Month: June 2021

The cover gives the reader the first impression of the book. It is an essential tool for marketing, and the cover should be appealing and exciting.

DEFINING A SUCCESSFUL COVER

Describing in concrete terms what a cover should look like is difficult. It has many different aspects, such as personal tastes and opinions, and how the reader perceives ​​an attractive cover. The most important thing is that the cover must fit the book content. Thus, planning always starts with the content.

It is crucial to consider the main purpose of the cover: A cover is a marketing tool, and it must be individual – but also follow the characteristics of the genre. If the book belongs to a series, the whole series should contain something that ties the books together. Your book cover is a reference to what awaits the reader and should, therefore, provide accurate information about what the book is about or what genre it belongs to. On the other hand, the cover is also what should get the reader to take the book in hand and contain creative and appealing elements.

SECTIONS OF THE COVER

The front of the cover plays the central role: It is seen in advertisements and online bookstores and receives the most attention. E-books only contain the front of the cover, so here the design should be extra carefully planned. When planning the cover, it is vital to consider the size displayed precisely in print. The cover usually appears very small and should, therefore, be clear and straightforward.

IMAGES

The cover can contain any kind of images: photographs, art, illustrations, or collages. They can be descriptive or abstract, cover the entire cover, or only part of it. Many books have no images at all but consist only of typographic elements.

The reader is used to seeing specific kinds of covers associated with certain types of books. For example, in biographies or children’s books, the choice of image can be simple and obvious: it relates directly from the book’s subject. The more abstract and hard-to-define the book’s content, the more creativity and imagination required to select the image and create the cover.

MATERIAL SELECTION

The first thing to decide is whether the book should be hardcover or have soft covers. Start by thinking about the book’s purpose: Handbooks often work best with soft covers such as novels or other fictional books in pocket format.

When it comes to books like fiction or photo books, hardcovers are appropriate. You can also add a protective cover, which initially served as a dust cover. If the book is to be used extensively and not kept in the bookshelf, such as cookbooks, a hardcover book without a cover is a better.

TEXT AND TYPOGRAPHY

Elements to be included on the cover are usually the author’s name, the book’s title, and the publisher. It is possible to convey the message solely through the design of the texts, and then no pictures are needed.

The cover also contains the book description and possibly text in the tabs. A barcode with ISBN is required for sales and logistics. Sometimes it can be challenging to place the barcode, but it is necessary for the book to be sold in the bookstore. The book’s back is also important: It is the part that is visible when the book is in the bookshelf and should, therefore, contain the book’s title.

FAILED COVERS

Sometimes the covers go wrong, and it can be due to different reasons. A common mistake is to decide quickly on a simple choice. The cover should give the reader what the book is about without making them familiar too much about book content. It is impossible to add everything about the content or book theme to the cover. The cover image does not have to tell everything but acts as a window and displays a viewpoint on the content.

A bad cover repeats clichés and becomes one of many. Sometimes the cover is misleading for purely marketing purposes. Then something shocking or otherwise used that arouses emotions but often has nothing to do with the book’s message.

CONCLUSION

As an author, designing a book cover taking into all above considerations may be difficult. I suggest you to use Beecovers book cover design application so that you don’t need to hassle and save a lot of time, they have tons of ready to use beautiful templates.

PS: SOME TIPS

Book Cover Templates

• Canva free book cover templates

• Placeit book cover template

• Freepik book cover templates (free with attribution)

Survey a targeted, relevant audience to get their ideas on your book covers

• Use Pickfu to ask your niche audience what they think (use code AUTHORS-WRITERS-POETS for 50% discount)

All the best

Marissa Mayer

The inspiration comes from a text I read on Facebook the other day about the American book industry. By now, has anyone who has any connection to the book industry noticed that the outbreak of Covid-19 affects the book industry? The question now is not whether any companies or industry leaders will go bankrupt, but preferably those who can survive the complete stop in many countries.

It is perhaps a little awkward to look up this comment on my first text where I warned that Corona would have adverse effects on the book industry. The big difference is spelled on Amazon, which is behind e-book revolution. Paper books account for the revenues of the major publishers, while e-books account for self-publishers’ revenues. 

The traditional publishers with the big 5 at the forefront have in practice a monopoly on paper books. They also sell audiobooks and e-books, but live on paper books that are sold both online and in bookstore chains. The large publishers’ sales of new titles have decreased over several years.

It is basically unprofitable as a micro-publisher to publish paper books and get them out in bookstores and libraries in the US. On the other hand, a plethora of self-publishers fully supports themselves by publishing e-books in the United States. Some serve well, but the exciting thing is how many can live solely on Amazon revenue (without filling up with extra jobs, lectures or scholarships). Nobody knows the exact distribution of market shares on Amazon today.

As I recall, Author Earnings showed that self-publishers dominated Amazon in terms of the number of copies sold and in revenue. Above all, there were many writers in what we call the midlist who supported themselves well that way. Also, it was clear that the big 5 lived on writers who have been in the business for more than ten or twenty years.

Writers can now put their eggs in several baskets. Many writers who have been in the industry for a long time are not either publishers or self-publishers, but both. Among successful American indie writers, it is common to publish the e-book edition at their own publisher and license the paper edition to a traditional publisher. That is, to make sure to distribute the risks.

Almost all bookstores closed in the United States. What is happening right now in the US is that most booksellers are closed to stop the spread of infection. So hardly any paper books are sold through the physical bookstore.

Someone may think that it is not so tricky if people can’t shop in a physical store because they can shop online instead. Well. Not in the US. Amazon has downgraded paper books due to the company wrestling with a combination of increased demand and sick leave. Orders for, for example, toilet paper increased by 186% and cough medicine 862% between February 20 and March 23 compared with the previous year.

No paper to print books. The challenges for publishers do not stop at getting sales for paper books. There is a lack of paper to print books this weekend in the United States. In addition, one of the largest printing companies has closed. The book industry in the United States cannot print, transport, or sell paper books.

Paper usually comes from China or Canada. One has not shipped anything in three months and high tariffs have been introduced from Canada. One of the large printing companies has closed again and much of the distribution is still standing.

In the UK, Italy and Spain, according to The Guardian (March 25), sales of paper books increased last week before Waterstones closed its 280 stores in the UK. It was especially thick classics that sold well.

The demand for puzzles is also good. German Ravensburger reported that on March 26, they sold ten times as many puzzles as a year earlier in the United States. The dilemma is that it is not so easy for them to meet demand.

Surprise: audiobooks in the US are declining. Beth Meacham also writes that audiobook sales have stopped for them as people have stopped commuting. 

In the title, I predicted dramatic effects on the US book market, except for self-publishers. Of course, it is challenging to predict what is going on, but there are a couple of reasons why the future for self-publishers looks brighter than for the rest of the book industry (agents, booksellers, publishers). In short, this is because the publisher’s business model is more focused on digital revenues and lower fixed expenses than the rest of the industry.

We simply get to live and see. But it feels like the writers who spread the risks and put their eggs in many baskets can sleep better at night.

All the best.

When writing a children’s book, it is good to have children around because they inspire you as a writer with their thoughts, fantasies and comments.

Maybe you’ve always dreamed of writing a children’s book. Many think it is easier to write children’s books than adult books, but many writers have been good at writing books for adults but have not been able to write children’s books. How to write a children’s book and what are aspects of it to consider?

Try to think from the children’s perspective because they do not always see the reality as it is. This way you can better understand what children like, think about and want to learn more about. A child lives in the present and rarely thinks of tomorrow. For children, many situations and experiences are new, which makes them eager and curious. A children’s story fulfills many functions; it can entertain the children, challenge, enlighten or answer questions.

It is important to decide in advance what age group you are writing for: image heavy 0–3 years, 3–6 years and chapter books: 6–9 years, 9–12 years, 12–15 years and so on. In picture books, images express at least as much information (or more) as the text. If you get help from an illustrator, it is vital to agree on what is to be conveyed through text and image.

As for the text, you, as a children’s book author, need to adapt your style and language level to the child reader. Subjects should also be adapted and viewed from the child’s point of view. One needs to take into account the child’s life experience, knowledge, and emotional maturity. The subject matter, language and storytelling must be linked. How scary, childish, cute or adult can you write for the age you are targeting?

Children lack the experience and associations that adults have accumulated throughout life, so be sure to explain easily and with pictures. The story should be told in straight chronology. Picture books are for the youngest and the older the children become, the more text it is in the books.

The younger the children, the fewer characters will be included in a story. A common beginner’s mistake is to have far too many people or to stack events on each other.

Read and learn from the already established writers within the age group you want to write. Analyze how they have built up their story and how the characters are embodied. Don’t forget the drama. Even the simplest children’s story follows a dramaturgical curve. Study the language carefully, how long the chapters are and what the books are about. This helps you put words into ideas when planning your children’s book writing. Above all, we advise you to read many children’s books, both classic and fairy tales, fiction and information books. The choice of children’s literature to read depends on the action in your particular children’s book.

Have fun writing and unleashing your imagination and creativity! Talk and socialize with children to familiarize yourself with how they think, study them as they play, or interview them about any topic they like. Talk to the child within you and try to remember what you thought about reading when you were a child. Creativity is major asset when it comes to writing children’s books.

Best, Melissa.

Romance is one of the most extensive literary genres in the Western world – significantly larger than poets – and is read and loved by millions of readers worldwide. More and more self-publishers are writing in this genre.

Nowadays, “romance” is often associated with love, but literary-historical romance can be about any emotion, not just love. However, it is typical that it contains a lot of emotions and a poetic language. Romance has varied in popularity and trend, but it has continued to exist in various art forms ever since it broke through. Today, fiction (in books and film) has an essential place in our lives. So romance becomes very relevant in our day.

A forbidden love, intense belonging, complicated obstacles, heartache, sparkling eroticism, emotions that go up and down as in a roller coaster that ends in great love and happiness, are typical features of a love novel. Romance is often about special people with particular destinies and love adventures. The characters are often mysterious. A successful romantic text should get the reader to escape from everyday life, escape from the present, and let other cultures inspire.

Many love novels are reminiscent of each other so being unique is extra important. Only the writer who develops his strategy and gives a personal touch to his love story will achieve success.

7 WRITING TIPS FOR YOUR LOVE STORY

1-Find the main theme of your love novel:

Whether it is realistic, fantastic, erotic or sad, this genre includes many subcategories or sub-genres. What kind of story is that? There must be a story. What should your story be about? Choose the environment your romance should play out in. The time can be present, historical or future. If you write a historical love novel, it will take a little research, if the events and the environment should correspond to the chosen time. So while it is a love novel, the subcategory is a historical story.

2-Define your target audience:

Before you start writing, think about which target audience you want to reach with your love novel. This is important because your writing style and events in the story should be tailored to your target audience. The more your readers get into your story, the more you will be able to catch and convince them.

Therefore, you must think about what language style you should use, what age you are targeting or what experiences they can recognize and understand. If your love novel contains a lot of eroticisms, the text should be age-appropriate.

3-Sketch the most essential aspects of your plot:

Plot contains conflicts and turning points in a dramatic curve until the end. It is up to you how detailed you want to write, but it is used as a basis during your story’s writing process and will help you develop the flow of story. Then think about where your story will take place, what romantic cities will come into play, and any potential obstacles your characters must overcome to finally reach a, possibly, happy ending.

4-Find the right environment when writing:

Each author has their habits and individual needs as they write. While some writers are very structured and spend their time writing their manuscript for a certain amount of time each day while continuing your everyday life as usual, others retreat to their realm over a long period to concentrate exclusively on writing. Many romance writers love to write in a romantic, relaxing and quiet environment. Discover for yourself what environment you feel most comfortable in and where you can best focus on writing.

5-Bring your characters to life:

To create a realistic character, it takes more than one name, specific look or age – the subtleties give life to your characters and awaken the emotions of your readers. Develop your own, individual life story and personal characteristics for each of your characters. The more authentic your characters are, the more your readers can sympathize with them. Don’t hesitate to take inspiration from your environment!

6-Expressive adjectives for every emotion:

A good love novel stimulates the imagination, speaks to the senses and awakens the reader’s emotions, but how to achieve it? Using expressive adjectives and rich vocabulary, you can express feelings and descriptions in words. Find suitable adjectives for what you want to express. Before you start writing your novel, write down your various adjectives as detailed on paper that expresses the emotions and give the idea of ​​your characters or situation you want to create.

7-Decorate your words with beautiful book design:

Our final tip is less related to your love story’s actual writing and more related to the book’s design and appearance. An appealing book design begins with a beautiful cover and continues with the book’s setting of the insert. Decorate your love story with an attractive design. Choose your font carefully so that it matches the impression you want to give your readers.

Also, do not forget to plan the font size, line spacing, chapter headings etc. All this together creates the individual reading experience and the atmosphere that you want to give your readers.

Best, Melissa Mayer…

Fantasy is a genre that is growing stronger in popularity in the literature, both among adults and children. Many want to immersed with a world that does not exist in everyday life.

Maybe you are one of those who devour the Lord of the Ring trilogy or the Game of Thrones books. You write and fantasize away among the essence of folk beliefs, sayings, invented worlds and mystery. No matter what genre you write, there is a lot of work behind the writing and it takes time, but writing fantasy is a lot of fun, because you can find stories that are far from reality.

Writing fantasy is a bit different from other writing genres. You create your world and have complete freedom to decide what happens in it. You create your invented creatures, name them and let them follow your rules and regulations.

The notion of good and evil powers or forces interacting and fighting each other has attracted readers at all times. It is usually the struggle between these two opposites that is the driving force of fantasy.

Fantasy is the modern version of ancient myths and fairy tales with their wizards, dwarves, witches, and protagonists talking animals and fairies. Most often, the protagonist, who is almost always the hero, has a mission or various tasks to perform. The story usually focuses on how the hero reaches his final goal and what he is confronted with on the road. Many fantasy books contain two or more different worlds in which the characters move, interacting with each other somehow. If you are thinking about writing fantasy but have trouble getting started, we will give you some tips.

CREATE YOUR HISTORY

To get inspiration in your writing, we recommend reading about myths, legends, fables and folktales. For example, many of old north European god stories have inspired writers, at all times.

Long walks in the woods and nature can help you evoke and imagine various wild fairy tales. You might even fantasize about meeting and talking to different creatures to create dialogues in your book. Something that is always a good source of inspiration when writing is music. Music brings your imagination to life and for the creation of monsters and evil creatures or maybe elves and heroes.

1-We recommend that you write down all ideas as you come up with them, even though they may not be related to each other right then. It can be supporting words, dialogues or short sentences. These can later be put in order and used to build your story. Ask simple questions to yourself about your ideas or inventive events such as “why?”, “When?” and how?”. So always bring a paper and pen to write down your ideas quickly.

2-Begin to think about which of your ideas are related and which may be in the same chapter. Try to establish a connection between them. If the order does not convince you, move them. How should the story begin? What is the highlight? How will it end? Plan a chronology for your story. At the same time, start editing and creating a table of contents.

3-How many characters should you include in your story? Slowly work on what people you have included in your story and what they look like. Make them alive by assigning them background and why they are who they are. Are they men or women? Has something special happened to them? Does he or she have any fear of something? Where did they get their powers from (if they have any)? What kind of clothes do they wear? Maybe to create obstacles in their lives. What does the protagonist have and why does he or she want to solve it? Make characters exciting to the reader, but don’t tell them all at once. It is better to give some clues now and trigger curiosity.

4-It’s time to start building your fantasy world. We concentrate on the environmental description. How to create a new world? A world that, in the eyes of the reader, should be perceived as so real that we are trapped and live in it. If you are planning to create a world from scratch, start with simple lines and oceans, lakes, rivers, mountains. Then you can add strange factors to your world that is not common in our world. When does your story take place? Are there special rules in your world? Is it forbidden to do or say certain things in your fantasy world? Who lives where? This is a significant and vital part of your story, so take plenty of time to write and think through everything.

5-Pictures say more than a thousand words, they say. Appealing illustrations and pictures illuminate and reinforce messages in texts, make the book visually appealing and enhance the reading experience. If you plan to include images or illustrations in your book, you should start thinking about this. A professional illustrator can always help you create your characters if you can’t do it yourself. You can also use the many different websites available today, where you can buy pictures or download them for free.

6-Now you know about what your story should look like, so now you can concentrate on the writing itself. Start making real chapters in your story. Should you write in the first or third-person perspective? Will you be writing detailed descriptions of your characters and surroundings to make the story more personal to your readers, or rather make brief descriptions? Create “Cliffhangers” at the end of some chapters to give the reader the feeling that he or she cannot stop reading, but wants to continue because it is so exciting.

When you have finished writing your work – let others read it! Receiving feedback and comments is very helpful and it can improve your story. If several people have read your script and have shared opinions, you should take their feedback and advice seriously. It is often the case that you have to rewrite parts of the script to achieve good quality. You must have patience all the way and believe in your history.

All the best, Melissa Mayer.

PUBLISHING YOUR BOOK

When your draft script is finished editing, it’s time to finish the book and make it accessible to others. Of course, it can move over the phases and you can start thinking about this earlier in the process so that you are more prepared. But it is only now that you have a text that has been sufficiently reviewed for publishing.

Publishing options:

Should you publish the book yourself or send it to a publisher? Today there are many simple publishing options; everyone can publish their book. You do not need to pass a publisher’s approval, print more than a few copies or invest large sums. You often need to do the work yourself anyway and invest some financially. There are now many smaller players in publisher market that offer you cooperation and sharing the costs.

Self-publishing on online stores is also great option. Read our blog posts for more detailed information on best practices. You can also download our Indie Authors Checklist that can give great insights.

Marketing and launch:

Marketing begins long before your book is published, sooner you star your book marketing is better. Think about your target audience and where they are. Marketing on Snapchat to a young audience is rarely worthwhile; they are available on other social platforms. Create an author page on Facebook and start a blog, those are very easy and cost effective but can be very helpful in promoting your book.

Remember to start with the platforms you can dedicate your time. Social channels require effort, you need to create content, upload and engage with your audience. Launch and release parties are of course, important marketing and sales activity. Plan carefully, invite relevant guests, sign books and celebrate your incredible journey!

Sales:

Books have different lifetimes. When the book is new, it is the hottest. Start selling already before launch. Don’t be afraid to talk about your book and have a YouTube video that you talk about your book. Your imagination is the limit on how you can promote your book.

Emptiness:

The last phase of a project often enters a period of emptiness. You’ve spent a lot of time with your script, your characters and now you have to release it. It can give a feeling of emptiness, sadness and fear. Fear of what people will think and it will fail.

There is no magic trick here to overcome those common feelings you just have to keep moving. You continue to sell and market. You can now start to look ahead too, time to write the next book?

All the best, S. Kohen

EDIT SCRIPT DRAFT FOR A READABLE BOOK

When your draft script is ready, it is probably not ready to send to a publisher or self-publish. Regardless of how you worked in the two previous phases of the writing process (part 1 & part 2), you have some editing work left to do before your script is complete.

How much work you have left depends. If you have worked a lot with your characters, you may notice that the design of characters and dialogues feels natural, interesting, readable. Therefore, in the editing phase, it is time to check that the text has everything to be published as a finished book. There is a lot to think about; here are some steps that contribute to the quality in your script.

Read your script:

Now it’s time to read your script from beginning to end. Read it as if it were a finished book. Note where you find gaps, where you want to add and remove text. Prepare that you will get to hang out with quite a few friends during this phase to make them read too. You may want to go through it digitally at first, but also print out scripts on paper and read with the pen in hand. Each time you change your way of reading, new things become visible to you. It can be from digital to paper or change fonts for example.

Check out the draft:

Once you have read through the script and changed the most obvious, there are some important things to check out. Check out drama, scenes, design, environments, characters and their developmental curves. Check if all threads are followed up or if there are loose ones and gaps. It is difficult to keep track of a larger body of text and many parameters at the same time. It makes it easier to stay focused on one thing at a time, such as choosing a perspective or dialogue for a review.

Take help:

No matter how much you try to read your text objectively, you will become blind to your text. One tip for creating objective reading is to leave the script lying and resting between the readings. However, it will take a long time for you to let it rest months between each editing session. Therefore, seek help from the eyes of others.

Experienced readers can read your script and give you feedback on the text. You can find test readers among reading friends, groups on Facebook, Twitter and also on various website who authors and readers review other’s work. Take the help from a professional reader too. Usually, you do not have as many friends who have the knowledge to read scripts professionally. Hire a professional who can read your script and provide feedback on how the script can be improved.

Spending too much effort with linguistic changes, grammar and spelling is a waste of time before you know what exactly should be left or not. Besides, when you give priority to what really matters it is easy to feel productive because you have done things, but if you do not benefit from them, productivity is an illusion.

All the best, S. Kohen

WRITING A DRAFT

Once you’ve completed the preparation phase, it’s time to start writing your draft script. If you have done your homework well, you know where to start; otherwise, you can start by reading the first part about preparing for writing a book.

In the creative phase, we write our story; we cover our synopsis in words, paragraphs, chapters and scenes. There are many tips on how to do this. My main advice is to find the best way for you. You can still be open to adjustments that can help you even more. You need always to look further and try new things. No tips fit everyone, so test yourself until you find what works for you.

Do not strive for perfection:

Writing without friction is about letting go of all thoughts about requirements and performance. Just write down what should be written down to get to the story with the words that are available to you right now. Write as if no one should read. The advantage of this is that you have time to write down the story before you forget something and it also has a tendency to skip performance requirements, which favors creativity. In the editing phase, you can always change and add everything that is needed to make your book script more readable.

Book time in the calendar:

You don’t have time to write is the most common excuse I hear for not writing – even though you want to. You perceive time as a scarcity. It is not. You have time. It’s about how you choose to prioritize and use it. Sometimes it may be worthwhile use some small tricks to get yourself into writing habits, such as adding meetings with yourself in your calendar. It is usually much easier to do what is on the schedule than otherwise.

Keep in touch with your plan always:

The plan you made for your script during the preparation phase is your best friend on the process. See it as a living document, a creative process. It is your handrail that you can navigate and you can update it as your script takes new paths. Because it will likely take new routes during the process – the path to a finished script draft is rarely fixed.

Trust and endurance:

You need a good deal of confidence and persistence when writing a book script. You will experience different emotions and all are not pleasant. Sometimes you doubt yourself and you think you will never finish it. Calm down, it happens to all of us. You cannot navigate in creative processes without all these emotions and stages. Let them take the time it takes, think it will settle if you just keep going.

All the best, S. Kohen

GET STARTED WITH THE WRITING PROJECT

The first thing you need to do before writing a book is obviously about clarifying what to write about. This is quite clear for some but for another, it can be quite blurry. There is a desire to write, but you are not quite clear what to tell and then it often becomes a barrier to get started. In this phase, it is also about doing the necessary research and planning.

Make sure your idea is fun and attractive to yourself

Your idea is within you. What you are passionate about, know a lot about, love to read is what you should write about. This ensures that you will not only give enough dedication but you will have fun.

Do your research

Find out what you really need to know before start writing. It is easy to get caught up in research about what you think is fun but then you also risk that the book will never be written. Find out what you need now. You can always go back and find out more as you need.

Make a clear plan

It is easy to get lost if you do not have a plan, everybody knows that. Make an overview of how you intend your story to run through the script. It may be a table of contents with your chapters as headings and a few sentences describing the content. Or a mind-map showing how you think.

Set aside time for writing and stick to it

You need to set aside time to write. This is the most critical point of all. Decide how often and for how long to write. This is the most basic item in the list but also a stage where majority fails.

All the best, S. Kohen

Sometimes we get stuck in our writing. Maybe you already have your story ready, but need to fill it out with details. But you are in writer’s block.

Do you belong to those who are just waiting for inspiration? Or are you constantly exercising with ideas? No matter what kind of person you are, everyone can get stuck time to time.

The flashing cursor on the screen makes you nervous. The keyboard is about to become your enemy. You know about what is going to happen in your story, but do not yet know how to plan or in what order the events will come. The days are passing and it becomes more and more challenging.

There are so many distractions in everyday life that steals both time and attention. You may need inspiration and motivation to come up with new ideas. Planning and discipline is needed to get going with your book.

6 TIPS TO MAKE THE BALL ROLLING WITH YOUR BOOK

Reading aloud to yourself and others

Have you read your manuscript aloud, both for yourself and others? When you read a text, you become much more aware of small errors and the reading flow. You notice if something is missing from the text or if the listener does not keep up. Encourage the listener to question the content so that you can more easily understand what needs to be improved in the text. For you, as an author, the text is probably crystal clear, but the listener may lose the thread because of a sentence where something is missing or a sentence that is too long and complicated.

Listening to music

Is it always silent when you write or is there a noisy child around you? Often different emotions are brought to life with music and thus also inspiration. Try listening to different styles of music and see what ideas and feelings are emerging within you. Write them down.

Find out what classical music, pop, rock, blues, jazz, beats or folk music do with your senses. Memories may be brought to life, which you can then use and transform into text for your next chapter. Music is good for the soul and is an important source of inspiration. Maybe with the help of ballads, you finally get that romantic chapter or important parting that was missing from the book?

Going out in nature on walks

How often do you take time for lovely walks in the woods? The forest, the mountains and the fresh air inspire! It cracks in the branches as you walk, the bird’s chirp, mystery hides behind the trees, something comes to life in the silence.

All this is experienced when you are alone in nature. The imagination kicks in and help boost motivation. Climbing in the mountains to reach the top where a fantastic and breathtaking view awaits, is something that takes the breath out of most of us, write down your thoughts.

Change the place you write

Do you always sit in the same place when writing? If we do not experience change, it is easy for everything to become a routine. We don’t think about it as much and get lazy because we love our comfort zones. When we do not get new triggers that bring thoughts to life, we often lose inspiration, motivation and get no good ideas.

To seek inspiration, some writers rent a small cozy cottage in the country for a few weeks. Others may rent themselves into an office room. Not everyone can afford to pay to change places and it may not always be the best option. Have you been thinking about borrowing your friend’s empty room a few hours a week, going to the library, sitting in the park or at a cafe? Coming from home and getting new experiences gives inspiration and new thoughts.

Travelling

When did you make your last trip? Changing the environment has inspired writers for centuries. It gives you a taste for other cultures, traditions, environments, thoughts, actions and different food. You are surrounded by new experiences and surroundings that give you a great boost in your writing.

Many authors seek new knowledge in a particular area to complete certain chapters or move on with the book. It can be a historical story where you need to research to make it credible. You do not need to go far or long away each time, but it is good to dare to try things that you do not know.

This arouses feelings that you may need to keep going motivated. We also often relax more easily when all the “must” feels far away. Plan your next trip to a warmer country where you will enjoy beautiful views or book a weekend in the nearest big city. No matter where you go, the experience gives you new thoughts and ideas that you can use in your writing.

Read a lot

How open are you to other people’s stories? Sometimes we focus so much on our text and become blind to others. Many good books and movies can give you new ideas. Of course, you should not copy, but it can get you in second thoughts and make you think in different perspectives.

It does not have to be a thick book of 500 pages, but it can be magazines, short stories, fact or history books. You should be open to others’ stories, even though they may not always be within the scope of your major interests. New literature opens new doors. They can be your source of inspiration. You can also share other people’s stories through movies and series.

MAKE YOUR BOOK DREAM COME TRUE!

The most important thing is not to give up and to have fun while writing. Inspiration, motivation and ideas are everywhere, but you have to find what suits you best to move on.

Sometimes it can be as easy as taking a break from writing and eating something, taking a short walk, going to the gym and then sitting down again with new energy. Keep in mind that everyone has, at some point, been a beginner or stuck in their writing.

Best regards, Sandy