Do literary awards help your fiction writing career? After starting my writing career in 1992 and my editing and publishing career in 1996, I can firmly say yes. Literary awards improve public awareness of your book and increase book sales.

The reason award winning books sell more is the award is a powerful third party (independent) endorsement. When someone with no financial interest in a book goes out of their way to read it and honor it, the public takes notice. This is the same reason why book reviews have more impact than an expensive advertising campaign.

Now that said, it does takes time, effort and usually at the very least a little money (if not more) to place your book in the running for an award. Almost any award. You should plan this cost into your promotional and marketing efforts for the book.

If you’re interested in going in this direction, step one is do some Internet research to find all the different award competitions to which you might be able to submit your work. There are always the big name competitions in your genre. Everyone knows these and they’re easy to find. But, there are also many smaller awards out there given sometimes by quite unlikely sources.

Do not make the mistake of either overlooking, or underestimating, these awards. Any official notice, praise or singling-out of your work, no matter what the source has the potential to increase book sales (you know the old adage — there’s no such thing as bad publicity).

Step two is to pay whatever small entrance fee might be connected to the award you’re going after. This should only be done, however, if you get the sense that the award is genuine, or at least respected. There are competitions out there which are merely set up to rake in entrance fees. Oh, someone will win the award, but there isn’t quite the same amount of prestige attached to such an “honor.”

Step three, of course, is to send a copy of the book or e-book to the panel of judges.

For example: My publishing company published a military science fiction anthology entitled Breach the Hull in 2007. That was the first year we started publishing e-book versions of most titles. The editor and his wife, Mike McPhail and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, found an e-book literary award online and decided to enter the book’s Microsoft Glassbook e-book version. It was a good call on their part — Breach the Hull won the 2007 Dream Realm Award for best e-book anthology! Sales of the title have steadily increased as the publicity from the award has spread across the Internet and genre conventions.

Of course, winning is just the beginning. Once you have the award in hand, then you want to display (with all the bells and whistles you can manage) the logo of the contest on your websites and provide it to interviewers in the media as well. Create a cardboard stand up of the book cover and award logo to take with you to conventions. Something plastered with the words “Winner of the So & So Award!” Mention the fact that the book won the award on every panel you are a part of at conventions. Let the world know about the award at every reasonable opportunity.

Second example: In 2008, Marietta Publishing published the follow up book to the Amazon best-selling Bad-Ass Faeries. The second book in the series is titled Bad-Ass Faeries 2: Just Plain Bad. One of the four editors is Danielle Ackley-McPhail. She decided to enter the e-book version in a literary award contest. In March of 2009, it was announced that Bad-Ass Faeries 2 had won the 2009 Eppie Award for best e-book anthology! (Eppie Awards go by the year the award is awarded, not the year of publication.)

Danielle and Mike are using the internet to track down what is waiting out there for all authors and small press editors and publishers. Winning the awards means all the hard work they put into writing their stories and putting together their anthologies has now paid off in a bigger way, but they had to do the work to find the competitions. These opportunities don’t come knocking even the much-talked-about one time on your door.

You have to go find them.

The bottom line is, plan ahead to enter your books in literary award contests. They will help publicize your title and improve your book sales. It certainly does not hurt to have a few awards on your resume as an author, either.

Trust us.

During tough economic times it is important to increase your personal productivity so that you can make more money to survive. For us writers the facts are straightforward — the more products you produce, the more passive income you create. Passive income is the most desirable type of income because you do not have to get up and go to work every day to earn it. Royalties are the way writers are paid passive income by our publishers. Once you have written the book you continue to make money while you move on to write more books. If you get a pile of books in print, you will make more money. (I am using books as the generic term for books, e-books, magazines, e-zines, newsletters, comic books, screenplays, articles, columns, etc.)

What does it take to become super productive as a fiction writer? Getting your mind to buy into the value of your time is the first step. Calculate how much your time is worth per hour presently and then decide what you want your time to be worth per hour in the near future. When you break your income down to the hour you start to value your time more and it helps to keep you on track to your goals.

Focusing your mind on your current writing project and pushing yourself to write faster and faster each day is another mental tool to help increase your productivity. Avoid distractions during your work time. Control what you are doing with your time. Get up at the same time every day and block out eight hours of writing time. (I refer to this as golden time!) Do not answer the phone or emails during this golden time. I only allow phone calls during evening hours or I may return a call during my lunch break. Occasionally, I take a break to make a business call that must be made during weekday business hours. In exchange for the time I work late. Finally focus on finishing your writing project. Endless revisions do not make you money. Work with editors, copy editors, and publishers to sharpen your product and get other points of view.

Use technology to increase your productivity. I highly recommend the Apple I-Phone and the Apple MacIntosh notebook computer. For writers these two tools create a virtual office that is totally portable. The I-phone has an I-Pod, calendar planner, wireless Internet connection with full email capabilities, text messaging, a large enough screen to comfortably read an e-book on and much more built into one phone. The MacIntosh is much less vulnerable to computer viruses and it is much easier to use than a PC. This ease of use increases your productivity.

Exercise with your family or friends in order to spend quality time with them, while you take care of your health. This will make workouts fun. Use a business to do list and a personal to do list to keep you on track. If you increase your hourly writing word count, you are giving yourself a raise. It really is great to be in control of your productivity and being your own boss. Being a fiction writer is a dream come true. Value your dream time every day by being more productive.

In order to get published you have to stand out in the crowd. This is a must. Never tell people that you want to be, say, the next Stephen King. Why not? Because until King is dead, you ain’t got a job, pal! So, unless you’re content with sitting back and reading the literary guild obituaries, you might want to try a different tact, and that is developing your own clear, distinct writing style.

A writer’s style is created when a writer finally finds their own unique voice on paper. It takes some work to uncover your style, but it is well worth the journey. Let’s see what you might be able to do to create a style all your own.

First, you need practice. Lots of it. You can’t discover your own unique way of doing anything without putting some effort into it. You need to write, and to write every day. Of course, you’re first instinct is to shout back how busy you are, how little time you have, how precious each moment is … blahblahblah.

Shut up.

C.J. Here: I am reminded of my favorite cartoon ever from the New Yorker. Cocktail party, two men speaking to one another. The speaker, eager, bright-eyed, innocent. The listener, bored, leaning against the wall, wearing sunglasses. The speaker says: “A writer, huh? Gee, I always wished I had the time to write.”

No one has the time to write. No one is born with extra minutes in the day to devote to putting things down on paper. You find the time, you make it. You cut out the unnecessary, the distracting, the useless. You get down to the work of becoming the greatest literary voice of your age. Or you let someone else do it. Period. That’s all she wrote.

Bruce & C.J. Here: You will need to establish a regular daily time to sit down and write. Like an athlete practicing their sport, a writer must practice their craft often to become great. Your mind runs like a computer can quickly program itself to be full of ideas at the time of your writing session every day. Trust yourself to rise to the occassion.

The second step is to read widely in your genre of choice. A writer learns writing techniques from other writers as they read. This exposes you to different writing styles and allows you to pick and choose what you think are the most effective methods of writing. And, understand that we’re not talking theft here. This is an exercise for your subconscious, not your conscious mind.

For example: reading a James Bond novel by Ian Fleming would expose you to his tight, highly detailed style of writing. Fleming’s approach to the craft was designed to take you into the lifestyle of a spy that is licensed to kill. Even normal things like eating a meal or driving a car are not done in typical fashion by such a person. The simple act of reading a Fleming novel could be that key to helping you better understand that characters are defined by many things, their upbringing, surroundings, racial identity, and their jobs, just to name a few.

In the fantasy genre, David Eddings is one of the acknowledged masters at moving a story forward through dialogue. He’s one of the very best. Kevin J. Anderson, the highest paid science fiction writer in the world, tells tales on a grandious scale, and he is capable of doing so in the Star Wars or Dune series, as well as his own universes. Stephen King claims he doesn’t outlines his novels (C.J. here: I have to believe him, I don’t outline anything, either), but allows the characters to lead the twists and turns of the plot. King is a master of creating believable characters. Dean Koontz is the master of hooking a reader in with a first paragraph that leaves you dying for more — to the point where most folks find it very hard to put down a Koontz novel.

Practice writing through the five senses (taste, smell, touch, hearing, and sight) of your characters to create a complete reading experience. Go into their minds. Show the audience what they’re thinking. Use metaphors and similes artfully to paint incredible descriptions with words. Push yourself to be different in your word choices. Write short, powerful sentences to build tension in a scene.

We could go on and on, but the point is made. All of the above tips might be just what you are looking for, or they might be absolutely wrong for you. You’re the only one who can decide. They were provided only as springboards, ways for you to experiment in the hopes of finding your way toward creating your own unique style of writing.

Reading the giants of your genre never hurts. Study their styles to see what makes them great. If nothing else, it’s a better way to pass an afternoon than drugs or television.

Honest.

If you’re anything like us, then you’ve heard writers complaining for years about the demise of markets for short stories. Now, all right, yes, it is true that the heyday of hundreds of printed fiction magazines is over. Only the very strongest such as Space & Time Magazine have survived, but I strongly disagree that there is a lack of demand for shorter works of fiction.

Remember this truest of facts … nothing disappears without being replaced by something else. That’s evolution, dudes.

The novel still outsells single author short story collections and multiple author anthologies in printed form, just as always. But a savvy writer realizes that short stories (5,000 words or less) and novellas (5,001 to 59,999 words) appeal to more multi-media markets for fiction than the novel. For those who haven’t noticed, we are living in a multi-media age, one that seems to become a bit more “multi” with every passing day. In order to sell more short fiction you have to think in terms of appealing to editors in other mediums that might be willing to use your fiction.

To create top selling short stories a writer needs to think of a short story in terms of an episode. Write a series of short stories using the same universe and main characters. And, despite the popular notion to the contrary, these stories do not need to be written in chronological order. Unless, of course, you were thinking that Robert E. Howard’s Conan wasn’t a popular character.

What working in a chronological progression does allow you is, at the end of a group of, say fifteen to twenty short stories, is to create a very exciting book that can be published as a “novel.” By way of personal example, we did this with our forthcoming “novel,” Where Angels Fear. We first sold the stories to many different magazines, websites, and anthologies. Then we wrote more unpublished stories to fill out the story arc and sold them as one complete work of art — one with a beginning, middle and end. Just like any other novel. Each short story or novella appears as a titled chapter, leading to that most wonderful of situations, selling the same short story twice.

Episodic fiction can also be sold as a comic book series. You have to rewrite the short stories as comic book scripts, but then you could sell the short stories to a book publisher as a comic book tie-in. C.J. did this with his hit Moonstone Books comic Lai Wan, Tales of the Dreamwalker, which is now an anthology from Marietta Publishing as well as a comic book series.

Also: don’t forget the very popular Manga publishing companies and the best selling graphic novels that dominate the comic industry today. Any novella you’ve done is most likely the perfect length for a graphic novel.

Television producers are always on the lockout for new TV series, as well. Short stories or novellas can be rewritten as screenplays for television. Author Wendy Webb wrote a series of comedy mystery novellas for Marietta Publishing (Last Resort, Bee Movie, and Mean Cuisine). Each is subtitled “A Beluga Stein Mystery.” Wendy sold these to Fox TV as a series. Talk about selling something twice!

A good long novella is the perfect length to convert to a movie screenplay. Novels are actually too long for the standard two-hour movie.

Another point to consider is the fact that the gaming industry is now bigger than the movie industry. Like Hollywood, they are always in need of talented writers to create role playing games and video games. Most of the larger hit games have book series to tie-in the game and inspire game masters. Many game tie-in book publishing companies are actually owned by the game companies such as Chaosium, Black Library and Lucas Books. Gaming companies publish short stories, novellas, and novels depending upon the game. Two great examples of bestselling gaming book series are Halo and Warhammer.

The bottom line is to think outside the box of print media. In many ways, it is actually easier today to start a writing career than ever before, thanks to the never-before availability of Internet publishers. Their online magazines may be just the ticket to the building of both your credits and writing skills. Then you will be ready to submit stories to the cream of the online crop — Baen’s Universe and Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show.

You have to start somewhere. The “where” is not important.

Getting started is.

It is absolutely vital for any author to build a loyal, and hopefully, large fan base. The benefits should be obvious. With a loyal fan base you have readers waiting for your next book to come out. This enables publishers to get larger numbers of pre-orders directly from readers and larger initial orders from bookstores (both offline and online). It also means you can earn your book advance more quickly and start earning royalties sooner. Remember an advance payment from a publisher is one made against future royalty payments, so you have to earn your way past the advance money to get to the royalty payments. A loyal fan base for an author also makes publishers feel more comfortable printing a larger number of books in the first print run.

So how exactly does one build this large and loyal fan base? First, you need a sharp looking author website that you can send people to for more information about you. Your website should allow readers to purchase autographed copies of your books from you directly. To inspire them to do so, it should have some extras to help build their interest in you. Remember, these people haven’t been sitting around in the desert waiting for your coming. They already have two or three favorite authors who are tying up a lot of their superfluous cash. What can you give them to convince them to make you number three or four?

First, your website should contain a biography, one filled with interesting facts, things that make you sound interesting and fun, informed and a decent human being. Someone they would like as a friend. We’re not saying you should lie here. We’re saying you have to remember that these people are not idiots. If you want their money, and more importantly, their loyalty, then you’d better come up with something that says you deserve it. Add an FAQ (frequently asked questions) section as well. Hey, they more of these you answer up front, the fewer you will have to answer in e-mails. Remember, this website is also going to make you more accessible to the public.

Next, stick in a list of upcoming personal appearances — convention guest shots, one-day-shows, book store readings, radio or TV appearances, signings at a local library — whatever ya got. A brief news column is always a good idea as well. Anything that is going on in your life that is in any way related to you as a writer. And, speaking of that, it wouldn’t hurt for you to be posting a few samples of your staggering talent as well. A free short story or two should appear on the site, especially if you are a new writer. If you don’t write shorts, then throw up a few rolicking good chapters of your best book.

Another good idea is a recent picture of yourself, one that makes you look both presentable and approachable. This is an especially good idea if your target market includes females. Women like a photo of the author — most men don’t care one way or the other. Unless, of course, you’re an attractive woman. We realize this is like telling a black author to play the race card, but here are the stone cold facts. Others are doing it. Female and male authors are not only having special portraits taken for their book jackets, websites and other publicity outlets, but they’re having them taken by professionals and then having them airbrushed by experts.

If you don’t listen to anything we say, listen to this. Talent is necessary, but it is not the only thing you need. Yes, you can turn out good work with talent. But that alone does not guarantee sales. Writing is an art. Publishing is a business. If you’re not willing to throw yourself into playing the game, you’re going to lose to others who are willing. It’s a sad, cold fact, but it’s the truth.

Connected to that truth is another one: never put anything negative about another author, an editor, or a publisher on your website. The book business is a small community, and the easiest way to burn important bridges is to bad-mouth others. Doesn’t matter if your speaking the God’s honest truth. There’s only one Harlan Ellison. Everyone else has to be as polite as a Warner Brothers’ gopher.

If you are good at keeping a daily or weekly journal you should consider offering a blog through your website. Putting an RSS feed on your blog also helps people find your blog as they search the Internet for information. If you have a nice sounding voice and like to talk you might also consider doing a podcast show from your website. A podcast is an offshoot of the journal-like blog, basically radio (MP3 recordings) or TV (MP4 video) on demand. You give it away for free through I-tunes and other online distributors to help drive traffic to your website. And, don’t forget, always include your website address in every blog or podcast you create. Blogs and podcasts are great ways to build a fan base and drive traffic to your website.

To build a database full of fan email addresses offer a free short story or non-fiction article in exchange for their email address. This opt-in solicitation of an email address should go with your strict promise to not sell the customer’s information to another organization. Once you have a substantial list built up, you can consider occasionally sending your email list free stories and make special offers to them to help sell your books and turn them into loyal fans.

Another great way to build a fan base is through those personal appearances we mentioned above. Genre conventions are a great place to start. Every genre of fiction has related conventions. You can find them in every state across the country and in other countries around the world. At a convention make sure you negotiate with the staff for a book signing time or even a free dealer’s table from which to sell your books. Attend panels about writing topics as another way to meet potential readers. Always mention your website info as well as where your table is located there at the convention. Place your latest books up in front of you while you are on a panel. The book covers will attract people to approach you immediately after the panel ends. Always be prepared to sell books at any time during a convention, as well. And, that means having copies of the books, change, and a pen or Sharpie to autograph each book with you at all times.

The classic way to build a fan base, of course, is the book signing event. This can be set up through the local independent bookstore or the bigger chain bookstores. The retailer can order books from your publisher or get them on consignment from you. (A retailer receives 40% of the retail price of the book.) Practice reading a dramatic piece of the book to hook your audience into buying the full book. Readings and short entertaining talks about the book business or how a book came about are great ways to convince people that you’re a wonderful human being, and sell books as well.

A final word about building a fan base — avoid being arrogant no matter how big a brand name author you become. Nothing will allienate a fan base faster than an author who refuses to sign autographs, or acts like he or she is better than their fans. Make time to talk to your fans and always be polite. Avid readers and fans are the ones who often start new publishing companies. One day that fan in the front row could end up being your immediate boss.

We say “immediate,” because, well … in case you haven’t figured it out from the above yet, the fans are already your boss!