In my last post I summarized the workshops I attended at the Florida Writers Conference to give you a glimpse at what was included at the event, to help you decide whether a writers conference is for you.

Today I’m going to present my 10 takeaways from the conference:

1. Figure out what works best for you as a writer

• Determine your best time & environment for writing
• Pick a genre you love (& read a lot), instead of following a hot trend/fad
• Decide whether you are willing/able to do all the marketing for your book (indie might be the way to go) or if you need a team behind you (traditional publishing)

2. Determine your audience

• Who are your readers? (age, gender, interests, hobbies…)
• What are problems/issues they are interested in?
• What do readers in your genre expect and what do they want to read right now?
• Where (physically and online) can you find and target your readers?

3. Make your pitch/book blurb attention grabbing

• For a pitch state genre, word count and title of your novel first
• Keep it short
• Start with the hook
• End with a sentence that makes your audience wonder what happens next

4. Writing and marketing are not actions but processes

• Always keep on writing: if you are stuck in a project, can’t find literary agents, or your book isn’t selling online – put it aside for a few months and begin a new project in the meantime
• Marketing happens before, during and after book launch (it should continue for as long as your book is on the market)

5. Believability

• Whether you are writing a fight scene or a dialogue between teenagers, make it realistic
• Whenever possible research through observation, either in real life or through video the people/actions you are writing about

6. Read out loud

• The quickest way to check whether your dialogue is stilted, your descriptions too long or a scene confusing, is to read it out loud to yourself

7. Villains do more than thwarting the hero

• Make your villain a 3D character
• Give your villain a backstory
• Ask how the villain contrasts and compliments the protagonist

8. Backstory – know it all, don’t include all

• Know 100% of your character’s backstory, but reveal less than 40%
• Is it necessary to give reader this information?
• Is it necessary to give reader this information right now?
• Is your backstory slowing down your plot?

9. Verbs, nouns and adjective

• Use strong and descriptive verbs and nouns
• Use adjectives sparingly

10. Get feedback

• Before publishing get beta readers/critique partners (10-20 is a good range)
• Hire a freelance editor (content vs. grammar editor)

I hope these takeaways will help you in writing, editing and reaching your goal of successful publishing.