EDITING TIPS & TRICKS! BOOK COVER DO'S & DON'TS!

Last November I spoke on panels at the Digital Author Indie/Self-Publishing Writers Conference on the topics of "How to Design a Self-Published Book to Look Professional" and "Techniques for Editing Your Work." 

I am an experienced, detail-oriented book editor, as well as publicist and website designer.

ABOUT MY EDITING SERVICES:

I provide editing services at all levels of pre-publication.

• Manuscripts in early to final drafts
• Book Covers (Design and Text)
• Amazon Pages (Book Description, Etc.)
• One Sheets
• Book Summaries
• Author Bios
• Book Club Discussion Guides
• Query E-Mails

BOOK COVER TIPS

YOUR BOOK WILL BE JUDGED BY ITS COVER!

BEFORE

AFTER

In color, the "Before" image looked like a big brown toe. In fact, it was a picture of a rock in the New Mexico area where she lives and writes and rock climbs. I asked the author to show me some more colorful shots from her photo archive, and after we agreed on another image, she came up with a more fitting image that reflects the environment that she was depicting in her story. She decided to make it more visually abstract, evoking the beautiful mystery inherent in this imagery.
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AUTHORS! GET OUT THERE AND GET KNOWN!

HOW NONFICTION MEMORIES EVOLVE INTO FICTION (Video Interview)

How Nonfiction Memories Evolve into Fiction

I was honored and grateful to be interviewed by the Author Learning Center (ALC) at the Annual Greater Los Angeles Writers Conference (AGLAWC). You owe it to yourself to check out this amazing writer's resource!

Marlan Warren, Author Learning Center Interview Still

My "fictionalized novel" -- Roadmaps for the Sexually Challenged: All's Not Fair in Love or War -- is 99 percent memoir. I was recently on a panel at a writers conference that covered both non-fiction and fiction in the "memoir" genre.

Here's a video clip on this controversial topic from my Spring interview with the Author Learning Center, which you may view on their website at The Author Learning Center

HOW TO GET BOOK REVIEWS (Video Interview)

Keith Ogorek of the Author Learning Center interviews Marlan Warren, reviewer/contributor to the Midwest Book Review about how to get great book reviews:

#BookReviews #AuthorLearningCenter #MarlanWarren #BookPublicityByMarlan #MidwestBookReview #WriterTips

Summary from the Author Learning Center website at:

Marlan Warren on writing and acquiring-book-reviews

Marlan Warren, Author and Publicist with Roadmap Communications, explains how to write and acquire book reviews. Through Marlan’s Bookshelf with Midwest Book Reviews, she chooses to only review books that she loves. She wants to support other writers and doesn’t feel the need to write bad reviews and will often let an author know that she’s choosing not to review their book if she doesn’t believe it’s well-written.

• Personally, Warren resonates with books that contain a human interest focus. That means she’s written about books containing a wide variety of content, from baby teeth advice to immigrant stories.

• If an author is looking for reviewers, Warren recommends that they utilize Goodreads. Within Goodreads groups, there are often readers who want to read and review books.

• Warren explains how to go about finding and pitching a story for a review. If a writer has a compelling pitch, they should be able to find a number of readers to provide reviews.

Watch the clip above to learn more about book reviews!

My Midwest Book Review: Fasten Your Seatbelts: Travel Journalist Judith Fein Explores The Final Frontier (Death)

Book Reviews, Book Lover Resources, Advice for Writers and Publishers

Reviewer's Bookwatch

Volume 19, Number 9

September 2019

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http://www.midwestbookreview.com/rbw/sep_19.htm#marlanwarren

Marlan Warren's Bookshelf

Title:

 How to Communicate with the Dead and How Cultures Do It around the World
Author: Judith Fein
Publisher: Global Adventure
Website: http://www.globaladventure.us
ISBN: 9780988401990

"Communicating with the dead has been a secret part of my life for many years." - Judith Fein

Judith Fein's fourth deep travel memoir, HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE DEAD AND HOW CULTURES DO IT AROUND THE WORLD, invites us along on her decades of investigations and explorations of the final frontier: Death.

For most of her life, Judith Fein has seen and heard dead people. Not all the time, thank goodness, or it would not leave much time for this prolific journalist to write about her soul-searching globetrotting with her ever-skeptical photojournalist husband, Paul Ross. "Judie and Paul" are the "Nick and Nora" of the travel adventure-supernatural set. She can see a ghostly figure in the middle of nowhere and believe it to be a specter. He can be right next to her, eyes huge, and afterward admit "maybe" it was real. Their yin-yang bonding and love adds to the delightful humor of this Odyssey.

Los Angeles, CA, August 16, 2019 --(PR.com)-- Marlan Warren will read from her fictionalized memoir, “Roadmaps for the Sexually Challenged [All’s Not Fair in Love or War]” as a featured speaker in a workshop entitled “Writing a Best-Selling Memoir” on the first day of the Annual Greater Los Angeles Writers Conference (AGLAW), Friday, Aug. 16 at 6 p.m. “It’s an honor to be included,” said Warren. “This will be my first public reading of this book.”

PRESS KITS R US!

The power of your press kit resides in your One Sheet. Here are some faves that I've created: They can be printed out and mailed or viewed online as Electronic Press Kits (EPK).

Title: Apocalypse TV

Author: Thomas Allbaugh

Publisher: eLectio Publishing (Sept. 12, 2017) Website: www.electiopubishing.com

Genres: Christian Literary Fiction | Dark Humor
Paperback: $17.99  Pages: 277  Words: 80,610
In Stock: Barnes & Noble (Rancho Cucamonga & Glendora, CA)
Available on Amazon and Kindle
ISBN: 978-1632134288      ASIN: B075JQVNXF
Facebook: @ApocalypseTVBOOK
EPK: Click Here
Author Website: tallbaugh@apu.edu

Thomas Allbaugh welcomes media interviews, opportunities to read/sign his novel, 
and lively discussions about religion and spirituality in the 21st Century.

His whole life has been a sham because he can’t accept responsibility
 for his failure to live by his own convictions.—Apocalypse TV

SUMMARY

Mild-mannered Walter Terry, a beleaguered Christian intellectual professor struggles with reality, religion, and his own authenticity in Race to the Apocalypse, a Reality TV Game Show that brings together religious fanatics, atheists, zombies, the FBI, and “Elvis” as essential players in Thomas Allbaugh’s tightly wound, seriously hilarious novel, Apocalypse TV. Will Walter take up arms against the troubles unleashed upon him by unseen production forces or end up slaughtered as the show’s designated “sacrificial lamb”?

PRAISE FOR APOCALYPSE TV

Apocalypse TV argues against the extreme notion that only members of a certain faith are favored by God, while making a case for spiritual salvation through love, faith, hope, service…and the willingness to persevere.—Midwest Book Review

I was caught up from the opening pages to the end of this entertaining novel. Allbaugh has created a story to savor, and one that readers will not soon forget.

                                           —Joseph Bentz, Author of A Son Comes Home and Nothing is Wasted

Allbaugh challenges readers to consider conflicting perspectives related to social issues and faith . . .

 —OnlineBookClub

***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Thomas Allbaugh’s short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Writing on the Edge, In Touch Magazine, Relief, and Broken Skyline: An Anthology from 67 Press. His poetry chapbook, The View from January, will be published by Alabaster Leaves Press in Fall 2019, and he is working on a second novel, Radio Eden. He is an associate professor of English at Azusa Pacific University, where he has taught for 18 years.

**********************

Title: Inspirational Verse for Those Who Hunger and Thirst: A Book of Poems to Feed the Soul

Author: Artemis Craig

Publisher: Artemis Craig Publishing (Nov. 6, 2013

Genre: Inspirational and Religious Poetry (Christian, Evangelical)

Available:

Amazon Paperback $15.00 (64 pgs.) ISBN-13: 978-0989087605  

Amazon Kindle:  $.99 (64 pgs.) ASIN: B00HLXV864               

Author Website: https://artemiscraigpublishing.com/

Facebook: @inspirationalverseforthosewhohungerandthirst

Twitter: @artsyhuntress58

Publicist: Marlan Warren | Book Publicity by Marlan | memoircity@gmail.com

EPK: http://inspirationalversebookepk.blogspot.com

Artemis Craig would be honored to speak on rising up from the ashes of despair through acceptance of Christ as her Savior, and how she found her writer's "voice" again. She welcomes interviews and all interest & shares!

Soul Food for the Soul

By God’s grace, I regained my appetite for the wisdom I received from my grandmother and my mother who taught me about life and introduced me to Christianity while serving up savory dishes of fried corn, okra, green tomatoes, and collard greens smothered in Deep South Chow Chow Relish, along with bone-chewing fried chicken.—Artemis Craig

Summary

Inspirational Verse for Those Who Hunger and Thirst takes us on Artemis Craig’s firewalk from spiritual bankruptcy to redemption via compelling, heartfelt poetry and prose. Through the power of Faith, Poetry, and Love, she finds the strength to cope with Hollywood “failure”; devastating family losses; homelessness; single parenthood; attempted suicide and breakdowns. Her poems honor and reflect “the strong women of God” who wanted her to be saved, and serve as a testament to her “Never Surrender” determination.

Praise!

Artemis Craig has risen out of the ashes of Hollywood as an evangelical poet who has walked through fire, and lived to tell her story.  ̶  ̶ Midwest Book Review

Her poems are like devotions. Artemis Craig takes us on a journey through her darkest moments, becoming very transparent about her suicide attempts, depression and hopelessness . . . and Hope. ̶ ̶ Ellen Sudderth, ESP Literary Podcast

I'm on another #GLAWS #Panel in the #LosAngeles Area This Saturday!

There's much more to hiring a book publicist than just hiring a book publicist.

I'll be speaking on this Greater Los Angeles Writers Society (#GLAWS) panel this coming Saturday! #FREE. Palms Library. July 20^th  2:00 to 5:00pm No-host dinner with speakers following.

Find out how traditional and new media play into today's book promotion strategies, what types of PR are available, what to look for when hiring a publicist, the different between a full-service PR and Marketing Agency and a book publicist, and more.

Please join us!

Click here for more info on GLAWS website

INCOMING! "APOCALYPSE BLUES" BOOK TALKS (7/1 @7:30pm) - PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY

Professional Editing Tips and Guidelines

My Book Packaging services cover pre-publication as well as post-publication public relations. The pre-publication services include writing coaching (fiction and nonfiction); manuscript editing; assisting in consulting and/or assisting in finding the right publisher and/or agent...even helping to select a book cover that will attract readers while staying true to your book's message or theme.

As an editor, I can catch manuscript errors before they get self-published. As a publicist, I receive too many self-published and small press books riddled with errors from cover content to basic spelling mistakes.

Many writers fall into the "Well, even if it's not perfect, my story is still there" frame of mind. They don't understand that spelling, grammar and format errors not only turn off readers, they turn off media professionals who refuse to interview an author whose book has editing errors. If there's a mistake on the cover, it can end up in their trash.

Beyond the basics of manuscript editing, there is the far trickier territory of allowing an editor you trust to help you shape your story structure and characters to their best possible advantage. Newbie authors fear the editor will change too much of what they love in their writing, and self-published authors without solid know-how believe they either "know it all" or rely on spouses to edit. The latter works fine if your spouse has the credentials for editing, although an English degree may not be enough. Academic writing goes by somewhat different style standards.

So as not to re-invent the wheel, I am re-printing these beautifully articulated tips from Jerry Jenkins' website at https://jerryjenkins.com/self-editing/:

Why Publishers Reject Your Manuscript After Reading Just Two Pages

• Editors can tell within a page or two how much editing would be required to make a manuscript publishable; if it would take a lot of work in every sentence, the labor cost alone would disqualify it.

Looking forward to being on this "Beyond the First Draft: How to Edit Your Manuscript and When to Hire a Professional Editor" panel with the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society (GLAWS), and again feel honored to be included in this illustrious lineup.

When: May 18, 2019 at 2:30pm
Where: Palms - Rancho Park Branch Library (Culver City)
2920 Overland Avenue, Los Angeles 90064

PRESS KIT OF THE MONTH: "APOCALYPSE TV:"

The press kits (aka "media kits") that I design and send out with media/agent queries also appear as Electronic Press Kits (EPKs) as a separate website or embedded on an author's website. Here's the One Sheet for author Thomas Allbaugh and his seriously hilarious pre-Apocalyptic Christian novel, Apocalypse TV. See it as an EPK at This Link:

Title: Apocalypse TV

Author: Thomas Allbaugh

Publisher: eLectio Publishing (Sept. 12, 2017) Website: www.electiopubishing.com

Genres: Christian Literary Fiction | Dark Humor
Paperback: $17.99  Pages: 277  Words: 80,610
In Stock: Barnes & Noble (Rancho Cucamonga & Glendora, CA)
Available on Amazon and Kindle
ISBN: 978-1632134288      ASIN: B075JQVNXF
Facebook: @ApocalypseTVBOOK
Electronic Press Kit: http://apocalypsetvepk
Publicist: Marlan Warren   Website: bookpublicitybymarlan.blogspot.com
Contact: (323) 347-6762  MarlanWarren@outlook.com Author: tallbaugh@apu.edu

********

Thomas Allbaugh welcomes media interviews, opportunities to read/sign his novel, Apocalypse TV, and lively discussions re religion and spirituality in the 21st Century.

********

His whole life has been a sham because he can’t accept responsibility
 for his failure to live by his own convictions.—Apocalypse TV

SUMMARY:

Mild-mannered Walter Terry, a beleaguered Christian intellectual professor struggles with reality, religion, and his own authenticity in Race to the Apocalypse, a Reality TV Game Show that brings together religious fanatics, atheists, zombies, the FBI, and “Elvis” as essential players in Thomas Allbaugh’s tightly wound, seriously hilarious novel, Apocalypse TV. Will Walter take up arms against the troubles unleashed upon him by unseen production forces or end up slaughtered as the show’s designated “sacrificial lamb”?

REVIEWS:

Apocalypse TV argues against the extreme notion that only members of a certain faith are favored by God, while making a case for spiritual salvation through love, faith, hope, service…
and the willingness to persevere.—Midwest Book Review

I was caught up from the opening pages to the end of this entertaining novel.

Allbaugh has created a story to savor, and one that readers will not soon forget.

—Joseph Bentz, author of A Son Comes Home and Nothing is Wasted

Allbaugh challenges readers to consider conflicting perspectives related to social issues and faith . . .
leaves an impression that lingers long after the last page is read. —OnlineBookClub

***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Thomas Allbaugh’s short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Writing on the Edge, In Touch Magazine, Relief, and Broken Skyline: An Anthology from 67 Press. His poetry chapbook, The View from January, will be published by Alabaster Leaves Press in Fall 2019, and he is working on a second novel, Radio Eden (working title). He is an associate professor of English at Azusa Pacific University, where he has taught for 18 years.