recording of the Ad so one could be changed within an hour that's a positive to Radio Advertising.

Direct Mail

Direct Mail or “Junk” Mail as so many have called it is to me the second least effective form of advertisement while also being the second most costly depending on campaign size. I've studied how to write direct mail and I've learned that if you can't do it well then your better off not to do it, or hire someone who can. Granted should your campaign take off it could certainly pay off but the odds of that aren't on your side with Direct Mail. Unless you aim to write a non-fiction masterpiece I would suggest to completely stray away from Direct Mail.

Billboard

This to me is the most pointless of the advertising campaigns, granted this is just my thoughts but Billboards are only effective if your already an established person. Otherwise your message is limited to a small area and a small group of people and unless everyone of those tells someone else and buys some product then it's an investment that won't turn out in your favor.

Internet

This is my preferred style of advertisement. The cost versus the number of people you can reach is much closer together and in your favor then any other style of advertisement but to me the best thing about internet is that you can target your type of reader and the type of people who will benefit the most from your book. It's easier to funnel down to the right people on the internet then any other medium. You also have a verity of places to post the ad on the internet which offers up a good chance to shop around. I used Facebook but there are thousands of Internet Outlets for you to check out.

In Conclusion...

Advertising is something that if done correctly and the right medium depending on your goals then you could easily crack a brand new fan base that had otherwise alluded you. Like anything else it's a piece to the promotional puzzle that you need to decide that if you want to use or not. I think that advertising can pay good dividends as my math above has shown but if only done correctly.

Have you experimented with some kind of advertising in the past? Got another tip that you would like to share with Advertising then please post and share them in the comments section below.

Join us again tomorrow as we talk about Social Media Promotional Techniques, Saturday we will discuss Websites and then finally we will Wrap it all together on Sunday so be sure to check back with me daily.

As always you can find the latest up to date information and social media hangouts for yours truly at my website. Until the next time you want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the demon's head, I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.

In The Demon's Head: Promo Techniques- Blogging

In The Demon's Head #42: Promotional Techniques- Blogging

July 25, 2012

Hello everyone , Our first post for Promotional Techniques was the intro into the Promotional Techniques blogging series, If you haven't read that yet you can check that out here. This second post is centered around the 1^st of five post in five days. I'm very excited to do this and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I will.

Today's post is featured on the first of the four techniques, Blogging.

What is Blogging?

Blogging is the art of sharing your thoughts to people using the internet. There are two types of blogging, the regular blogging which is what I do here for “In The Demon's Head” and then there's the new type of blogging using videos and Youtube called “Vlogging” Now deciding what type of blogging you want to do is completely up to you and really should depend on what type of audience and message you want to convey.

Generally people blog to share their ideas with their readers and followers, some times people write blogs because they want to share thoughts. “Vlogging” is the same concept only using videos rather then just words.

Why Blog?

There are two answers to this question, the first answer is to help to build a consistent readership. Before you say that blogging isn't worth the time I want you to think about it like this, Blogging for writers is like musicians releasing songs on the radio. It gives your readers a chance to catch your style on a regular basis rather then just seeing the books and stories that you release once every year or so.

The Second answer is that blogging gives you a chance to build rapport with your readers. The relationship between readers and writers is based on trust, if the readers can trust that you will deliver then they will gladly purchase your books. Blogging shows that your able to deliver on a consistent basis, this is great for your relationship with the reader.

I've been blogging for close to six months and it's connected with a number of readers and fans that I would have otherwise never gotten into contact with. Now I've gotten you hooked on the idea of blogging, but how do you start?

How To Start a Blog?

There are also two answers to this, The first is to use your website. Most website builders come with a way to add a blog to your site. This is a two in one thing, you can write for your blog and you will be attracting traffic to your website and your blog at the same time.

There are also blog host sites that you can use to host your blog. The most famous of these blog host is Blogspot, which has turned into Blogger. Hosting your blog on a site like Blogger does a couple of different things, first it gives you a type of second website that you can customize to your liking. Also, hosting a blog on a site like Blogger, will host your blog in a site that has the chance to expose your blog to a number of new readers. In fact I've had no fewer then 12 new fans that found my blog via browsing just through Blogspot.

Other Helpful Tips On Blogging

• When You Begin posting, post on the same day every week to develop a schedule with your readers. This will give your readers an idea of when you will post every week.
• Write out a schedule of blogging topics, This is something that I didn't do right off the bat and I found myself struggling for topics every week. Then I read somewhere that if you can set up a schedule of Blog topics then you'll never run into that problem. This is a true, I started a topic list about a month ago and now have topics to run through the end of the year at twice a week and then some in a few cases.
• Your Topics are YOUR choice, I'm not saying not to take topics from your readers, but remember that ultimately your in charge of your blog, you can change the topics in your list as you see fit, remember that your choices aren't set in stone so they can change.
• Pick a Name and Topic that explains your style and the way your personality fits into your writing. The name of this blog is “In The Demon's Head” because I've been called a demon more times then once and it fits into my writing style of supernatural thriller types. The name works perfectly for me, make sure that your blog name works that well for you.

In Conclusion...

Blogging is a great jumping off point for your platform that will give you a great chance to connect with your readers on a consistent basis. Blogging gives me motivation to keep writing and improving my creativeness. It all works hand in hand to help me improve my writing which is ultimately my goal. I also want to develop a fan base that will help me once I reach the point that I want to sell my work.

If you have any stories about blogging or tips that may help others readers, then please feel free to share them with us in the comments section.

Be sure to join me again tomorrow for another installment of the “Promotional Techniques” blogging series when I will discuss advertising. You can check out all the social media outlets, news updates and other stories on my website here. Until the next time you want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the demon's head, I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.

In The Demon's Head: Promotional Techniques- Intro

In The Demon's Head #41: Promotional Techniques- Intro

July 25, 2012

Hello everyone, sorry that today's post is coming to you late. It would have been up earlier but due to the fact that I was up so late and slept so long today that became impossible. In fact as I write this now I”m still kinda surprised that I'm awake, if your a wrestling fan and you watched last night's Raw then it's very likely that you saw me sitting ramp side, it was a great night and I can't wait to go again. Let's move onto today's edition of In The Demon's Head, which is about promotional techniques.

I'm going to explain 4 very effective promotional techniques that you could use to help get the word out about your writing and begin building a fan base to establish yourself, the three of them are: Advertising, Social Media, Blogging, and a Website. If you combine these together you can begin building a platform piece by piece into something that you will definitely be proud of. I'll go in depth on each of these techniques now.

Blogging

I know it's likely that you've heard this everywhere that you need to blog. I for one never thought that I was interesting enough to warrant a blog, I figured my post would be somewhat boring and repetitive however, I've been lucky enough to develop a blogging schedule that both fits my schedule and is easy to maintain. Blogging is something that I believe every writer should do because it helps keep their name out there.

Advertising

If your like me then you want to just skip the advertising because money is tight and trust me I completely understand that. However, if your smart about where and how you advertise your dollars will go a lot further and warrant greater results. Being selective is the key to advertising but the rewards that you can warrant for advertising can definetly outweigh the amount of money that you may have to spend.

Social Media

In today's day and age this is one of the two biggie's that are required for you build a platform. Social Media has managed to grab the most attention of everything, from Facebook to Youtube, Twitter to the new Tout, there are numerous amounts of social media websites that you can use as a jumping off point to help build your platforms.

Websites

This is the second of the two biggies that you need in order to help yourself launch a platform. This was also something that I waited so long to build because I wasn't sure if I'd have enough stuff to update the website on a regular enough basis but I learned that a website isn't so much about the updating constantly as it is that you have the presence of a website. If you can find a way to add new material to it daily then that's wonderful but I'm finding I'm updating mine usually more on a every other day ratio.

In Conclusion...

I know some of these seem like rather bland descriptions of promotional techniques but fear not. This post will be the start of a series educating you about the promotional techniques that you can use to help begin to build your platform and launch your career into a new level. In fact it's the first of 3 blogging series that I have planned through the remainder of the year. This first one will feature the promotional techniques, the second will center around story creation, and the third and final one will be my biggest is centered around Platform Building. Be sure to return for the next five days as I highlight the entire Promotional Technique Series.

In fact leading into the promotional techniques I'd love you to share your stories about how you went about promoting yourself and your work. You can share those stories in the comments section below.

You can find more information about me, the free writings I've released, the updated progress on “More Than Memories”, updated tout videos, and all my social media channels is all available on my website here.

Until the next time you want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the demon's head, I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.