Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler with Sharon Lippincott/@ritergal

 

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of light on broken glass.” Anton Chekov

 

I am thrilled to interview author and writing coach Sharon Lippincott on how she turned blog posts into a marketable e-book and paperback.  Sharon and I met in 2009 through The National Association of Memoir Writers(NAMW) and have been following each other ever since.

Her recently released e-book and paperback, The Heart and Craft of Writing Compelling Descriptions, is rapidly gaining international attention as an excellent resource for writers from many genres who want to take their writing to a deeper level. My reviews are on Amazon and Goodreads.

Welcome back, Sharon!

 

 

KP:     Please tell us about your book, The Heart and Craft of Writing Compelling Descriptions.

 

SL:      The book is a compilation of forty-eight blog posts relating to description writing. Collectively, they cover the gamut from using adjectives to pruning dead “would.” Several posts include tips for widening windows of awareness and using vocabulary you already have. These tips will add zest to your writing and life in general.

 

KP:     Your The Heart and Craft of Lifewriting blog posts are always rich in descriptive details so I’m not surprised you have packaged them so effectively into a book.

What made you decide to tackle this ambitious and creative project?

 

SL:      Three years ago I compiled a shorter anthology of posts about description and on a whim I thought I could pop that into a .99 Kindle book “in about three hours.” I immediately ran into snags. All my blog posts include images, and those proved to be a huge challenge in eBook format. The simple solution took weeks to discover.

Meanwhile I discovered two dozen additional posts and all forty-eight needed editing. Thank goodness for my awesome writing group buddies!. More writer friends kept my feet to the fire until the cover worked. With the additional posts, the book was long enough to justify a print version, and the rest is history.

 

KP:     I know your knowledge and skill with the technical aspects of being an author have come about from your sheer determination and initiative to master the how-to’s.  I have known you to be very generous with sharing what you have learned with others.

What tips on learning the technology would you share for those of us who may not have the same “technical fortitude” as you to take on a project such as this.

 

SL:      I do love being a tour guide for segments of the writers’ journey!

 

Tip #1:  Learn to use Styles in Word and you have the keys to the publishing kingdom. Once you get the drift, you’ll see how easy it is to begin with predefined styles while writing your draft. They are mandatory for uniform layout, and if you hire someone to do that for you, your groundwork will save the designer time and you money

.

YouTube has hundreds of tutorials to help you understand and use styles. Download your free copy of the Smashwords Style Guide from Smashwords.com. The process it describes works for both print and eBooks. Your time investing in learning to use styles will pay huge dividends.

 

Tip #2: Find a strong group of writing buddies and trade critiques. You’ll learn from each other, and your stories gain depth from additional perspective. Join a group online or form your own. Paid editors are great if you can afford them, but they are most valuable as icing on a cake leavened by group input.

 

KP:  Can you briefly outline the steps you took to turn your blog posts into a marketable book?

SL:      I did not follow a smooth path, but here is a list of things that must be done for any book, whether paper or pixels:

• Select posts or stories (write content for new book).
• Arrange anthology parts in logical order.
• Edit! and proof-read! everything. Many times. Get help with this, whether paid or from qualified writing buddies.
• Study published books for placement of copyright info, Table of Contents, etc.
• Finalize design details.
• Prepare cover.
• Prepare promo material.

 

Here the path diverges. Save a second copy of your file before proceeding. For print prep:

 

• Add blank pages as needed for proper layout.
• Insert headers, footers and page numbers according to design.
• Convert to PDF layout.

 

For eBook prep:

• Check with Kindle and ebook consolidators like Smashwords.com for latest instructions.
• Create new Table of Contents with hyperlinks instead of page numbers.
• Add bookmark for TOC.
• Save as HTML (filtered). This is optional, but recommended.

 

KP:     Are there any tips you’d like to share on marketing your book?

 

SL:      Start working on your book description when you start writing. Do NOT leave this for the last minute! Get lots of input.

Send out emails asking skilled reviewers if they are interested in receiving a review copy of your book. Do this a month or more before your planned launch date, and let them know when you want them to post (as soon as the page goes live). Ideally you want at least ten great reviews posted before you formally announce the book.

 

KP: Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share?

 

SL:      There has never been a better time to publish. You want your book to be awesome, but don’t invest more than you can comfortably afford to lose. The reader pool size is stable, and the number of books is skyrocketing. Give it your best shot, rejoice in a monumental achievement, and be happy with whatever results you achieve.

 

Thank you , Sharon for sharing so many helpful details about turning blog posts into a book. Your expertise is greatly appreciated and your enthusiasm is contagious!

 

***

Author Bio:

Sharon Lippincott is an evangelist for lifestory writing and memoir and the author of four books including The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing. Her most recent, The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing Compelling Description helps writers transform blah stories into brilliant ones.  She teaches memoir and other writing courses online and in Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh Osher programs and cohosts the Life Writers’ Forum YahooGroup. She is founder of WE WRITE! Creative Writing University in Pittsburgh and serves on the National Association of Memoir Writers advisory board.

She blogs at http://heartandcraft.blogspot.com

email: ritergal@gmail.com

Twitter @ritergal

Amazon: http://ow.ly/k1l2U

 

 

Sharon has agreed to give an e-book copy of  The Heart and Craft of Writing Compelling Description, in the format of your choice, to a commenter whose name will be chosen at the end of the week in a random drawing.

 

How about you? Have you thought about turning your blog posts into a book? We’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~

 

Announcements: 

Congratulations to Lorenzo Martinez and Audrey Chin. Lorenzo is the winner of Singing to Silence by Pam Richards and Audrey is the winner of The Woman I’ve Become, an anthology compiled by Pat Lapointe.

Congratulations to  Barbara McDowell Whitt. You are the winner of Mary Gottschalk’s memoir. Sailing Down the Moonbeam.

 

This Week:

I’ll be  over at Sarah Freeman’s blog Write by Gracewith a guest post on “God’s Grace in My Life” starting on  Tuesday, July 2.

 

Next Week: 

“The Crooked Lake: A Memoir Moment” on Monday, July 8

“Do You Recognize Your Authentic Voice?” , a guest post by #journalchat host Dawn Herring on Thursday, July 11