Empowering you to write the stories of your heart and increasing your impact with a book.

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Hello Reader,
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Helpful information for your writing career each month

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In this issue:

• Craft: POV: Getting Under Their Skin
• Career: Audiobook Narration. It’s What’s Next for Your Book. Meet Todd Eflin
• Commerce: The Scammers Are Reading Your Author Bio Too
• Kudos!: Bill Newgent’s release

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In case you noticed, yes there was no Insider Update last month. I decided to take a week’s vacation and never got the Update fit in.

I also reorganized my books into one series, put new covers on all of them, redid the book descriptions, metadata and categories, and put everything back into Kindle Unlimited. It was a lot of work. But I think it was worth it.

If you think your books could use fresh covers, descriptions, and metadata, just reply to this email and we can talk about it.

Now on to the things to help your writing career.

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Craft: POV: Getting Under Their Skin

If there is one thing that I see writers getting wrong, it’s POV or point of view. This one thing can make a huge difference in your story. It is the key component in creating an emotional experience, which is the standard we measure our story by. Getting POV correct makes a huge difference in the emotional experience for your reader.

What is POV?

POV is only what the character whose head you are in can see, feel, think, know, etc. Notice what I said here: the POV character. Depending on the scene and how many POV characters you have, this could be the hero, the love interest, the villain, etc. Whoever it is, this is their scene.

No head hopping

If you use more than one POV per scene, it is called head hopping. When you maintain one POV per scene, it allows the reader to fully get into the character’s skin. If you yank the reader out of that and pop them into another character, it gets confusing. And it breaks the emotional connection we as readers were forming with the POV character.

We can only know in that scene what that POV character knows. No, “Little did she know…” Or “Soon she would find out…” Or “Looking back later, she would realize.” These are signs of omniscience which pulls us into an out of body experience looking down. Not fun unless you’re a ghost.

What I find is that because we watch TV and movies, we muddle POV. When you watch a TV show or a movie, they are showing you the person’s face as they talk or react. When the director wants us to know what the heroine is feeling, he shows us her face, actions, and dialogue.

So often I’ll see something like this:

First we are in Mary’s head. We know this because we hear her internal monologue. Then we are in Mr. White’s head because we hear his interior monologue. This doesn’t let us actually be in either of their skins and denies the reader an emotionally compelling experience.

Instead, it should be written like this:

We stay in Mary’s head the whole time so we can more deeply feel her emotions. The same scene could also be written from Mr. White’s POV depending on the goal of your scene. Additionally, you can write the same scene from different POVs to see which gives the greatest emotional experience and use that scene in your final work.

Writing is very different from video. We need to crawl inside the hero’s skin. When we do that, we don’t see their eyes or their faces.

Apply it

Put yourself in the scene as your character. What are you thinking, feeling? What are you doing with your body? What things are your five senses picking up? Show what it’s like to be that person from deep inside of them, not by showing us from the outside.

I’m teaching a webinar on POV on August 4. Scroll down for details.

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Career: You’ve done the hard part. Here’s what’s next.

Here’s something most authors don’t think about until later. A big chunk of the people who need your book will never read it. They’ll listen to it.

In the car. On a walk. While they’re doing the dishes. Audiobooks have been growing fast for years, and for a lot of readers, they’re the only format they use anymore.

So if you’ve written a book, or you’re working toward one, an audiobook is worth thinking about sooner than you’d guess.

Now, most authors assume that means a recording studio, a hired narrator, and a pile of money. Not so. There’s a real case for narrating it yourself, especially if you’re a coach, consultant, or speaker. Your readers already know your voice from your work. Hearing you read it deepens the trust you’ve already built.

That’s why I want to introduce you to my colleague Todd Eflin. Todd is a professional audiobook narrator and vocal coach, and he helps authors record their own audiobooks at home, without a studio and without the tech overwhelm.

He put together a free three-step guide that takes you from “I have no idea where to start” to recording clean, professional-quality audio, one chapter at a time. Same expertise you already wrote down. Same voice you worked so hard to find. Now it’s working for you long after the book leaves someone’s hands.

Your words deserve to travel farther than a page. They deserve to travel as far as they can.

Grab Todd’s free guide 3-Step Guide to Create Your Own Professional Sounding Audiobook​

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Commerce: The scammers are reading your author bio too

Guess what? The same things that make you a writer also make you a target.

You put your name out there. You want to be found. You dream about the email that says, “We love your book.” And the scammers know it. They read the hope right off your author page, and they build their whole pitch around it.

So let’s talk about the ones making the rounds right now. Four of them. Once you can see the shape of the con, it stops working on you.

“Our book club would love to feature you”

This one lands soft. Somebody from a “book club” or “reader group” reaches out. They loved your book. They’d love to feature it, interview you, put you in front of hundreds of eager readers. All you have to do is cover a small fee. Or buy a certain number of copies. Or sign up for their “author package.”

Real book clubs invite you. They don’t invoice you. The moment a feature costs you money up front, you’re the one being sold to.

Before you answer, look them up. A real group has a trail. Past events, real member names, a website that existed before last month. If you can’t find one, thank them and move on. But scammers sometimes borrow the name of a real group, so finding a match online doesn’t clear them automatically.

The famous author who can’t stop gushing

You open your inbox and there it is. A note from a big name. Semi-famous, maybe, but a name you recognize. And they love your work. They want to mentor you or blurb you or bring you into their inner circle. Feels amazing.

For about a day. Then comes the ask. A fee for their “masterclass.” A payment to their assistant. A wire to hold your spot. That’s the tell. Real authors who want to help you don’t route it through a payment link. And frankly, most successful authors are too busy to reach out to authors they haven’t met in person at a writer’s conference or have some other connection.

So slow down. Check the sender’s actual email address, not just the name on it. Search the author’s real website and see if that outreach matches anything they actually do. When in doubt, reach out to that author through their known, public channel and ask, “Did you email me?” You already know what the answer will be.

“Let me promote you” (for a price)

This one wears a lot of hats. Marketing services. Guaranteed reviews. A spot on a bestseller list. A promoter who swears they can get your book in front of the right people, land you on a podcast, or get you featured somewhere impressive.

Some promotion is legitimate. Plenty isn’t. The scam version promises the thing no honest person can promise: guaranteed reviews, guaranteed sales, guaranteed rankings. Nobody controls those. Not for any fee.

Here’s the rule of thumb. Vague promises plus urgent pressure plus payment up front equals walk away. Ask for references you can actually contact. Ask exactly what you get for your money, in writing. A real service answers plainly. A scammer gets slippery. Check sites like Writer Beware or Alliance for Independent Authors to learn about legitimate services versus scammers.

“You’re infringing our trademark”

This is the mean one. Instead of flattery, it uses fear. You get a stern message claiming your title, your series name, or your pen name violates somebody’s trademark. Pay up, or take it down, or lawyers are coming.

The goal is to scare you into acting fast. Because a frightened author doesn’t stop to check.

So stop and check. A real legal notice comes from a real firm you can verify (scammers even create websites but without a lot of depth), and it doesn’t demand payment through Venmo or a gift card. Don’t click their links. Don’t pay. Look up whether the trademark they’re citing even exists. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office runs a free, public trademark database you can search yourself. And if any part of it looks like it might hold water, that’s the moment to talk to an actual intellectual property attorney, not the person threatening you.

The one thing they all share

Every one of these plays the same note. They create a feeling—excitement or fear—and then they rush you.

That’s your signal. Any time an email makes your heart race and then asks you to act right now. Funny enough, we use those same techniques for good in our writing. We draw on emotions that bypass the more logical part of the brain. We keep readers turning pages because they are emotionally drawn in.

But we don’t want you to get drawn in. That emotional trigger is the moment to do nothing. Close the laptop. Take a walk. Ask a writer friend to read it with fresh eyes.

You’re allowed to slow down. That’s what professionals do. The people who actually want to work with you will still be there tomorrow.

And the scammers? They’ll have moved on to easier prey.

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Kudos:

Editing and publishing assistance client Bill Newgent released his debut work, Unlearning Myself: A Journey Back to Inner Wisdom and Peace If you’ve ever found yourself wondering if the person you’ve become is really you, then Bill’s book will resonate with you.

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If you’re one of my clients who has won an award, finaled in a contest, achieved bestseller status, has a new release, or hit some sales goals, let me know. I’d love to celebrate your wins with you!

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Where you can find me

I’m teaching a webinar on POV with the Author Learning Center August 4 at 10:30 a.m. PT/1:30 p.m. ET. Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/5562816809089391705​

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I’ve been on a couple of podcasts recently talking about how to turn what you know into a book.

🎙️ The Thoughtful Entrepreneur with Josh Elledge: Proven Strategies for Entrepreneurs to Write a Transformative Book​

🎙️ Business Roundtable with Dave Carr: How to Turn Your Expertise into a Book​

📺 Tandem Services has a YouTube page! Check it out at YouTube.com/@TandemServices

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Heads up

Just a heads-up for any of you who are my current clients: I will be off from August 12 to 31 for my second hip replacement surgery. Some of you remember my first one six years ago. I will be glad to be on the other side of this one too.

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Want personalized writing advice?

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Share a writing, editing, or publishing hurdle you have faced or a question you have and I will email you an autographed copy of Eat the Elephant: How to Write (and Finish!) Your Book One Bite at a Time and send you a personalized five-minute video. Click here to find out more.

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Writing quote

Examine every word you put on paper. You’ll find a surprising number that don’t serve any purpose—William Zinsser

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Pressing on!

Jennifer

PS—You should assume any link in this Update is an affiliate link. It costs you nothing more but gives me a few pennies. 🙂

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