Research | Suzanne Rogerson Fantasy Author

Today I am reviewing Twitter for Authors. It was released at the beginning of November, though I was lucky enough to receive an ARC copy from the author.

I’ve been using social media for just over two years and twitter is something that I’ve struggled to master. My twitter presence is close to 4.5k mark so it has grown in the two years I’ve been active on it, but I know I’m not using it to its full potential. I wasn’t sure how to use it as a selling tool or how I could make it work better for me, so I was eager to review ‘Twitter for Authors’ when Jesper Schimdt put out the call in his newsletter.

I was hoping this book would give me pointers on using twitter, but not only did he do that, Jesper Schmidt has made me rethink how I see twitter. I love the quote ‘Your twitter profile is an online business card for your authorship.’ He talks about creating an author brand across all social media platforms and made me think about the content on my twitter feed and the message I want to convey.

The book introduced me to some new software that can help build followers etc. At first I was put off by the idea of paying for software / monthly charges, but as you read on the benefits become clear. Everything is well explained and I really like the handy checklists at the end of each section. I’ve found lots in this book to help me and when I get some time (in between editing and drafting my next book) I’m hoping to put the advice in this book into action.

This is a recommended read for authors and I rate it 4 stars.

Do you feel as if you’re wasting your time on Twitter? Not a single book sold, despite all your efforts?

Then Twitter for Authors is precisely what you need.

It will do exactly what the title says: save you time, get you followers and grow your email list.

The techniques taught in Twitter for Authors can all be executed in under 30 minutes a day, and will drive massive amounts of traffic to your books, blog and everywhere else where you have an online presence.

Throughout the chapters you will find free tutorial videos that show you exactly, with easy, step-by-step guides, how to put a system in place that will deliver upon all the promises made.

Why not put in 20% of the effort and gain 80% of the results?

Check it out on Amazon US and Amazon UK

Today I am really excited to welcome Colleen Story to my blog for a guest post all about research…

The One Question You Need to Ask When Doing Writing Research

When Suzanne first asked me about the research I did for my newly released non-fiction book, Overwhelmed Writer Rescue, and how it differed from the research I did for my novels, my first thought was, Oh it’s completely different.

But then as I starting looking into it, I thought, Well, maybe not—there actually are a lot of similarities.

In discovering those similarities, I’ve found that no matter what type of writing you’re doing, it’s important to ask one question. The answer will help you determine whether the research will benefit the writing or not.

Health Writing is Researching in its Purest Form

I’ve been researching non-fiction writing for over 20 years. I specialize in health writing. If you’re unfamiliar with what that is, just imagine me writing research papers all day long on things like heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, preventative care, alternative treatments, nutrition, and the like.

Sounds about as fun as a root canal, right?

Well, if you’re interested in what you’re researching, it can be fun, and much of the time, I am. Over the years, I’ve gradually expanded into personal growth, motivation, and creativity, which I particularly enjoy, and for which the research can be extremely intriguing.

I’ve written fiction for about the same period of time, but for years, I didn’t research it at all. Looking back, I think I probably avoided it simply to get away from what to me was my “day job” as a freelance writer. Fiction was my time to play and indulge my creative muse—I certainly didn’t want to bring any dry research into it.

When I started writing novels, though, that had to change, at least somewhat.

Gradually, My Fiction Writing Began to Require Some Research

My first novel was a fantasy, so I researched things that appealed to my imagination, like gargoyles, stone sculptures, and ancient myths and legends—all fun stuff that didn’t really seem like “research.” Instead, I was indulging my own sense of curiosity.

You see, in my mind, research is tough. I’m used to regularly reading challenging material that typically goes something like this:

“Most studies agree that the classical pathological criteria for AD, neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, can account for 40%–70% of the variance in cognition seen in elderly subjects, with additional pathologies such as cerebrovascular disease (Dolan et al. 2010b) and Lewy body pathology (Schneider et al. 2007) working together with AD pathology to account for an additional 20%–30% of dementia cases. (O’Brien and Wong, Annu Rev Neurosci., 2011)”

Not exactly light reading, and this is one of the simpler ones. After a day of it, you’re ready to move onto something else.

So “researching” my fiction has always been restricted to an “as needed” and “for fun” basis. I really didn’t think of it as a key component in my fiction writing—until the last couple years.

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