Market My Novel

Special thanks to Marnie Swedberg for guest blogging at Market My Novel today!




Successful writing requires more than simply slapping words onto paper and calling it good. In the same way you dress with care for a gala event, you need to assemble your words with style for a polished presentation.




Consider how you get dressed every day: You have a subconscious system for choosing and putting on your clothes. The process is second-nature to you and enables you to display your unique style.




When dressing, there are basic principles: you do not consider throwing a pair of jeans over your head, or a jacket under your blouse. You have a logical system. When writing, you employ similar standards, tackling the steps in the correct order to gain the desired results.









Here are the steps we all take when getting dressed, the same steps every successful author takes when writing a new piece:

• Determine your audience.
• Select your basic pieces.
• Add your accents.
• Look in the mirror and adjust until you get it right.

Many budding authors and misinformed fashion divas start with an accent piece and try to build an entire production on something that cannot bear its weight.

Always start with the basics:

• Who will see this?
• What are their expectations?
• What are my goals in pulling this production together?

It’s essential to decide if you need a tux or a t-shirt. Once you have your basic requirements clearly in mind, write the foundational content.




Next, select your accent pieces:

• Add quotes from experts.
• Include personal stories.
• Play up the phraseology.
• Break-up the type with bullets or numbered lists.
• Add sections with headings and subheadings.

Just as the right necklace and earrings add class to a simple blouse, the right stories and quotations transform a mundane subject into an enjoyable, and even intriguing, expedition.




It may be tempting to start your writing projects with the fun, accent content, but your writing will suffer: it will appear disjointed, imbalanced or inappropriate. Develop your document from the bottom up, adding personal flair, color and creativity, but only after your foundation is in place.




When dressing, the last thing we do before walking out the door is review the results in a mirror. Similarly, the final step before publishing a writing project is running it by an editor.




Anyone can throw on clothes or write a sloppy piece. Your goal is to rival world-class models who walk down runways with confidence and style. Let your words do the walking and enjoy rave reviews by carefully choosing each component for overall success.




About the author





Marnie Swedberg is the author of eBooks: Idea to Amazon in 14 Days and ten other books and eBooks. She owns and manages a restaurant, retail store and espresso café, is the hostess of websites receiving over 5.7 million hits in 2009, and serves as a “mentor to mentors” from every continent and career path via her Leadership Development Club. Learn more about her at http://www.Marnie.com.