WUIZ competition!

What is WUIZ?

Wuiz is a Creative Writing Competition.

Everyone has a chance to participate, all you need to do is submit a short story and if you win, you get a prize!

Rules are as follows:
•you have to be over 13 to participate
•a story must have from 200-1400 words
•you must be either subscribed or have your email submited on the blog
•your story must be sent to wuizemail@yahoo.com, with your name and age, until the end of June,2012
•your story must answer the set subject

Subject for the 1st Wuiz competition, starting May 29th is -Love, the ultimate fight-

Characters are a teenage boy and girl and another girl, who's in love with the boy. The plot is set some ten years ago, and the characters are on the run.

You can invent the names, the place, and the back story, but the set details need to be respected.

The first three places will receive a prize, the first place receiveing the right to a free customized book cover for his novel, as well as the prizes of the second and third place.

The stories will be published on the blog on the 3rd of July, unless requested otherwise by the winners.

Good luck!


*If you need help starting, check out my article on How to start writing*

Publishing a book

A couple of years ago, to publish a book you had to be a professional author, with enough cash to pay the publicist, the editor...

You had to be really committed to the whole writing thing, otherwise it was a waste of money and time. A lot of times, you'd get rejected for not being commercial enough.

But that's about to change. 

With the rising popularity of ebooks and ebook gadgets, buying a book is just one click away. Ebooks cost considerably less, they're easy to buy, easy to read, and most importantly- you can take it anywhere!

Right now, the demand-supply is very different. It just the beginning, so a lot of authors aren't sure what to do. Some don't want to give up the traditional ways, but the truth is- evolve or die. A lot of publishing houses with haven't started publishing electronically, have gone bankrupt. There are less ebooks than the demand for them, which is why, if you're an author who's just starting, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If you've finished a book, and want to publish it, I'll take you through some of the details. 

First of all, it's easy.

• Choose where you'll publish.There are several ways to publish an ebook, but the simplest one is to publish it on the iBookstore. The truth is that Apple has the highest selling rate on ebooks, beating Amazon by 14% ! If this is too simple for you, you can always pay a publisher to do the whole thing for you, even the marketing.

• Convert the document to epub. So, if you have your book in a Word document format, you have to convert it to epub ( ebook format ). There are several good converting sites, but my personal favorite is http://ebook.online-convert.com/ . It's easy to use, and it takes a couple of seconds. If however you don't like it, just google another one.

• Choose the cover. This is a really important step. The cover is something that'll attract readers to buy your book. Keep it simple, but appealing. You've probably heard the saying 'don't judge a book by it's cover' but ask yourself'- when was that the case? When you walk around the bookstore, what attracts you is the cover; if it's well done, you're gonna read the synopsis, if not- you'll move along. Keep in mind that the cover is not gonna be as big as on the paperback, it's actually very small, so don't add too many small details. As I said, Keep it simple, but appealing. Also, bear in mind that you cannot use copyrighted material for your cover, unless authorized by the creator. This can be costly, so I recommend using your own pictures if you have any. Or ask a friend. In any case, you'll probably need to know your way through Photoshop. Even if you don't choose to use an actual photograph, you have to have to cover art. Familiarize yourself with Photoshop ( there are a lot of tutorials,  http://psd.tutsplus.com/ for example ) or ask a friend. Again, hiring a professional is expensive if you're a newbie author. If none of these work, check out the Wuiz competition on this blog. You get a chance of winning a customized cover art for your book! Good luck.

• Marketing, marketing, marketing. I cannot say this enough- marketing is the key to selling anything. Fail at that, and no one's even gonna hear about the book. Succeed, and you'll have a bestseller on your hands in no time. Now, there are a lot of different ways to do this. The easiest, but expensive one is to hire a publisher- they do all the work for you. Again, not a great solution for a newbie. Search the web for writing forums, or starting authors sites. You can always start a discussion there about you book. Or leave the link in the comments. Tell your friends, tell them to tell their friends. If you can afford it, I advice putting up some ads on sites like Facebook orTumblr. Put up a picture of the cover and a funny catch phrase and post it to Tumblr or Instagram. Those are the main marketing and propaganda sites out there today. You may not support it- but it's the truth. Another thing you can do is make a video promoting your book and upload it to Youtube. This is a great and fun way to promote. Keep it simple, light and funny. People don't want to watch a long, boring video about a book they've never even heard of. For this I suggest getting the best equipment possible, a lot of lighting and proper framing. Google 'how to make a video' if you really need it. 

• And at last, sit back and relax. You've done all you could. If you're publishing it now or in the near future, there is a good chance you'll get good sales. Also, check out the Wuiz competition bellow. You get a chance to win a customized cover for your new book. Good luck.

*For more help, comment bellow.

                                                                                                               

How to start?

So, you want to write?

Since the publishing of my first book, I've been getting a lot of requests; mostly asking me to help people write.

If you're one of those people who always have an incomplete idea for your next book, this one's for you.

Starting is hard, rest is a piece of cake

Indeed, the hardest thing to do is to start. 

So, you have an idea of what your next book might be about. A vague idea who the characters might be. And you wish more than anything to hold your book, finished in your hands.

All you need to do is start writing. 

If you have a vague idea of the plot, there are a few tricks I learned to get you started.

• Think of the place where the action takes place. Is it set in the 21st century? Is it in the Middle Ages? Is it a place that exists or is it an imaginary one, where everything is possible? This is usually how you should start a book; by describing the surroundings in which the story is set. If, for example, your character is ( like in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" ) a poor kid, living with his whole family in a shabby old cottage in the middle of London, start by describing London in that time of the year. Then move closer, describe the street in which the cottage is located, the people walking through it, what are they wearing, are they cold? After that, move on to describe the cottage itself; is it old, what wood are the walls made of, are the windows clean and well taken care of, or are they dirty and cracked? Move on to describe the atmosphere in the cottage. Who's where? What are they doing? How do they feel? Are they happy and cozy or sad and lonely?

• If this is not the way you want to start your book, you can begin by describing the event which started  the whole series of events you are writing about. If, for instance, your character is involved in a terrible car crash and ends up immobilized, but later finds out that by being in that accident he becomes entitled to a fortune which makes him the center of interest for the most peculiar people, some of which the most powerful men alive, and that consequentially turns his whole life upside down, begin by describing the accident. Keep in mind that the first few lines or paragraphs are the first thing the reader is going to see. It has to be interesting and inviting. If however you start out by describing something completely irrelevant and boring, you are going to drive the readers away. Keep it simple, keep it interesting.

• Think about your main character/s. The story is most likely going to revolve around them so think about what they look like. Are they male of female? Do they have long or short hair? Is it blonde, black, brown or perhaps purple? Are they brave, curious, smart or quiet? Do they have any family? Is their family relevant? How did they get involved in all of this? It should help to write down a portrait of the character. Even if you don't put every part of it in the actual book, it will make them clearer in your mind, you'll understand how they'd think, how they'd react in a certain situation, what they'd say. This is important. Your character has to always be true to himself, and if his personality isn't all worked out in your head, the book will probably be bad.

• Think about the plot. Typically, there should be an introduction ( of the characters, as well as the plot ), a plot ( or where the whole situation tangles itself ) and a denouement, where it untangles itself, in a good or a bad way. Think about what the book is about. When the happenings...well, happen enough, think about what would mess the whole thing up. What would really make things hard for the main character? What decisions would he be forced to make? Who would he have to give up? If you want the reader to really get sucked in your book, make them like the character. Do the things that would really make the readers feel like they've become close with it. And then, a rule of thumb: kill the character. Metaphorically, of course. Or not. You could send them away, get them in a fight with the main character, or, if you like- kill them. It sounds cruel, I know, but think about it. Haven't you felt a bit angry with the writer for killing your favorite character, but it made you want to read even more? Take Harry Potter for instance, I believe we all cried when Dumbledore died, but did it make us stop reading? No. It made us love J.K.Rowling even more. 

• And lastly, think of the end. This is what everybody keeps telling me. You should think of the ending for you book. You have to know it the moment you start writing. Bullshit. When I was writing my first book, I had literally no idea how it would end. Zero. Nada. Writing the book was like reading one. I never knew what might happen next. I had a few ideas, but I never sat down thinking 'Now I'm gonna write about the part where he meets his true love'. No! I sat down thinking 'Okay, he woke up dreaming about her again. Let's describe that and see where it may lead to'. And guess what? It made writing a lot more fun! It was like watching a movie; you never know what happens next. I just saw words forming before me, and I was amused the whole time. Of course, at one point you have to think about the end, so you could fit the current events to the ending. So, yes. Keep the ending in mind, but don't make it your priority. Focus on what's happening now. 

And that's almost all you need to start writing. Answer all the questions I wrote, plus some of your own and you'll have a beginning. Always keep the character personality in mind. If you do, you can never make a mistake. 

* If you want more writing tips, I suggest reading "Writing down the Bones" by Natalie Goldberg. It was her book which inspired my writing. *