Category: Advice

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What’s the Deal with Word Counts?

Ah, a great mystery in the industry that will blow your mind by the time we finish having a chat about this. Coming from a background in typesetting (book formatting) there’s so much that can be told about a book via its word count and the patterns we see across genres, readers, platforms, and more. Have you seen The Author’s Accountability Planner we release here at 4 Horsemen Publications every year? In this wonderful planner we have front matter to help you set goals and it includes this amazing snapshot:

Genre and Reader Impact

At a glance, it’s amazing to see where these numbers fall when you look at the right column in the image above. Depending on the reader you are writing to can decide how low or high you can go with your word count. Please note it’s not uncommon for Epic Fantasy and Epic Science Fiction to push close to the 200,000 word count range! Mixing and matching genre types can make the word count grow beyond the initial genre’s limits. Interestingly enough, looking at word counts on best selling books or staples for your genre and readership can be eye opening. 

  • TRUE: Books selling organically are often over the 80,000 word count range. This is seen within our own numbers in-house as well as industry.
  • FALSE: younger readers read lower word counts.
    • Upper middle grade (5th to 8th Graders) ranges: 45,000 to 100,000 words.
    • Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is often read by 5th graders and has 87,223 words approx. 
    • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone starts at 76,944 words but as the series evolved they sky rocket to over 100,000 to 200,000 words! Peaking at Order of the Phoenix with 257,045 words.
  • TRUE: Best selling works often peak well over the 100,000 word count range.
  • FALSE: The modern reader doesn’t have time to read so shorter works are best.
    • With audiobooks and eBooks readers are having an easier time finding books at lower prices as well as reading longer works in piecemeal. 
    • Short stories sell better in collections over the 50,000 word range.
  • TRUE: First chapters shouldn’t be super long. Many best selling novels have shorter, more concise first three chapters with word counts falling between 1200 to 2500 words.
  • FALSE: Chapter word count doesn’t impact readers.
    • It depends on the reader. When writing webnovels and similar serializations you want to fall close to 1200-1700 words consistently every time. 
    • Some even push as high as a 2500 word count depending on genre.
  • TRUE: Readers are ok with series word counts getting higher. Oftentimes we see novels go higher and lower. As long as the books don’t fall too much lower than the initial work, readers tend to not notice and feel longer works as a type of reward.
  • FALSE: You can put a short story or novella within a novel series.
    • Readers will riot. These are best left as spin-offs independent from the core series.
    • You can often make a sub-series of short stories and novellas to keep them together.
    • Readers do enjoy spinoffs and shorter works from their favorite series, but if it’s implied as the next book in the main series that’s been novel length until this point, it will make them feel as if the author didn’t put their best foot forward.

Best Selling Novels

  • Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes 345,390 words
  • A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 146,500 words. Originally released in monthly installments of 18,500 words
  • The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien 455,125 words
  • The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis 38,421 words
  • The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown 170,000 words
  • The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho 45,000 words
  • Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery 39,500 words
  • War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 561,304
  • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 120,697
  • Watership Down by Richard Adams 156,154
  • The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 155,717 
  • Pet Sematary by Stephen King 142,664
  • Twilight by Stephanie Meyer 118,875
  • Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas 113,665
  • Divergent by Veronica Roth 105,143
  • Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 145,719
  • The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 99,750
  • Discover more here: https://brokebybooks.com/the-word-count-of-175-favorite-novels/ 

Publishing Snapshot

From seeing a word count, a professional in the publishing industry can speculate and predict a lot about a book’s end product. Granted, it’s not 100% accurate but it can be startling to see in action. The first thing we do is make sure the word count meets the genre and reader needs. From there, we start thinking in terms of the final product. Here’s some fun facts:

  • The average 5.25 x 8 to 6 x 9 book page holds roughly 300-600 words depending on the design and font choices.
  • Most 80,000 word novels land between 250-300 pages.
  • Every 10,000 words often translates into 1 finished hour of audiobook. For example, an 80,000 word novel will often be an 8-9 hour audiobook.
  • Digital typesetting a 100,000 word novel for print and eBook with no images when utilizing InDesign can take anywhere between 2-6 hours. 

Wait! Formula Writing!

Even then, many authors have found developing a formula for writing based on word counts can aid in productivity. This ranges from writing sprints, to chapter goals, or simply being aware of the final word count target can keep the mojo flowing. Keep in mind that these just some numbers to be aware of when writing that may help you manage writing as a whole:

  • A 20-minute sprint will produce 200-350 words on average.
  • Speech to Text apps like Otter can convert 1 hour of talking into 2,000-4,000 words.
  • The average web novel chapter is 1200-2500 words.
  • Revisions on a non-edited 80,000 word first draft can add 10,000 to 30,000 words on average.
  • The average novel contains 25 to 50 chapters. Each can range from 1000 to 10,000 words.
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Your Publisher Dissolved, Now What?

Let’s talk about the unspoken what if or even for many since COVID and other buyouts – WHEN YOUR CONTRACT IS NO MORE. That moment many authors may have already experienced when the Publisher or Press you signed on for is Dissolved. What does that mean? It’s a technical term for a company closing its doors permanently. The reasons can range:

  • Bought out and discontinued by a larger publisher/press.
  • Company filed and dissolved (sometimes filing bankruptcy or the owner unable to keep the company going for personal or business reasons).
  • Lawsuits or other legal action exposed royalties unpaid and other unsavory business practices.
  • Sometimes it’s a merger or buyout that doesn’t renew most of the contracts.

Where does the Backlist go?

First off, a backlist for an author or publisher is considered a book that was released 2+ years ago. These are the first books in a series or start of an author’s career in most cases. Prepare for the industry to refuse your backlist, a staple that is archaic and old as time (unless you’re a big author like Neil Gaiman and still considered ‘relevant’ on the market).

Regardless of the reason why you no longer have these books published, this often leaves authors midway in series and trilogies, or leaving books that once made money unable to reach readers, new and old. Many current publishers and presses will not consider previously published work and often this leads to feeling like you have to start all over again. This isn’t far-fetched from a new experience self-published authors are also feeling. Often self-pub authors will need to pull all their books and completely abandon them in order to sign with a traditional publisher or literary agent with a new book.

So where do all these books go? Nowhere. They return to a shelf or obscure place on a computer somewhere to collect dust meanwhile fans search in hopes of finding that book again in a thrift store someplace. 

Backlist are Vital to the Industry

This is the most confusing aspect of the industry. Why the stigma on backlist? What is it that has left a sour taste in the mouths of agents and publishers? After much toiling, it still doesn’t add up. Let’s review some things you should consider:

  • Ingram reported in 2021 that 78% of their overall sales came from their backlist. This was a distribution reach that included many of the big 20 publishers as well as independent publishers.
  • Written Word Media has reported time and time again, authors with 20+ more books published make more money.
  • New readers will always start at book one in a series, so publishing later books (i.e. 3, 4, 5+) without the rest defeats the purpose.
  • Marketing as an author has best results when you have 3 or more books already out in the series.
  • A large publisher contract is only 3 years long, so books barely hit into the “backlist” zone for a year before being dropped.

What Now?

Let’s discuss what to do. Because the majority of publishers will not accept your backlist, doesn’t mean there aren’t companies out there that will. 4 Horsemen Publications is one of those rare gems, but even some of these publishers will allow you to self-publish the backlist. In short, here are some things to beware of as you get files back, or to prepare in order to revive your backlist. This can even double for canceling a contract and pitfalls to avoid:

  • Don’t feel the need to pay for cover and typeset (especially if the price soars into the 4-digit and thousands of dollars range). Most publishers will want to do their own touch on the book and it’s rare that they keep these even when provided. Instead, focus on giving them the manuscript instead. 
  • Most contracts cover cancellation terms and in the case of dissolution where rights can be reverted. Many simply need a written notice while others might need a more detailed chain of events. Remember to review these sections in the contracts you signed and call upon legal help as needed.
  • Double check the copyrights. It should be in your name with the publisher as an agent. If you discover the copyright is listed under the publisher or another name, you should seek out legal advice on what the next steps should be on this matter. A dissolved company may allow you to change it to your own name, meanwhile a dropped contract may result in you needing to buy your book rights back!
  • Prepare for a complete relaunch and makeover. The best way to revive an abandoned or rocky situation is to take a huge step back and walk forward again. This is going to be the best method to handle a backlist when a publisher takes it on and even more so if you decide to self-publish it on your own.

Will 4HP Consider taking my Backlist? Previously Published Books?

In short, YES! But, as with any book we take on, it needs to be given to us via our submissions page and go through our process. We love to help authors and the community, but we have a quality and expectation to adhere to in order to maintain our values. Whether submitting to us or elsewhere be prepared to provide:

  • Proof you have the rights.
  • Book is no longer available at vendors or for printing.
    • Print versions will always be available as long as someone has it in stock, so this is just part of that used book market that will always show up.
    • eBook versions should be unpublished and unavailable completely.
    • Audiobooks should be unpublished and unavailable, but some distributors and contracts make this more complex. Some are locked in to be live for 5-10 years depending on the contracts the former publisher made. Be sure when you cancel your contract or the company dissolves that you reach out to make arrangements to still get your royalties accordingly!
  • Again, prepare for a complete makeover. New cover, new formatting/interior, and relaunch!
  • Don’t assume the publisher will be ok with the former publisher’s edits. Some might review and decide yay or nay, while others will say no and do it again with their standards applied.
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How Authors Can Market Themselves Online

by Erik Deckers

When it comes to writing and promoting your book, 90% of the time is spent actually writing the book.

The other 90% is spent promoting it.

(I know what I said!)

I’m often asked by new writers about when they should start publicizing their books.

“Have you started writing it yet?”

No, they haven’t, they say.

“Then, right now.”

Shouldn’t I wait until the book is published, they ask.

“No, because that’s way too late. You need to start building your social media presence and audience before you ever get the book out. You need to promote it and get people excited before it finally drops.”

Also, I remind people, your publisher will not do the promotion for you. Oh sure, you’ll get some helpful publishers like 4 Horsemen who will help you, but they will not do it for you.

Basically, unless your last name is Grisham or Patterson, your publisher won’t do any promotion for you. Besides, no one will do it better than you because no one will care more than you. You can hire someone for you, but even they won’t come at it with the same passion as you. Plus it will cost a few thousand dollars to get anything worthwhile. Sure, they’ll know more about it and have better tactics and ideas, but unless you have a few thousand dollars lying around, you’ll have to do it yourself.

(If you do, I’ll be happy to handle all your social media for you.)

Ultimately, it’s a question of time versus money: If you don’t have the time, then you need to pay someone to do it. If you don’t have the money, then you need to find the time.

Without explaining how to do it all (because there are several good books on the subject, your publicity efforts should include at least two of the following:

  • An email newsletter campaign.
  • A blogging campaign.
  • A social media campaign (Twitter and/or Facebook, plus maybe TikTok).
  • A book reviewer/blogger campaign.
  • A podcast interview campaign.
  • An email-your-friends campaign. (Email each of them, one at a time, and ask them to buy.)

I like the first three campaigns because they’re the easiest, they can be automated and scheduled, and they’re free. (Actually, they’re all free, but some are more time-consuming than others.)

Email Newsletters

Send out a monthly newsletter that discusses specific topics about you, your books, your writing career, other writers, and so on.

Write about your latest book. Share short stories and backstories about minor characters. Share publishing news. Share writing news. Did you get a writing residency or award? Share it! Review other books and urge your readers to buy them. Interview other writers, especially those within the 4 Horsemen ranks, and urge people to buy those books as well.*

* Remember, readers don’t read one book per year and call it quits. So become a trusted resource for your readers and share your favorite books. Get the other authors to do the same for you. Pretty soon, you can combine the total power of your social media and email lists and get them working for each other.

I like mailchimp.com the best because it has a free email option of sending up to 500 subscribers per month. If you grow a bigger audience than that, chances are you’ll be doing well enough to pay for the first paid upgrade level.

Blogging

Basically, everything I said about blogging is also true of your newsletter. In fact, blogging is more important than email newsletters, but I already wrote that section first and don’t feel like moving it. 

Everything you put in your newsletter also needs to go into your blog. In fact, it should go in there first. Then, just put 200-word snippets into the newsletter with a “Click here to read the rest of this article” link as a way to drive traffic to your blog.

Your blog should be the hub of your social media campaign, but your email newsletter is your list of readers. If any of these social networks ever fall flat — looking at you, Twitter! — you can find all those people on any new social networks that pop up to take their place. But your blog is the place where all the past cool stuff can easily be found.

Social Media

Almost everyone is on social media now, so I won’t go into the whats and hows of social media. And if you’re not, get my book Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself, and follow the various steps. Get on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and start building your networks. If you’re a business writer, use LinkedIn instead of Facebook. Blah blah blah, you know this part!

(If you don’t, there are people who are happy to help you get started on social media. I’ll even give you some advice to get rolling. Let me know!)

Build up your followers and friends with more readers. Do a search for your chosen genre and find the people who read or write in that genre. They probably used the word in their bio, or maybe you encounter them during a #WritersLift or #AmWriting blitz: Remember, writers are readers, so be sure to follow all of your fellow authors. 

Promote those writers without waiting to be promoted. Read their books and leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads; tweet/share those reviews and be sure to tag the authors. Write about their books on your blog. Share their stuff on Twitter. Basically, you want them to know you value them, and they’ll do the same for you. 

But don’t do it quid pro quo. Do it because you want to be a good literary citizen. Literary citizens help people find interesting books, they help authors reach more readers, and they basically help the literature world be a better place. If you can do that, you’ll help yourself as well. People will support you because you’re a supportive person.

Book Bloggers and Reviewers

I’ll be the first to admit, I like reviewing books because it means people send me books! What better job could there be, unless someone wanted me to review cheese?

(Seriously, I’d love to become a cheese reviewer. If you know anyone who can help, hook me up.)

There are hundreds of book reviewers out there, all writing books, doing podcasts, and shooting TikTok videos about the books they’ve read. Some are generalists and will review anything, others will only review books in a specific genre. Do some research and reach out to each person individually (see below about emailing your friends), asking them to review your book. Send them an EPUB or PDF version of the book, since printed books are getting really, really pricey. This way, you can keep this campaign cost very low.

Don’t be afraid to send the book to other outlets like Kirkus Reviews either. Some of these review sites carry a little more weight than others, so do a little research and find some specific book-review outlets.

While we’re on the subject of reviews, get a group of friends to leave reviews of your books on Amazon and Goodreads. Those things are worth their weight in gold when it comes to getting more readers — which is not much, considering it’s all virtual; it’s worth its weight in pictures of gold. More reviews lead to your books being more readily discovered and recommended, so be sure to ask your readers to review your books.

And to share them on social media.

Podcasting

Rather than telling you to start your own podcast, which wouldn’t be such a bad thing, let me say that you should try to appear on as many podcasts as you can. Search Spotify and Apple Podcasts (through the Apple Store) for podcasts about writing or your chosen genre, or just Google “podcasts about [genre].”

Track down those podcasters’ websites and listen to past episodes. Do they have guests? What kinds of things do they talk about? How can your book or your writing career be interesting to their listeners?

Don’t ask “Will my book/career be interesting?” Yes, of course, it will! I have no doubt in my mind about that!” Just find the parts that will be interesting — that’s the how of it.

Email the podcast hosts and ask them if they need guests for an upcoming episode. Share your blog, social networks, and book landing pages.

Then, make sure you have a decent microphone and a quiet place to record. No need to go out and get an expensive mic; get a gamer’s headset with a boom mic on Amazon for under $30. Then, make sure you have fast enough wifi, show up at the expected time, and you’re ready to go.

(To ensure there are no problems, reboot your computer and router on the morning of your interview, so you don’t have any inadvertent glitches or crashes. Also turn off every program and application except for the one you need for your interview.)

Email Your Friends

I learned a hard, bitter truth when I published my first novel: Your friends won’t buy your book just because you’re their friend. If that were the case, you could just post a few times on Facebook and sell thousands of copies. But they just won’t do it, no matter who you are.

Either that or all my friends are selfish assholes.

Go through your email list and start emailing them ONE BY ONE and ask them to buy your book. Don’t BCC a bunch of people with the same generic message, because they won’t respond well to it.

You can copy and paste the basic boilerplate information, like where to buy it, when it goes on sale, etc. But personalize the message to each person, so they know you’re only emailing them.

“Hey, Susan, I know we haven’t talked in a few years, ever since that thing with Kevin the incontinent llama. But I’m hoping that time has healed our wounds enough that you would consider buying my new book, Mackinac Island Nation, which is being re-released by 4 Horsemen Publishing. You can even get a copy for your friends and family this holiday. I already sent a copy to Kevin’s handler with another apology note.”

Final Thoughts

You need to do book publicity to make people care about your book. You need to promote your book until you’re sick of it. And then you need to promote it some more. And when you think everyone else is sick of it, promote it some more.

You can do it all for free, but it’s going to take some time. Or you can pay someone a lot of money and then you’ll have all sorts of free time to start on your next book. Just remember, promoting your book takes as much time as actually writing it, so don’t assume that people will buy it just because you wrote it. They need you to remind them over and over and over. 

And over.

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4 Types of Characters to Help with Worldbuilding

We hear about main characters all the time, but what about the others? You know, the love interest or the best buds for life, or even that sleazy merchant guy they still do business with. Being a character driven writer, I have a tendency to rely on my characters to help describe and flesh out my worldbuilding often. Most character driven books fall into the young adult and romance stories but in recent years we’re seeing this reach out and play in bigger worlds.

No longer do we need to describe our worlds as in-depth as Tolkien or the forefathers of fantasy and science fiction. Authors and readers often ask me for advice on how to capture worldbuilding when you’re a character driven writer and the secret to this is simply: use your characters and let them do the describing! This means not only making the time to address what they see, but pull in all the senses at any given moment as well as their internal thoughts or emotions in reply. 

  1. Sight – The rows of orange groves shifted as we drove past them.
  2. Sound – Dad’s got the old country music blaring on the radio.
  3. Smell – Orange blossom’s fill the air with a bittersweet citrus scent.
  4. Touch – I want to put my arm on the window, but the summer’s sun has it too hot to touch.
  5. Taste – Popping another slice of orange, I chew on the juicy nugget, sweet on my tongue.
  6. Thought – Next we’ll be going to Hancock Groves and after that, finally we get to do some fishing!
  7. Emotion – Thinking back on that day, my chest aches knowing it’s all gone and buried under houses and golf courses.

How many times have you found yourself hating a character up until you see them broken down by a single moment in a story? Main characters will always be the easiest to flesh out because they always get the full attention of the plots and twists of the story we intend to tell. As you move to your support and secondary characters, they often push and support our main character but they also give us a second opinion on the world that may conflict with the main character. Background characters and tertiary characters fall very flat in comparison to the main characters they are interacting within the world you are creating. This doesn’t hurt your story, but neither does it help your audience connect with the world your characters live in. 

Regardless, this is like creating an American football team where you have your star players, a quarterback and a fan favorite for support, then the other guys on their team, the rival team’s star player, and the people in the stands. The levels get more and more disconnected from the reader the further you dive into the background, or world, such as the hot dog stand or the announcer. In the end, you can’t experience the world or even plot in its entirety without all the components. What good is the football game without the ticket booth to get in nor the ability to buy beer and hot dogs! 

Main Characters

All stories have a tone or essence, whether it’s surreal, dark, tragic, happy, romantic, or some other emotion that is constantly tugged at throughout the storyline. It’s not the events and plot that allow the readers to feel this tone, but the main characters in which live in this world. If the world is dark and horrible, it’s because the main character feels this way about where they live through their experiences, emotions, reactions, thoughts, body language, how they speak to others, and so on. 

Main character should be crafted with the awareness that this is the main vessel your audience is riding along with, or even inside, to travel along your plot. Even with a narrator or narrative style, we are still focusing on a main person in whom we are interacting with this world and even story. Take a moment and dissect some of your favorite main characters and their worlds. How much of your favorite memories of them involve how they reacted to something in their story? Now ask yourself if that’s what helps you identify the type of person they were? These are the ways the main character help set the tone for the readers while revealing who they are as fleshed out, rounded characters.

In the end, these characters should be the most intimate with your readers and writing. Immersion happens through them and thus the way you develop their personality and inner-workings can go a long way to make it easier for you to write your story. Granted, not every story is focused on one character, which opens doors for you to show more of your character through their interactions and even flip perspectives to show the world through more than one personality. What one character deems threatening will seem less of a concern to the more experienced fighter. 

Always remember, this is the main transportation for your readers and their way in and out of your story!

Secondary Characters

Often this is the lover or faithful friend that joins the main character at some point and sticks around for the long haul. It can even be the hero’s faithful steed, a pet, or a spirit that haunts them. These characters help give a second perspective to the world and events, and as a result, add depth to the world they are part of. They even are the eyes and reactions we use to properly judge the main character’s emotional and physical states. 

Granted, the secondary character doesn’t always have to like and aid your main character, but they should always help the audience become more immersive in the world and story. They even make the main character more tangible through interactions, including love interest and aggressive rivalry. For example, in my novel Cedric the Demonic Knight the main character is bitten by a venomous monster-sized snake. In order to express the severity of this injury, I shifted from Cedric’s perspective (Main Character), which was failing as the venom took hold, and started to express his condition through the interactions with Angeline (Secondary or Support Character). When the main character is taken out, it is these characters that help the writer to continue to push the plot forward without leaving gaps and confusion. Sometimes this switch is referred to as “head-hopping”, but the key is when writing your secondary characters make sure the reader is aware they are now riding in a “new car” and to keep clarify who is doing what.

His eyes grew wide as he gripped his arm and sweat poured over him, his tanned skin paling with alarming speed. He attempted to stand, but stumbled to the side and fell to his knees. It became very clear that he was not bouncing back from this encounter. Angeline looked around, there were no signs of any more snakes, but Barushka [their horse] was missing. Jerking the bandages from her pack, she attempted to tie off the poisoned limb. He tried to shove her away, but engulfed in the pain, he struggled to keep himself sitting. Satisfied that she managed to get it tight enough, and the wounds covered, she whistled several times. Her only hope was that Barushka was still alive and close enough to hear it. The sound of something splattering the ground brought her back to Cedric as he began to puke. The smell was unnatural, and it was a sickening black color.

Support Characters

Usually discussions state that secondary characters are support characters, but in my own writing there is a huge difference in choosing who is which. In short, secondary characters don’t have to aid or help a main character which could present an issue when developing a world and plot at times. In fact, they can even make their lives more complicated, impeding their goals. 

As for a support character, they can also be a secondary character but not always. What they are designed for is to be a constant pillar of support for the goals, growth, and development of the main character or even a secondary character can have a support character-WHAT! Crazy, but think about how real relationships work and how it influences how we see the world, or opens opportunities to expose how we feel about things in our world. Whether they are encouraging their good or bad habits, that’s totally up to you and the story you are writing.

In the story Robin Hood, there is a prime example of a support character that is well-rounded. Breaking things apart, we have the main character Robin Hood, secondary characters Little John (Fellow Outlaw) and Maid Marian (Love Interest), and a very memorable support character: Maid Marian’s servant/caretaker/maid/Fellow Lady of the Court. In most versions of the story, this character has a lot of personality. She’s a fighter, she encourages Maid Marian’s love interest, but she isn’t needed for the story to continue per say. What she does is gives the audience another means to experience the world, story, and add to our connections with the other characters. 

Sometimes these support characters simply give the world its life and more depth while providing a comic relief or address the audience’s own thoughts or feelings about what happens. They are essential tools to aid the writer to set the story in motion and guide their characters to their next event. Bottom-line, these “support characters” are the rounded characters that support some part of the story and actively support the world and plot. Almost like your own, self-made shoe cobbler elves.

Tertiary Characters

Lastly, we come to characters that fall victim to being flat or just nothing more than bland dialogue. Sometimes they are missing completely and can cause worldbuilding to feel shallow. In movies it is far easier to give these characters flesh with body language, but for written stories these often fall victim to becoming what I refer to as “background fodder.” Granted, you are going to have flat characters, like a crowd of people reacting to an event and never seen or heard from, nor provided depth of names, what they wore, and so on unless somehow it was relevant to the plot. 

This doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with a tertiary character and make them more round in how they behave. This can be a merchant, one that the characters find themselves coming back to since he always seems to have what they need or want. Why not make him quirky, comical, creepy? Give him enough personality to add to the tone of the story and give yourself a chance to expose interactions through someone other than the obvious secondary or support characters who actively lives at a different pace and level in the world.

For example, in the movie Robin Hood starring Kevin Costner, they make use of this idea. At one point in the movie, Robin approaches a Tertiary character, a small boy who is shooting arrows at a target. Robin Hood (Main) asks if the boy can shoot just as well while distracted. After failing, Lady Marian (Secondary) poses the question if he is able to do so himself. The nice thing this does is imply that Robin is no different from a young boy through the interaction and failing of the third character while being guided and pushed by a secondary character’s perspective/influence. 

It is something you will see in great writing often, when your main character finds themselves observing a rounded tertiary character and using it to reflect thoughts, feelings, and more. I even have a moment where my main character Romasanta reflects back to a tertiary character to express the mood and care being given to Cedric in the book Romasanta: Father of Werewolves.

Huffing, [Badbh] bellowed, “Well, you are up here after all!” 

Her voice brought some movement to [Cedric’s] pale body, his eyes cracking open as his chapped lips whispered, “Angeline?” 

“Oh no! Wrong girl, lover boy.” Chuckling, Badbh’s magic was impressive as she summoned cloths for his wounds. As she worked to clean his lacerations, Romasanta recalled fond memories of the woman from the Leper’s Colony tending to the ill girl. “Looks like I missed a hell of a battle!” 

“What are you doing?” Hissing, Cedric gave a baffled stare at his unhealed wounds. “Who are you?” 

“For crying out loud, it’s me, Badbh!” Puffing, she scrubbed harder, annoyed at how unaware he allowed himself to become. “We found you out here bleeding to death! Who the hell did you get in a fight with?”

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The Book Blurb Formula

Whether you call it a blurb, back cover text, or product description – there’s only one goal a book’s version of these is designed to do: tell the reader what kind of story lies within the cover! That being said, there is a winning formula and expectation that has been proven. Even in 2021 Ingram found a common pattern in blurbs among 100k titles they followed over the entire year from various publishers, big and small.

Yes, there is a pattern which means we can make a formula to make this less daunting! So, what is that formula? Here’s my take on this magic secret sauce to convince a reader to choose your book over others:

One liner movie voice guy/elevator pitch.

Main character intro. Tell me their goal, motivation, and conflict. Needs to be three sentences at least. Even if you zig-zag evenly between two characters as commonly seen in romance novels, pick the character they start with first.

Love interest/Antagonist intro. Tell me their goal, motivation, and conflict. Needs to be three sentences at least. In dystopian and post apocalyptic it can sometimes be the world here.

OPTIONAL: World or some other information you feel helps sell the book or a one liner closer or question. Or even what the characters face together.

Now remember that the goal, motivation, and conflict can be the immediate version or overall main plot version. There’s not rules on which set to reveal, though I do recommend using the main one. Some things to keep in mind:

  • Don’t worry about revealing too much! The reader wants to know what story they will be investing their time and money into so be concise what they should be expecting.
  • NAMES. Don’t shy away naming the protagonist, love interest, and antagonist! They want to get to know the characters at a glance.
  • Be sure to update the blurb after all revisions have been done. Many authors and marketers start with a blurb before the book is finished or a query letter, but often fail to revise to match major edits that were done afterwards.
  • Try writing more than one version of your blurb! Pitch them to readers or in your newsletter and get your current readers involved.
  • Add in keywords and genre specific elements so that your readers know without a doubt that your story is a Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror, etc. type of read.
  • Have an editor comb through your blurb to clean up any grammatical errors, commas, and clunky writing. 
  • Careful with word count! You never want to go overboard with how long this is! Nonfiction may get a little long, but try to stay close to 150-250 words.

So what does this blurb look like? Here’s an example inspired by Pablo Francisco’s The Little Tortilla Boy comedy bit:

He was just a Tortilla Boy selling on the streets of Chicago when the mafia wanted in.

Tortilla Boy dreamed of one day owning his own taco restaurant just like his grandfather once had. He had a passion for tacos and burritos, but self doubt wasn’t the only battle. The mafia has their eyes on his taco stand.

The mafia own the streets of Chicago and when the Godfather tastes the best taco of his life, he wants in on the business. Dark secrets will be revealed about Tortilla Boy’s jaded past when the mafia finds he not only refuses the offer, but is willing to go to war.

Tortilla Boy and the mafia duke it out in this action thriller where the tortillas are on the line and steaks are burning hot! This book contains crime, violence, language, and sexual content.

Nonfiction

But wait! There’s more! Well, more on this when it comes to writing your blurb for non-ficiton or memoir, the formula shifts to focus on why you are the expert ono the topic and what the reader will get from the book. These books serve a function, providing knowledge or service and that needs to be said clearly in the blurb. It’s encouraged to make a bullet list on what key features or topics that your book will cover or provide the reader so they can find an answer to the questions they might have on the topic you wrote about.

One liner movie voice guy/elevator pitch/what this product does for the reader.

Main purpose intro. How this will improve, solve, or change the reader’s life. Needs to be at least three sentences long.

  • A list of things offered in the book.
  • This is optional but helpful in workbooks
  • Textbooks
  • And certain Self Help books.

Tell me what they should be able to achieve with this book. Hope or walkaway message to build expectations OR who the author is and why they are the best person/expert on this topic

OPTIONAL: Author Bio can be added after initial Blurb

Memoir

Even when you change to a more memoir focused blurb, there’s a shift to also pull the reader into the focus on how they will be interacting with the story. It becomes more about what message, emotions, events, or even the walk-away lesson you the author want to leave the reader with. Be honest, let them know enough up front to pique their interest.

One liner movie voice guy/elevator pitch.

Who this book represents. Tell me their goal, motivation, and conflict. Needs to be three sentences at least. This can be hard, but think of it as a Who are you, what have you achieved, but at what costs or obstacles.

What they faced or who they opposed. Tell me their goal, motivation, and conflict. Needs to be three sentences at least. Now let’s peel back information on costs/obstacles. Was it a single force or person, or was there many factors and hint at them all here.

OPTIONAL: World or some other information you feel helps sell the book or a one liner closer or question. Often this shows who they are now, or what they hope the reader will walk away from this book knowing whether its that they’re not alone in their tribulations, share a human experience, or bring to light something that needs more public awareness. It can even be aimed to help others spiritually or with building skills!

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Happy New Year and Goalsetting

Happy New Year! 

Let me guess–you have your brand new journal picked out and ready to go, right? You have expectations for this year, important goals that you will absolutely, positively, not-letting-anything-get-in-my-way-this-time meet before the end of the year. Your head is bursting with ideas for all the magical things you will accomplish in the next 365 days. 

Except you’ve been here before, right? How did it go last time? Many people start off the new year filled with hope and promises to create, but then a day goes by where the hours just slip away, and it’s easy enough to skip your art–just for today. And maybe just the weekend. And before you know it, it’s already June and you haven’t completed anything on your goal list for the year. 

How can you keep this from happening–to make this year the one that counts? Well, as Mr. Rogers and Neil Gaiman have both said in their own ways–you have to Do The Thing. And that’s hard! Here are five things to keep in mind as you set your goals for this year. 

  1. Be reasonable.
    • I know it’s easy to imagine you will create everything in the next year–365 days seems like so much time! It is–and it isn’t. Remember that life doesn’t stop to accommodate your creative drive. While you may ache to write those words, play those strings, paint that image, the laundry still needs to be done. The groceries won’t magically appear in your kitchen (well, actually, delivery services are pretty amazing these days–but still, ordering takes time too). When you create your goals, think about how much time you can reasonably devote to your art–every day. 
  1. Work on your art every day. 
    • That’s right–I said you should work on your art every single day–even if it’s only for two minutes at a time. You’ll be amazed how those tiny increments of work can add up into something over time. Find a system that works for your lifestyle–narrate your story while waiting at red lights, sketch on a napkin on the bus, jot down lyrics while waiting for your appointment–whatever helps you create, however small it may seem. Take the small wins as they come. For writers, this may mean setting a five-minute timer while waiting for dinner to cook and writing the next scene on your phone! 
  1. Be kind to yourself. 
    • Realize that life happens and while you may have wanted to accomplish more over a certain time period, give yourself permission to re-evaluate and set new goals, especially after something unexpected happens. It’s never too late to set a reachable goal, even if it’s something small like “Today, I will write four sentences.” Give yourself a break, realize you are human, take a deep breath, and get back in there. 
  1. Consider rewards and/or punishments. 
    • Are you motivated by the idea of a reward for meeting your goal? Are you motivated by the notion of a punishment for not meeting your goal? Take a moment now to write down both for this year. Assume you accomplish your task–what do you deserve now that you’ve reached this goal? That dress on your Amazon wishlist? A day of binging Netflix? Write it down, so you can see it there taunting you on those days when you just aren’t feeling it. On the other hand, what if you don’t accomplish your task? What will prompt you to work on your art? (For me, I am motivated by punishments, so if I don’t write every day, I have to take the stairs at work. My office is on the third floor, and I am super lazy. When I want to skip a day, I think about walking up three flights of stairs up and down all day long–and I get up and write something. For an advanced version of punishment, consider having an accountability buddy–someone who suffers with you if you don’t meet your goal.) 
  1. Track your progress. 
    • I know this seems fairly simple, but if you are like me, you have a handful of journals with the first few pages filled in–and then trail off in a few weeks or months (for me, it’s always around March–when life gets too busy to track anything anymore!). Make goal tracking a daily habit, something you do automatically before bed each night, so that you don’t lose sight of your accomplishments and where you are headed in your creative pursuits. Even if you fall off the wagon for a few days, hop back on as soon as you can. Some tracking is better than none at all! Create a system that works for you. 

Now this is the part where I shamelessly plug the Author’s Accountability Planner from 4 Horsemen Publications (because writing is HARD!). This book helps you track not just word count, but time spent researching, organizing, editing, and even reading. Filled with writing prompts, exciting quotes, fun activities, and a delightful layout, this book can be the accountability partner you’ve been missing in your life! Find it here: https://books2read.com/planner23

The Author’s Accountability Planner 2023: A Day-to-Day Guide for Writers

We’ve found your muses for 2023!

$29.99
Shop now
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It’s NaNo Time!

The 4 Horsemen want to help make this NaNo a success. In the spirit of writing your heart out, please find a sample of our Author’s Accountability Planner designed specifically for NaNo!

NaNoWriMo 2021 – Author’s Accountability Planner SampleDownload

No matter your location in the world, you can participate in NaNoWriMo. Starting in September and October, many library systems host special events in conjunction with local NaNoWriMo chapters to help prepare participants for this special event.

Every November, writers can connect with resources, networks, and events online and within their region. Signing up on the NaNoWriMo website, whether you plan to participate or not, keeps you informed on what’s happening online and locally throughout the year. The website connects you with your NaNoWriMo home region, allowing you to follow calendars, hop in forum discussions, and so much more, like year-round online sprints and NaNoWriMo Camp sessions in months that might be more aligned with your schedule and outside of holiday seasons. You may not be writing the novel in November, but that doesn’t mean you can’t join festivities and workshops!

We strongly believe writing isn’t a solitary venture, but an opportunity to build a writing community anywhere, both physically and virtually!

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Upcoming Online Events for Writers

Looking for an Online Writer’s Conference? Here’s some upcoming events full of agents, authors, and editors in the industry, including a 4 Horsemen or two!

Orange County Library System (FL) is doing their Annual conference online this year and it spans 3 days! This is a free event Jan 29-31.

https://www.ocls.info/ocls-writers-conference

Some personal favorites here is romance author Kerry Evelyn, literary agent Saritza Hernandez, writing coach and children’s book Arielle Haughee, Writer’s Atelier founder and editor Racquel Henry, screenwriter and author Jennie Jarvis, paranormal thriller author L.E. Perez, our very own COO Author Valerie Willis, and many more!

Women in Publishing Summit is drawing near. Head on over and get registered for this March 1-7th online conference with experts from all over. Learn from “Women in Publishing” and discover the latest trends in order to grow as a writer AND publisher.

https://womeninpublishingsummit.com/

Hosted by the amazing Alexa Bigwarfe, she has pulled together some amazing experts from all sides of the industry! In the past, we’ve seen some amazing insight on audiobooks, marketing, ad campaign via Facebook and Amazon, writing newsletters, self publishing and beyond. Also, our 4HP COO and CEO will be hosting some amazing topics

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It’s NaNo Time!

The 4 Horsemen want to help make this NaNo a success. In the spirit of writing your heart out, please find a sample of our Author’s Accountability Planner designed specifically for NaNo!

Accountability_Nano-1Download

No matter your location in the world, you can participate in NaNoWriMo. Starting in September and October, many library systems host special events in conjunction with local NaNoWriMo chapters to help prepare participants for this special event.
Every November, writers can connect with resources, networks, and events online and within their region. Signing up on the NaNoWriMo website, whether you plan to participate or not, keeps you informed on what’s happening online and locally throughout the year. The website connects you with your NaNoWriMo home region, allowing you to follow calendars, hop in forum discussions, and so much more, like year-round online sprints and NaNoWriMo Camp sessions in months that might be more aligned with your schedule and outside of holiday seasons. You may not be writing the novel in November, but that doesn’t mean you can’t join festivities and workshops!
We strongly believe writing isn’t a solitary venture, but an opportunity to build a writing community anywhere, both physically and virtually!

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Starting Strong: Crafting Your First Lines

Whether you’re trying to hook a reader or entice an agent/publisher, your first line makes or breaks your piece. This vital line or opening paragraph/page is the sole reason why anyone continues to read or puts your story down. Here are some tips and examples of what makes a strong opening.

Don’t

Here are a couple of turn-offs we’ve discovered during the submission process. There’s always an exception to the rule, but if you intend to break the rule, make sure your submission brings a unique spin.

  1. Don’t open with the main character waking up or going to bed. Place readers into the action or a moment of significance! (Unless there’s a naked man hanging from the ceiling. LOL)
  2. Don’t start with a sunset or sunrise scene description. This is a cliche. Make it clear. It’s either night or day, not in transition. Readers just started the story. Don’t lose them to generic scene descriptions. 
  3. Don’t open with dialogue unless you establish at least two of the following: the setting, a character, conflict, or goal/motivation. Without context, you aren’t giving the reader a reason to care about the main character.
  4. Don’t show the reader–The End of the World–before the story even gets started. This robs readers of a sense of setting and characters; give them a chance to care about the world before you end it. 
  5. Don’t tell… SHOW READERS. Make the scene unfold and engage the reader, enticing them to lean into your story (like a good action flick).
  6. Don’t be mysterious or vague! Specificity and sensory details are great tools to introduce the reader to your setting and characters.
  7. Don’t wait to establish character names. Readers must know who these characters are ASAP.
  8. Don’t give lengthy setting descriptions–and derail the story’s opening–until after you hook the reader. No one picks up a romance novel expecting to read a page or more of cafe descriptions.
  9. Don’t begin with something ending (like a break-up, career upset, catastrophic life event, etc.) unless the genre specifically calls for it. This trope works in a romance but not in thrillers.
  10. Don’t disregard genre expectations. Certain audiences want specific tropes in their stories (especially in romance and erotica). Yes, it’s been done a million times–they know that and love it.      

Do

It’s not all bad news. Here are some pointers on how to make your opening line stand out. Readers want to be invested in your story and characters immediately. Take the time to explain things. Remember, even when it feels obvious, readers don’t live in your head; they won’t interpret your words the same way. If you can, get beta readers to review/critique your first lines and/or pages.

  1. Start with ACTION! Place readers in the moment, whether it’s essential to the plot or not. Make them feel like they’ve just been shoved onto a train. They don’t know where it’s heading, but they’re excited to find out! Make them say, Wait! What?
  2. Rely on universally-experienced motivations, conflicts, or goals. Readers understand the fears of starting a new job or the hesitation to knock on their crush’s front door. The motivation/conflict/goal doesn’t have to be grand. Just give enough for the reader to immediately identify with the main character or action.
  3. Decide on a point of view and stick with it! Often, new writers start with one POV, then randomly shift to another. This will confuse the reader (and shows you need more editing!).
  4. Give readers a strong sense of your character(s). They are the vehicles your readers travel within. The readers will want to know if your character is the right fit for them as soon as possible.
  5. Use your setting to establish your story’s overall genre/tone. Characters can also handle this, but don’t rule out the usefulness of a properly described setting. 
  6. Remember: sometimes, less is more. Of course you love your words–every single one of them–but sometimes, it’s better to release them. 
  7. Establish at least two of these in your first paragraph: goal, motivation, or/and conflict.
  8. Stick to one tense! Stories that constantly shift from present to past confuse readers (and suggest you need closer editing). Remember, certain genres have specific tense expectations.
  9. Beware of the order in which you deliver details to the reader. The information shared in dialogue is very different from how it’s written for readers. Pull the reader smoothly into your world (like a camera lens zooming in/out of a scene) instead of jolting the camera around.
  10. Support your title, genre, and blurb with your opening lines.

Our Favorite Book Openings

Here are a few famous book openings we love at 4 Horsemen Publications. Revisiting your favorite reads is a great way to compare and contrast strong first pages.

  1. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife… – Pride and Prejudice
  2. It was a nice day. All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn’t been invented yet. – Good Omens 
  3. When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton. – The Fellowship of the Ring
  4. The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. Then the soul-erosion produced by high gambling—a compost of greed and fear and nervous tension—becomes unbearable and the senses awake and revolt from it. – Casino Royale
  5. When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home. – The Outsiders
  6. I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war. – Red Rising
  7. Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler’s pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die. – Fight Club
  8. Everyone my age remembers where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about the contest. – Ready Player One
  9. Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.  – One Hundred Years of Solitude 
  10. There are some men who enter a woman’s life and screw it up forever. Joseph Morelli did this to me—not forever, but periodically. – One for the Money
  11. “Where’s Papa going with that ax?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast. – Charlotte’s Web
  12. I’m pretty much fucked. That’s my considered opinion. Fucked. – The Martian
  13. The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. – The Last Unicorn
  14. Like a baby harp seal, I’m all white. My forearms are thickly bandaged, heavy as clubs. My thighs are wrapped tightly, too; white gauze peeks out from the shorts Nurse Ava pulled from the lost and found box behind the nurses’ station. – Girl in Pieces
  15. Your father picks you up from prison in a stolen Dodge Neon, with an 8-ball of coke in the glove compartment and a hooker named Mandy in the back seat. – Until Gwen 
  16. The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. – The Gunslinger
  17. The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. – The Night Circus
  18. A girl is running for her life. The summer air burns at her back, but there are no torches, no angry mobs, only the distant lanterns of the wedding party, the reddish glow of the sun as it breaks against the horizon, cracks and spills across the hills, and the girl runs, skirts tangling in the grass as she surges toward the woods, trying to beat the dying light. – The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
  19. We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
  20. This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it. – The Princess Bride

Practice Makes Perfect!

Take time to write strong opening lines. This exercise is a great way to create a story prompt for later! Try different ways to start: use the same scene but in different ways (changing POV, genre, or starting point). Or mimic your favorite opening paragraph  and see how it shifts your story’s first line. 

Here are some flash fiction samples from writer Bre Brixus (Thank you for letting us hijack these!). These are strong examples of opening lines/paragraphs:

  1. It wasn’t until Lela’s third portrait that she realized the drawings were coming to life.
  2. As a mortician, I’ve heard a lifetime of jokes about being the best person to hide a body. I never imagined I’d be shoving a corpse into a dumb waiter.
  3. Jake fell from the 34th floor scaffold, delighted at the thought of making the ten o’clock news. But when he never hit the sidewalk, he feared making headlines for a very different reason.
  4. Jasmine, more a lover than a fighter, declared her arcane duel weapon–a tube of lipstick. When she kissed her rival, the enchantment was sealed: anyone she kissed fell obsessively in love with her.
  5. It wasn’t until my thirteenth life that I started to remember my previous incarnations.
  6. Trevor wasn’t her first love or her last, but throughout all of her centuries, he was the only man who always found her.
  7. When the fate of six friends hinges on a slip of paper in your pocket, you know you’ve made some shitty decisions.