Indie Life – Helpful post-conference WP info

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IndieLife7

at the bottom of this post read other Indie Life posts around the web

I attended my yearly NESCBWI conference this weekend where for the first time I attended as faculty AND as the only self-published author at the signing.

I have to say I didn’t feel like a pioneer. I felt like the black sheep. Only it was really just in my head. So before I get to the good WordPress info that I’ll be sharing, this is my simple reminder to get out of your own head when it comes to being Indie. YOU ARE A PUBLISHED AUTHOR. OWN IT.

Okay and now that I’m done with my Public Service Announcement, here is one of the documents from my workshop as I presented it at NESCBWI this weekend.  (I’ll figure out later how to post my PowerPoint, any suggestions out there?)

Here is my list of links to learn WordPress through video:

*Please do not copy or distribute the documents below, but feel free to link back to this post.

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com

http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

http://weblogs.about.com/od/choosingabloghost/qt/Should-You-Pay-For-Wordpress-Com-Upgrades-Or-Use-Wordpress-Org.htm

Setup

Installing WP for the first time, Robert Wimer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AUFQZBfrmM – using bluehost and cPanel, a must watch for setting up, even if you don’t use bluehost

The basics of WP with Tyler Moore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jv47_VIBOQ – 1 hour long, but covers embedding YouTube video, photos, comment form, creating logos, icons and page creation. An older video but covers everything in detail.

Backup and Updates: WP websites are an SQL database, follow “mySQL database backup” per host instructions. Usually about 4mb in size. I recommend following your host’s instructions for backups which will save your site data as a Word doc or Excel spreadsheet. I personally do not have experience with the reliability of using a plugin created for this job: WordPress backup to dropbox is one of multiple options out there: by 77webstudio http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGeWvf5WqRA

Keeping WP updated by The Website Teacher: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6vP36YSxzo – walks you through updating WP and how to verify what the latest version of WP is, at the wp.org site. Also shows you how to keep your plugins updated.

WP Dashboard

Beginner WP  http://www.2createawebsite.com/blogging/free-wordpress-tutorial.html from Lisa Irby at 2createawebsite. 26 minutes. Walks you through the basics including menu creation.

Appearance – how to make your site unique

For the slightly more advanced user: Lisa Irby’s use of Firebug (an html/css viewer) for Firefox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMv21d8YUfs&feature=player_embedded&list=UUwt1nnHPSIOrA2xjZHb0L6g#!

Hexadecimal colors: http://www.december.com/html/spec/color1.html

Lisa’s hexadecimal color tools: http://www.2createawebsite.com/build/hex-colors.html

CSS: http://www.2createawebsite.com/design/css-tutorial.html

FTP: http://www.2createawebsite.com/build/ftp.html – quick and easy basics on what FTP is and how to use it to keep your site up to date

 

Embed youtube video: http://weblogs.about.com/od/writingablog/ss/YouTubeWordpres.htm

Resize photos: http://www.squidoo.com/resize – some of these options are free, some for a fee.

Marketing and site design

Great article on SEO: http://yoast.com/articles/wordpress-seo/

The 7 pages by Brendon Burchard: http://www.totalproductblueprint.com/marketing/ – great speaker, non-fiction but great info on marketing via your web pages.  Web page info starts at about 18 minutes into the presentation. Think outside the box on this one, tweak his info for selling your books.

Extras:

Rafflecopter – https://www.rafflecopter.com/ – create a contest giveaway, copy and paste the code from this site, into your posts or widget text box.

Goodreads – A tutorial by Freya on how to add a Goodreads widget. – http://blog.fatema.in/2012/01/how-to-add-a-goodreads-widget-to-your-wordpress-blog/

 Glossary:

admin – a person or id that has full rights to edit, delete, create on a website of document.

browser – the client application where you view webpages

category – a class or group of things

CSS – Cascading style sheet

dashboard – the area of wordpress and other blogging platforms where an administrator can create posts, pages, add widgets, plugins and edit dynamics of their site.

domain – the name you go by on the internet

firebug – A firefox ad-on that allows you to see the html behind a website.

ftp- file transfer protocol – the way larger files are encoded when they are sent from one computer to another.

home page – the first page of a site when a viewer types in the url this is the landing page.

HTML- Hypertext markup language  – a standard language used to create webpages. A document that is made up of html has the extension .htm

http: hypertext transfer protocol: the standard protocol for transferring hypertext documents on the World Wide Web.

index – the pointer/foundation page, also known as a home page

links – the url for a site

outsourcing- via fiverr/elance

page- usually a static form of content accessible from the menu bar

plugin – An accessory software used in conjunction with an existing application like WordPress to extend its capabilities or provide additional functions.

png – portable network graphics – a file type that lends itself to high quality low size ratio.

post – content that is usually time stamped and time sensitive, like a blog entry.

SEO  – Search Engine Optimization- how easy is it to find your site?

SEO of tags and categories http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/categories-vs-tags-seo-best-practices-which-one-is-better/

static/dynamic pages – static being unchanging vs. continual changing page like a blog posting page.

tags -  singular descriptive word or words

URL – Uniform Resource Locator – a protocol for specifying addresses on the Internet

webhost – the business of providing various services, hardware, and software for Web sites, as storage and maintenance of site files on a server.

widget – like a knob or switch, this is a small computer program that can run inside of your WP webpages.

WordPress is a content management system- a box to hold your writing

WP theme – A pre-built template of design on the WordPress platform containing CSS pages.

*definitions aided by Dictionary.com
Visit other Indies below!

Conference Weekend! NESCBWI here I come!

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Just a quick post to let everyone know that this weekend is the New England Regional Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference. Wow that’s a sentenceful!
And there are a ton of first timer tips out there like this one. A nice breakdown but intended for a different conference, still NESCBWI also reaches about 700 people. http://anjalimitterduva.com/2013/04/30/13-tips-for-getting-the-most-out-of-a-writing-conference-in-particular-grub-streets-the-muse-the-marketplace-2/

Conferences are great places to learn about writing, about other writers and about the industry. If you are a writer and choosing this career path, research and find a conference that will suit your genre, or publishing style (there are self-pub conferences out there now!) But find some connections. You’ll be glad you did.

I met my first organized critique group through the NESCBWI conference. I met my dear friend Kris (also in the critique group… and soon director of next year’s conference. WAIT, I volunteered to help too??)  Yes. I volunteered to help too, because you only get out what you put in. And I want to help others have a great conference experience in the future.

This year I’m presenting a workshop for authors on how to use WordPress to create a website. And soon I’ll share some of the information on the blog.

This weekend is going to be full of fun and learning. I’ll be taking sessions like Creating Engaging School Visits, and Real Revision the Big Picture, and Humor Cells.  I’ll also be meeting up with all of my writer friends, some of whom I only see online. So this is going to be a great weekend!!

Hope to see you there!

Video

Sleepy Kitty and his Super Cute Kitty Siblings.

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So here is my example of embedding video in your webpage. My template has a video format which I can use to show you this super cute kitty video. I simply went to youtube, clicked on share, clicked on embed and copied the html code. Created a new post for my website, click on the text editor (instead of visual) and pasted the html code. That’s it!

Check out the two little ragamuffins wrestling in the background:

 

While I am not affiliated with Adopt a pet.com in anyway, I do highly recommend adopting a cat or kitten from your local shelter. They make great muses for the writer in all of us! Sooo sleepy….zzzzz.

Bye, Bye, Burnell? I don’t think so.

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So over the years I’ve enjoyed, like many authors, drawing comparisons between the writing life and American Idol. AI condenses the roller coaster ride of being a creative artist all in one season.

[this is where I would have pasted a bunch of awesome pictures of Burnell, but they're all copyrighted]

I love Burnell. I will miss both him as a personality and his singing. Not only because he’s adorable but he has the ability to make me cry when he sings.

As a writer we deal with rejection in may different forms big and small. Last night Burnell got the big R off the show. But as many of us writers know, a rejection whether big or small is still just one R. Just a single no. For Burnell it remains the same. He’s super talented, he’ll persevere and when he does we’ll hear him sing again.

So if you got that big R, my writer friends, and you’re bumming it. Keep on and keepin’ on. You have talent the world needs, continue to share it!!

HUGS!

High Concept – How to make it your own

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I have a fascination with all things High Concept.  I enjoy reading it and I absolutely love the elusive hunt for it as a writer. The best way I think to find your own unique high concept is to really review who you are as a writer.  What moves you?

What are the themes in your writing? We all choose what we enjoy writing about and I don’t mean genre.  Things like family issues, family relationships, friendships, external issues, etc.

Next what do you focus on in your genre. MG/YA, genre fiction have huge ranges of romance, fantasy, science fiction (hard or soft).  Where do you sit inside your genre?

Now try something different.  Focus on YOU as a person.  Sit down with a lined pad or open up Excel or Word and create a numbered list. Write down every movie, book, TV show and song that has ever moved you emotionally either because it’s super fun or caused emotional upheaval. After each title place a dash and add the WHY.  Why did it move you?  What did you LOVE about this experience?

Take another step deeper.  List all your personal experiences that had an impact on you.  White water rafting, exchange programs, vacations… Now be open. This is your list and yours alone. You have every right to absolutely LOVE the Backyardigans for their use of opera in a kids show.  Or claim undying love for the nerdy guy on Glee. This is the list of things that get your blood moving.  This is what you should write about.

Now take a spoon and stir it up.  Mix all of that culture, lit, media and pop together and let it stew for you. This list, this hodgepodge that makes up your experiences is vitally important to your writing because NO ONE ELSE can write about them like you can.  THIS is where your high concept idea is going to come from.

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High Concept is not a magic potion that someone created.  It’s YOUR magic.  It’s the boiled down essence of you as a person and your take on the world, made concrete on paper, for your readers to see.

So what’s on your list??

How to Avoid Jumping the Shark in Episodic Fiction

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Jumping the Shark. We all love this phrase don’t we? It’s a hilarious example of how a TV show can get the story wrong. I mean seriously The Fonz water skiing? In his jacket? Okay I get the jacket, The Fonz did everything in his jacket. But water skiing? I think it was an excuse to the send the cast and crew to the beach for a few days. Here ya go, take a moment, I’ll wait. Enjoy. Youtube link to the actual event on Happy Days.

In all seriousness, Jumping the Shark is a real problem in storytelling. We may not experience it that often in novel writing because we don’t usually use an episodic story structure. You Jump the Shark when you’ve run out of everything you could possibly say or do with your characters, run out of every possible combination of plots. You resort to the unthinkable. Jumping the Shark.

What if you wanted to write episodic fiction?

The episodic story structure works brilliantly when done well. It produces the never ending series. Any writer who loves the world they’ve built, or who has readers who love the world you’ve built, could benefit from using an episodic story structure.

Young children also enjoy the predictability of the episodic structure. Children love the familiarity of the characters and the predictability of the plot. Think of The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne.

It’s that same predictability and familiarity that can cause you to jump the shark. I think the episodic style probably works best for writers who plot (but pantsers, let me know your thoughts). When you plot an episodic series, there are a few things I’ve learned that we need to keep in mind that can help avoid the dreaded loss of potential ideas.

The main character of the story needs to have depth. So do all the characters but the main character needs to be able to pull this episodic thing off. He or she needs to be a stand out among characters, we’re going to want to follow him or her on this journey, no matter where it goes. The key to keeping readers reading without having to resort to extraordinary shark jumping, is to make sure that your character, this awesome personality, GROWS along a character arc. Even if you’re planning 50 episodes in your series your protagonist is going to have grow across those 50 novels. If he/she doesn’t your reader will get bored. And so will you.

Another important aspect of writing the episodic story is the plot. Becoming the master of tension is important here. Keeping the reader turning the page, caring about what happens. Not only does the main character have to evolve so does the plot and linking the two will create the best backdrop.

What I’ve just stumbled through in this blog post, Chris over at King of Elfland’s 2nd Cousin, *giggle* has done a brilliant job on breaking down the episodic series into an understandable and useful 3 part blog post. If you want to avoid jumping the shark keep these things in mind:

1. Main Character – must be interesting and have something going on that forces them repeatedly into adventures.

2. Main character must emotionally grow over the course of the series. the emotional arc must exist

3. Plot and pacing – Action and a mystery to solve, with a sense of escalation. As Chris mentions, you can’t save the world in book 1.

4. Tension – keep the pages turning. Donald Maass does a great job in his book The Fire in Fiction about the importance of tension in each scene.

5. Leave the reader wanting more on both the story conflict and the emotional conflict.

The REAL reason to Self-publish

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IndieLife7

Connection.

I’m going to cheat and have you scroll down and read  a post I recently wrote called The Wheels on the Bus.

Go ahead scroll down.

The REAL reason to self-publish? To help readers make connections with each other.

If you’d like to support the Books on the Bus Project, please let me know by leaving a comment and I’ll send you our contact information.

THANK YOU!

Check out what other Indies have to say today:

Favorite Books on the Bus Project

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school bus

I think I underestimated the impact my book, or any one book, can have in the world. Or maybe deep down I knew it and that’s why I started writing and have always wanted to be a writer.

Yesterday I received a note on my Facebook page from a close family friend. She is a school bus driver in Pennsylvania. She bought a copy of my book GANGSTERLAND when it first came out in October. Reading her note made me cry and I want to share it with you. Here is what she said:

 I have to tell you that I lend my book out to kids on my bus. It is now on kid 13 , and there are 26 on the waiting list. It’s a big hit. I would make them buy it, but most of them are under privilege children. It gives us something to talk about as we drive. Thank you for helping me get closer to some of them.  ~Cyndi

I want nothing more than to send her 40 copies of my book. But I’m self-published and I’m still trying to crawl out from under the red. So I thought I’d ask for some help from our wonderful middle grade community.

Do you have gently used middle grade or lower YA books that could use a good home? If you do, I know these kids would truly appreciate it.

Please feel free to pass this post around, re-blog, tweet it, share it on Facebook. It would be wonderful if we could get a book to every kid on Cyndi’s school bus.

If you have some gently used books that you would like to donate, please leave me a note in the comments below and I’ll reply with a mailing address.

Let’s give every kid on the bus a book!

THANK YOU!

 

The Incredible Joy That Can Come From Indie Publishing

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IndieLife7This indie post is going to be short. But very sweet.

It’s a reminder of one of the most important benefits of choosing to independently publish your own work.

Readers.

When we choose to go it on our own, we take on the responsibility of creating a readable, enjoyable work for readers. We aren’t looking to please the narrowness of big publishing. We choose to write a good story.

Once we’ve accomplished this feat, this polished tome that we send out into the world, we hope it will be well received. I think, for me that was certainly a hope. That someone would enjoy the story I created.

On Monday of this week, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit a classroom whose teacher had read my book to them over the course of a few months.

Getting to meet these wonderful seventh graders was a treat on it’s own. They asked thoughtful questions about the writing process itself and of my own impressions of the story as I wrote it. A truly great group of kids to talk to.

What really made my day was the fact that they were looking forward to the next book.  They wanted to know what it would be about and how soon could they read it.

This is the best thing any indie author can hear. That not only is our first book well received but that readers are anxious for the next book.

So big hugs go out to my new beta-readers in Mrs. Morelli’s 7th grade English class.  You’ve made my publishing dreams a reality!