First Word

You’ve been sent home to work. Maybe you already work at home, so it doesn’t make much difference to your schedule. Or you have been temporarily furloughed. You have some extra time on your hands—and you have to stay indoors so it’s not exactly like a vacation. If you’re a writer, I have a great suggestion for you. Time to get to your desk and work on your project you may have put off. It’s perfect—you’re indoors and you’re productive. I’m here to help support you and get you moving forward. So, click off that NetFlix’s series you’ve been binge watching and get down to the business (and productivity) of writing. As your co-host and leader of Writers Who Mean Business, I’ll help you do any of the following services (at no charge until March 31 st ): 1.      One-hour consultation on your book project and publishing options. 2.      Analysis of your first chapter and 300-word book summary. 3.    ...

1. This is a great exercise (one of my favorites): sit down and just write a sentence or better yet take a sentence you already wrote somewhere else. Remove a word that probably isn't necessary. Now do this five more times. Compare the results. Read the first sentence out loud and then read the second sentence out loud. Which sentence is better written? 2. If you want to do a thorough edit, read your manuscript backwards. It can be tedious, but what you're really doing is looking at it word by word. 3. Another excellent technique to edit is to take a piece of paper and cover up the other words. Our eyes has a tendency to wander without us realizing it. Covering up the other words keep your focused. 4. Really great writers typically don't make this mistake, but it's my pet peeve: ending a sentence with a passive verb like is, are, was, would, etc. 5. The infamous passive voice. When you avoid writing in the passive voice your writing will improve. Active voice gi...

I have been coaching a new writer whose book is titled Grains of Truth . It's enjoyable to work with a first-time writer, which is one of the specialties of 3L Publishing . We like to work with people from the beginning of the process to the end. I always tell writers it's better to use our consulting and coaching at the beginning of a project vs. the end. The reason is time. A new writer who is inexperienced can easily get off-track. When they bring a fiction or nonfiction book to us and it got off-track then they often feel discourage because all the work has to be revised. If you start at the beginning we can guide, coach and provide our expertise to help you write a winning first draft.   The number one benefit of using a book coach is accountability . When you start a new project and get distracted, you might find it easy to quit working. With a coach you will be encouraged and held accountable for your goals. Just having someone who is invested in your su...

Last night's joke was about how so many writers say, "I'm writing a book," and then nothing is produced. Do you know any writers whose books have never been published or finished? I often get asked if I'm a serious writer, too. I think it's because so many would-be writers never write or finish what they write. The other common cliché about writing in general is: don't we ALL have a book we want to write ? The part about that comment devalues my profession. Truth is we cannot ALL write a book. Another woman walked up to me (she was an English teacher) and said, "I bet you've seen some of the worst writing." Funny thing is I typically don't see horrible writing too often. Why? you ask. (And I told her this answer.) By the time a book comes to my desk it generally isn't written by a high school student trying to pass an English paper. The English professor was quickly enlightened and acknowledged that seemed like it would be true ... an...

Okay, so that headline is a little strong ... masses LOL. Makes me think of Music for the Masses or wait! Was that Music for the People ... or perhaps Ghost in the Machine or Kiss for the Rose ... LMAO ... I am in a weird, little mood today. All right so yesterday I was reading the mass of junk mail I receive in my in-box, and one newsletter stood out. It had some great public relations information. I saw an article on proofreading, and it gave some great tips for the layperson to use. I have my own, so I thought I would share and help the "masses" or better yet the average businessperson. Tip #1 -- Take a piece of paper and cover up everything but the sentence you are reading . I like to call this the "non-green" method because unless you do this on a flat-screen like an iPad, you have to print up what you're proofing. This method works because your eye is not somehow wandering ahead of the sentence. The "wandering" eye isn't really controll...

I wish I had some before and after photos of self-published books that were republished through my company 3L Publishing . The difference is astounding. Most new and emerging authors don't have the platform or following to get traditionally published. Out of frustration these authors end up trying to self-publish, and because they are not publishers they either try to scrape together an amateur self-published book or they wind up being ripped off at one of the many self-publishers who offer some super cheap K-Mart prices. The results are typically embarrassing and do nothing to generate sales. Here are reasons why you don't want to self-publish, and you especially don't want to self-publish and buy one of those "super cheap" package offers that look great until you end up with a terrible product. Typos and errors : What do you get when you work with a "professional" editor who is nothing more than an entry-level English major who is being paid $10 an...

* Valentine's Publishing Special* We love authors! To show our love, 3L Publishing is running a *Valentine's We Heart Authors Publishing Special*!! Sign up to use our publishing services in the month of February and we will include 5 FREE Hours of Editing* ( A $475 Value ) on your project. We're showing you the LOVE. If you have an editing project, please contact  us to take advantage of this special offer. We HEART You! *Must purchase at least 15 hours of editing services to receive the 5 FREE  hours. For more information, send an email to info@3LPublishing.com or call 916-300-8012. 

You're an aspiring author. You've just finished your new book. You're ready to shop it to agents and publishers. What are three things you should consider before you begin the process? Here are three things you should know (as told by the CEO of 3L Publishing, www.3LPublishing.com). Your chapter 1 better rock ! If there is anything you should ensure as you go to move forward and publish your book; your first chapter better be "da-bomb". It better be THE best chapter in the book or certainly as good or better than the other chapters in the book. If you have any doubt about the quality of chapter 1, you are not ready to publish. Don't worry about a cover . So many authors feel compelled to often put together ridiculous-looking, amateur covers. Don't bother. The only thing the publisher cares about is the content. An amateur cover (even if you think it's great, because unless you're a graphic artist it's most likely amateur) detracts from your...