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Writing excellent back cover copy doesn’t happen by accident. Using a formula of sorts can help you. There are five parts to really excellent back cover copy (plus one extra for cozy mysteries). Back cover copy is an incredibly important marketing tool for your book. It includes a hook to grab the reader’s attention. It then hits the core elements of the plot in the most enticing manner possible. This copy is the second thing a potential reader will use to judge whether or not the book is for them (first is the cover). Just like a teaser from a television show or a movie trailer, the back cover copy in a book gives the potential audience enough about the story to pique their interest. It is what draws them in and gets them to commit to reading the first page (which is the third step in a reader’s decision-making process). Here are the five steps for writing really excellent …

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What makes a book a page-turner? It’s easy to say it is the plot and the characters that keep readers turning the pages. That is definitely part of it, but when you really think about it, it’s the killer scenes, one after another after another that make a story compelling. The end of one scene draws the reader into the next scene. That doesn’t happen by accident. A good writer knows the elements of a scene and how to construct it to keep the reader engaged and turning the page. Here I have 6 Tips for Writing a Killer Scene. First, what is a SCENE? You have to understand what something is before you can really get better at it. So let’s take a look at the definition: SCENE (n) A story unit containing a single and continuous dramatic action. Okay. Easy enough.  Or is it? It is when you really dig and analyze the parts of a scene that …

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There are myriad essential elements in writing about how to write great dialogue. It is one of the foundations of good writing. Why? Because poorly written dialogue will make readers cringe. It is all too easy for characters to come across as flat, for verbal exchanges to be completely unrealistic.  Good dialogue, on the other hand, is appropriate and representative of a character. It rings true. It helps create well-rounded characters who are authentic and realistic. Good dialogue will lead to memorable characters and a book readers don’t want to put down. When Dialogue is No Good There have been plenty of times when I’ve started to read a book, only to stop because the dialogue didn’t ring true, because it felt contrived, or because it just didn’t sound like how real people talk. So…mastering dialogue is a crucial step in your writing journey. First, let’s define DIALOGUE. The formal definition is: the things that are said by the characters …

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