Saturday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

OH, THE MISTAKES WE’VE SEEN

By: BlueInk Review

In our mission at BlueInk Review to review self-published books, we’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. While it’s difficult to explain how to create stellar prose – as there’s always a touch of genius involved in the best literature – there’s no secret about where writers go wrong. As our reviews show, authors tend to commit the same writing crimes, book after book.

Below, we have compiled excerpts from the more than 2,000 reviews we’ve done, each of which expose common writing blunders. So what makes the bad review rear its dreaded, beastly head? Here are five traps you should avoid at all costs:

1. Writing rife with spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors

The fact that this is at the top of the list is both discouraging and heartening: discouraging because, let’s face it writers, a book should be free of all spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors long before it’s reviewed or even published; heartening because this is one of the simplest problems to remedy.

Mechanical errors detract from the plot by forcing readers to wade through a veritable pool of inaccuracies in an attempt to decipher meaning. Don’t punish your supporters for reading your book; reward them with flawless mechanics.

Simply put: Hire a professional copy editor. And when he/she is finished, don’t rest easy. Proofread, my friends, proofread.

Here’s a sample of what our critics said on the subject::

“More frustrating, however, is the inundation of spelling and punctuation errors in the novel, specifically the incorrect use of the question mark, which is employed improperly in countless sentences. The seeming lack of any proofreading leads to an exasperating reading experience that is made even more challenging by a storyline that is disjointed, aimless, and, at times, self-indulgent.”

2. Fiction containing overpowering agendas

. . .

Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. 5 Hacks Just For Writers http://ow.ly/yfcF0
2. Big Changes for Amazon Categories - Author Marketing Experts, Inc. http://ow.ly/yfcGK
3. Oh, the Mistakes We’ve Seen! – Kobo Writing Life http://ow.ly/yg35Q
4. Divas On Writing: Writing Effective Book Reviews - Write Divas http://ow.ly/yg3eN
5. How to Choreograph Direct Action Scenes by Adam Firestone http://t.co/pfoTR9GKtf

Happy writing and running, Kathy 

P.S. Yesterday I had to run errands so my reading time was limited. Enjoy these five posts!