How To Release Your Inner Creativity

Make This The Year You Call Yourself A Writer

At the start of every year I like to give myself a kick up the wazoo by reading an ‘inspirational book’. Something that gets my mind so motivated that it’s doing star jumps and one handed push-ups with a dinosaur on its back. Yes, there are dinosaurs living in my head (what, they’re not living in yours? Are you sure you’re a writer?), they make sure I keep to my word count. There’s nothing like the threat of a dinosaur rampage in your skull to keep you on track.

But that’s not the point; the point is this year’s book was actually a re-read of one I read last year, Seth Godin’s, The Icarus Deception. If you are a writer, no matter what stage you are at in your career, and haven’t read this book, then you have to get off this blog right now and go order it! But ah… make sure you come back ok? I promise I’ll make it worth your while.

I had forgotten just how instrumental this novel was to setting me on the path I am today. This book taught me that it was ok to be an artist (aka writer of awesome), but also that I was the one who needed to give myself permission to do that. In fact, the book affected my outlook so much I wanted to share the inspiration, like a plague. But a nice plague, one that spread ideas and passion rather than death and boils. So I went out and recorded a short presentation to try and help other writers (and creatives in general) to release their inner creative.

And the first month of a new year seemed to be the best time to then share this, rather earnest and passionate rant with you.

So this is my challenge to you in 2014 – To give your creative self a chance.

To give yourself permission to be an artist.

Life is too short to spend it doing something that isn’t rewarding. This video will show you how to get started.

And if you’re the sort of person who doesn’t like watching white women offer ‘crazy’ suggestions to bring about the life you always wished you had but never got around to because you had to watch that new Doctor Who episode (I hear you!), then you can read a summary below the video.

Do you consider yourself a writer? What’s stopping you? Drop a comment below and let us know your thoughts.

How To Release Your Inner Creativity:

Many of us are told when we are young, “There are a lot of artists out there and you’re not good enough to make money from what you love.” And this is true. That is, if you continually wait to be picked. But the trick is, in this crazy artistic world full of some weird and wonderful things, you need to pick yourself. So I challenge you this year to give your creative self a chance, give yourself permission to be an artist and turn what you love into something you can get paid for.  Don’t be trapped in a job you hate.

You ARE Good Enough To Create Art

In 2011 I realised my back up plan had become my life, and it sucked. I had to ask myself, how much worse could taking a chance on my true passion be? Now I ask you the same question.

If you’re ready to change your life, if you are ready to shout “I’m a writer!” in your best Tarzan voice, then keep reading. I’m going to give you three things you need to do to make your true passion a reality this year. Are you ready?

1. Break Free Of Your Programming: As children we were told in school that we should fear failure. We were punished if we didn’t have the ONE right answer. As if the world ever works that way. Einstein has this fabulous quote, which I think is something everyone, particularly parents, should keep in mind: Everybody is a genius. But if we judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it is going to end up believing it is stupid forever. So what is holding you back? For most people (this comes from our childhood robot ‘programming’ years), the answer to that question is fear. Fear of being found out as a fraud. So to break free of that programming you have to dance with fear, you need to celebrate the failures as well as the successes, because it’s only by failing that we learn to do things better. So your action step to help you break away and dance with fear, is to create something new every day. I don’t care what it is, whether it’s a paragraph, a chapter, a haiku, or an artistic photo for your Instagram. Get into the habit.
2. Educate yourself: You need to learn the conventional wisdom, the rules if you will. Of publishing, of writing, of genre, of life. Not so you can obey them, but so you can break them. Writers are born with a seed of talent, but if you want to make a living out of your passion, out of your art then you need to fertilise that seed with a trailer load of manure. You need to stink yourself out. You’ve got to build the skills, there is no such thing as natural born talent. To be an artist, to call yourself a writer, you must create something new every day, and to create something new, you must learn what came before. I’ve done a post on this blog about the importance of educating yourself before. So go get to it, grab a crap load of books, listen to podcasts, videos, and search out mentors (who are by far the greatest way to accelerate your learning). Learn how people do stuff so you can be a bull in their china shop.
3. Share Your Art With Others: What you create isn’t art unless you share it with someone. Unless you say, “Here, I made this for you.” It is only by getting feedback that you can learn from failure and improve. Only then can you make a difference in someone else’s life with your art. You need to look your fear in the face and connect with people. And how do you do that? You need to go online, find out where your tribe is, where the people like you are and create that connection, so that when the time comes to present your art, you have people who have bonded with you and who will help you improve and create bigger, better art.

Make this the year you call yourself a writer.

Image:  Seth Godin’s The Icarus Deception and Flickr Creative Commons Dinosaur by Joseph Wu.

Crowd Funding 101 For Writers

I believe I’ve spoken about the cocktail fantasy before. You get your first book published (either traditionally or self) and suddenly you find yourself daydreaming about monthly holidays in the Caribbean and writing from your million dollar villa in Spain. And in your excitement you quit your run-of-the-mill job and suddenly find yourself up Poor River without your Pay Check Paddle. If only you had the money/the apartment to get the second book off the ground that your fans so desperately want. Or at least you hope they want.

What if I told you, you could get paid for writing, or to make your first print run? Especially if you are an already established author? If you are willing to do the work, then perhaps crowd funding is for you. Crowd funding allows artists to raise funds for their project, by asking everyday people to pledge money toward their project. It's not like traditional fundraising where you wear a Santa suit, put out a bucket to collect change and you hand it into the organisation (or I suppose yourself in this case). Crowd funding sets a goal and time limit, if you don't get enough people to pledge in the allotted time, everyone keeps their money, and the project goes back to square one. If the artist makes the funding goal, only then will the project go ahead, and then everyone who pledged gets some sort of reward for their wonderful help.

This is the platform that I used to fund a photography project to Cambodia (http://imagesforjoy.pozible.com.au) and what first time author Alain Guillemain used to edit, print, and launch his book Customer Delight (See his crowd funding project here).Yes you heard me right, Alain is a first time author, not an established author, and in 40 days he raised $7600. I was so intrigued I interviewed him about how he did it.

Lucky for you, I recorded it! See below for the full interview:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Customer Delight is available at http://customerdelight.com.au

Don’t say I don’t find the good stuff for you.  But remember,this is a professional artistic endeavour which requires the ability to produce what you promised. Almost 50% of projects do not get funded in the allotted time. So you need to have a good, creative plan in place, a fan base and dedication.

WANT TO GET THE EDGE?? MAKE YOUR CROWD FUNDING A SUCCESS.

For a limited time I will be offering the full recording, transcript and a one hour conference call with me to help you set up your project, so that you can give yourself the best chance of funding your project and getting paid for your writing. If you are interested in purchasing please email ebookrevolution(at) yahoo (dot) com with the subject heading  “Crowd Funding Help”.

Why do I have the expertise to guide you? I have both conducted a successful crowd funding campaign (raise almost $4500) and interviewed many others who have raised between $2500 and $7600. I know what it takes and how you need to market your project.

If you are interested please email ebookrevolution (at) yahoo (dot) com with the subject heading  “Crowd Funding Help”.

My recent novel a comedy set in Facebook, The Grand Adventures of Madeline Cain, is available at http://emilycraven.bkclb.co/the-grand-adventures-of-madeline-cain. You can also purchase E-Book Revolution: The Ultimate Guide to E-Book Success at http://emilycraven.bkclb.co/e-book-revolution-the-ultimate-guide-to-e-book-success.

The Business Of Being A Writer

I have a notoriously faulty memory, to the point where I will call family members on their birthday, not to congratulate them but to talk about some mundane subject I had been meaning to call about. Diaries rarely work, normally they end in some hidey hole I don’t find until I move house. So I have taken to writing things on my hand with pen in a bid to appear organised, and on occasion, prompt my memory. Today’s reminder came in the form of BC.

After rejecting several meanings, both religious and otherwise, I finally remembered what it stood for: Business Card. Writers rarely think of what they do as a business, that every person they meet, from the pretty girl behind the counter of the cupcake store, to the editor who gives them 2 mins to pitch their novel, is a potential champion of their book, their information and a possible link to media coverage. For indie authors this can be vital, because most people will keep a business card over anything else given to them. They are terrific promotional tools because they are inexpensive. They are also terrific icebreakers and informational aids.

A business card has to have a specific purpose, and as a published/self-published writer I would recommend you have two. One specifically for your e-book or book, and the other for you as a writer and (if writing non-fiction) an expert. My business card’s purpose was to establish myself as an expert writer and e-book specialist and to recruit Joint Venture partners to help me sell my e-book. You will remember from my previous posts, that a Joint Venture partner is part of your army of promoters. They do not promote you to get that pleasant fuzzy feeling inside; they will promote you in exchange for you giving them part of the profits. If you give them money to help they will move heaven and earth to promote you through social media, on t-shirts, in song... You take advantage of the people they know, to become more widely read and recognised.

The result of my efforts is below:

On the front of the business card I have the cover of my e-book – simple and eye catching, done by a professional cover designer, not my next door neighbour’s two year old. I have the name of my e-book and a six word pitch or ‘silver-bullet’ that tells people exactly what the book is about. It is short and concise and does not include the entire storyline of my novel or dramatic and unnecessary words like ‘stupendous’ and ‘so funny it will make your socks fall off!’. It gives my name and expertise along with my phone number (more relevant if you are recruiting your promotion army in your own country), email, blog and the webpage where I currently sell my e-book. The colours of my information match the colours of my book cover.

On the back of the card I have my pitch once more, along with my websites and my social media information (Twitter, and when it’s up and running, Facebook will join the party). The most important feature of this whole card is the QR code. This code takes the scanner not to the ramblings of my blog but to my e-book page with my whole pitch including bonuses, extras and samples. At the bottom of the card it tells smart phone users where they can download a QR code reader if they don’t have one. If they don’t have a smart phone, they can manually look up the websites printed next to it.

A business card specifically for your book has just as much potential, with the QR code going to a Youtube video of your book trailer, or to three sample chapters of your novel. The best part is you can change which web address your QR code points to. So if you hand out a card and three months down the track you decide you may have been a little racist in your first trailer, you can direct the person to a different trailer with a couple of clicks in your QR code generator. On a business card for your book you want to have the name of your novel, the publisher’s name if you have one, your 6 or 7 word pitch, the cover image, your contact information and your book’s website. Have your own author website and pick only one of the websites that sells your novel, you don’t want your card crowded with the sites of all your sellers in letters no-one can read.

There are ads all the time on ebay promoting 250 free business cards and all you have to pay is postage. So no more excuses! While your e-book may be digital, your promotion should not be restricted to the screen. There are so many networking opportunities out there, conventions, festivals, talks and courses that you cannot afford to hand people your information on a piece of scrap paper.

My recent novel a comedy set in Facebook, The Grand Adventures of Madeline Cain, is available at http://emilycraven.bkclb.co/the-grand-adventures-of-madeline-cain. You can also purchase E-Book Revolution: The Ultimate Guide to E-Book Success at http://emilycraven.bkclb.co/e-book-revolution-the-ultimate-guide-to-e-book-success.

“Why It’s A Book Soundtrack, My Dear Watson.”

Have you ever read a book and been jerked out of the story? You are right at that scene where a well dressed member of the opposite sex is sweeping you - I mean the character - off their feet when you brother’s well timed fart beside your ear pulls you from the fantasy. Or a car back fires as you imagine a plane flight, or a leaky tap just won’t stop dripping when your main character is in the desert, or the tree that your character has been talking to so earnestly suddenly speaks with your child’s voice asking you when dinner is ready. Is the sound track of life keeping you out of the moment?

It may have been, until now. Due to some very smart thinkers your e-book can not only keep you in the moment, it can enhance it. The company Booktracks is currently creating synchronized soundtracks for e-books, with the music embedded into the book. The technology is designed to play the ambient music (a sad song during a gloomy chapter or horns during a dashing attack) and sound effects at the individual’s reading pace. It is not an audio book, no one is reading the story to you, it is trying to make the story come alive through music. It provides a similar function to a movie sound track. Can you imagine watching Pirates of the Caribbean with no music and just the dialogue? It would be like watching a very drunk man stagger about in a fancy dress costume in the middle of Sydney’s CBD, completely lacking in atmosphere and class.

This company has taken interactivity to a whole new level by immersing and enhancing the story rather than detracting from it with flashy videos or pictures. Booktracks were commissioned to enhance ‘The Power of Six’ by Pittacus Lore, the sequel to ‘I Am Number Four’. But they have also taken several copyright free classics such as Sherlock Holmes (currently available for free) and created ‘booktracks’ for them.





Another e-book which includes its own soundtrack is Moxyland by Lauren Beukes who worked with African Dope Records to produce a soundtrack for the book. Though not as advanced as the Booktracks technology it has been praised as very effective by readers/listeners of the e-book.

Imagine the sorts of things an indie author can do with this. It can go a lot further then ambient music of the right tone, it can add to the character and a reader’s connection to them. For example, if your main character is a musician, you can have snippets of the character’s original music embedded in the story. Rather than imagining the creative process of the character, the reader is hearing it! Using a full version of Adobe Acrobat you can embed multimedia, such as music, yourself. Or if that’s too tech for you, you could recommend a playlist of songs for your e-book that a reader could listen to as they read your story.

So consider, what can you add to your e-book that will drown out the sound of that pimple face kid next door massacring Blues Brothers with his new saxophone?

My recent novel a comedy set in Facebook, The Grand Adventures of Madeline Cain, is available at http://emilycraven.bkclb.co/the-grand-adventures-of-madeline-cain. You can also purchase E-Book Revolution: The Ultimate Guide to E-Book Success at http://emilycraven.bkclb.co/e-book-revolution-the-ultimate-guide-to-e-book-success.

Are You Missing Out On A Publicity Goldmine?

The power of a simple reading should never be underestimated. Hearing the dulcet voice of another verbally caressing your prose seems to add another dimension somehow. As much as we try to deny it, some little part of our inner child is still fascinated with the daring escapades of talking shoes or pink elephants rendered vividly to life by a story teller’s fairly dodgy accents and high-pitched voices. The simple act of giving voice to something that is normally just in our head - particularly comedy which always reaches its true potential when performed – deepens our attachment as voices and sounds are added to the pictures of our imagination. And creating a clever video round your e-book could see it sky rocket to the most talked about digital file (or stapled pieces of paper) of the year.

In one of the best pieces of book marketing I have seen this year, Text Publishing, released a video of one of Australia’s most iconic children’s show hosts reading an adult picture book called ‘Go The F*** To Sleep’. Text appear to have followed every bit of advice I have given to you in this blog to the letter. They launched their book via the video below, a simple reading of a very comic adult book. The book is funny by itself, but synopsis and traditional marketing can only go so far and the book more than likely would have had a slow build. But Text went and found further comic fuel to add to the fire. They hired Noni Hazlehurst, the host of the iconic Australian children’s show, Playschool. This wonderful host who gently led children through cheerful songs, and squeaky clean picture books for well over two decades, is reading the book as though to an audience of children, making innocent side comments as she swears at the end of every page.

Just a quick warning, if you have sensitive ears, this video contains some swearing...


Go the Fuck to Sleep - read by Noni Hazlehurst from sswam on Vimeo.

Not only is it comedy gold, but a publicity goldmine. All they did was advertise it to their mailing list, and promote it on their social media. In almost 6 hours it got posted 66,258 times on Facebook before it got removed by YouTube for ‘harmful content’. But from there it didn’t matter, as soon as they placed their video on other video sharing sites (Such as Viddler or Vimeo) fans of the reading quickly passed on the link to the new video. Though Text would have hired Noni you will notice that this major publishing company chose to use all free avenues in placing their video online, and promoting through email and social media. This is because these avenues really work, and if you are still ignoring them as an indie author you may as well go the f*** to sleep.

While this book has already seen great success in the US through Samuel L. Jackson’s reading of the book, it’s worthwhile noting that different approaches and personalities will work better for some countries then others. Noni is a perfect choice for the Australian version of the book, however the majority of the US and UK wouldn’t even know who she was. As a traditional publisher, Text only publishes in one country, Australia, so it works for them. However, as an indie author if you want to reach several countries at once it is worth while playing on common comedic elements and topical subjects.

One of the best examples of an author using videos to reach their audience is John Greene, a YA author who posts little, fast talking and hilarious videos on YouTube every week with his brother Hank, to reach out to his audience of readers. You can check out his videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers. They talk about subjects important to their readers (self confessed 'nerds'...), and to themselves and more importantly, they have fun doing it!! The statistics for each video speak for themselves. Not only do these videos sell John's current books without him ever referring directly to them, but when his next book comes out, all he has to do is mention it once and it reaches hundreds of thousands of watchers, and is shared by hundreds of thousands of watchers.



The above reading is how it’s done my good writers; this is how you promote an e-book successfully. So time to add some life to your book. Go forth! Discover your goldmine.