How to Market an Event: 50 Event Marketing Tips

The date is set. The venue is booked. Now you just need to get people to show up. Worried? Maybe a little? Don’t be.

If you’re not sure how to market an event, here’s a list of 50 event marketing tips. You don’t need a big advertising budget or celebrity endorsements to make this work. Just use this list as your event marketing plan. Here are our best practices for filling a room…

 

50 Event Marketing Tips

 

The event page

The cornerstone of all the promotion efforts is the event page or website. This could be a page or website specific to the event, or if you don’t have a site for the event, use an EventBrite page. Either way, make it compelling by including ALL of these elements:

1. Compelling description

Clearly indicate the topic, time, place and who should attend. The description should include specific benefits for each type of attendee. Make it brief and scan-able. Use third-party endorsements when possible, such as a quote from a previous event.

2. Pre-event curation of content 

Curation of tangible content leading up to and/or during the event for event attendees to take away from the event (this could be videos, photos, t-shirts or just about anything.) Done right (not SWAG,) this can add to the buzz leading up to the event, tap new audiences for attendees and keep the event property top of mind to departing attendees. Content is about capturing great memories!

3. Speaker pictures and bios

Great speakers draw crowds like a magnet. The speaker page should show their faces and list their credentials.

4. Event image

The image will appear when the page is shared on social networks. It could be the event logo, a picture of a room full of people, or just a genuine smiling face.

5. Event-related videos

Create simple video interviews of the speakers and post them here. These can be produced quickly using Google Hangouts or Skype. It’s easier than you think and very effective later on. If you ask nice, maybe the speakers will make a little video for you, like Jay Acunzo, founder of Unthinkable, did for us for Content Jam.

6. Prominent “register now” button

Without a clearly visible button and a call to action, you might not get any action…

Pre-event email

If you have a list, your best channel for event marketing may be email. If you don’t, you may ask partners, speakers, or friends to mention the event in their emails (see “Affiliate Partners” below). Regardless of the list, use these event marketing email guidelines:

7. Subject line

Subject lines that inspire awe, anger, or anxiety lead to higher open rates. Studies have shown (slide 20) that subject lines with lukewarm emotional content are less likely to be opened. Try a subject line such as “10 things you miss if you aren’t at this event.”

8. Send during the weekend

Consider sending an email on the weekend. Since few companies do it, open and clickthrough rates may be higher. And when possible attendees see it on a weekend, they may feel less stressed for time and more willing to commit a few hours to your event. They may be in a social mood and even invite a friend.

9. Video thumbnail

Show a clickable image of a speaker interview video in the email. Video thumbnails in emails can improve clickthrough rates.

10. Social proof

If you have positive feedback from previous events or credentials for the speakers, use them as quotes in your emails and on the website.

11. Send and send again

Plan to send an event marketing email several times. For large events, email once months in advance to announce the speaker lineup and to announce early-bird registration discounts.

Email just before this discount ends, and again as the event approaches. Finally, send an email a few days before with reminders of the time, place for registrants and a final pitch for new registration.

Pre-event social activity

Events are social occasions. So of course, your event marketing should use social media. Here’s how to promote the event with social media and blog posts:

12. The hashtag

Pick an event hashtag that’s short, and ideally, unique to your event. You’re going to always, always use this hashtag in every tweet and post.

13. Links in social media bios

Usually your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn bios will link to your website. But when you’re promoting a big event, consider changing these links so they send visitors directly to the event page.

14. Find relevant people on Twitter

Use Twitter Advanced Search to find people who are interested in your topic and live nearby. Mention them in tweets about the event or tweet to them directly with a friendly invite.

15. Tweeeeeet!

Unlike email, most tweets are missed as they flow through the social streams of your audience. So tweet early and often. Here’s a list of reasons to tweet before the event. Many of these tweets can be scheduled far in advance, using tools like MeetEdgar and Buffer.

Registration opens

Early-bird registration is ending soon

Countdown: “Just X days until the event!”

Reminder of time and location

Thank your sponsors (mention sponsors)

“Just saw Jane’s presentation. Wow!” (mention speakers)

“See you at the event!” (mention registrants)

Thanks for sharing, posting and re-tweeting (mention anyone who shared)

Tweets with testimonial quotes about a speaker (find these on LinkedIn)

Tweet to the pre-event blog post using a quote from the interview. (mention speaker)

“Thanks for registering! See you there!” (mention registrants, especially social media influencers)

16. …then follow people

After these tweets, follow a few people who may be interested in your topic. When you follow someone, you might get their attention and they may notice the event. It’s best to follow people when you have a compelling event promotion tweet at the top of your stream.

17. Post the event on Facebook and LinkedIn

Of course! Make sure that the image from the event page appears. Mention speakers, encouraging them to share it with their networks. Post again with videos and remind people of registration deadlines.

18. Registration thank you page

On the thank you page after the registration process, offer to let them share the event on social media. The tweet will announce that they’re going and include the hashtag and the link to the registration page. Use a Click-to-Tweet link to make this easy.

19. Registration auto-response email

Once people register, they’ll receive an email. Use this as an opportunity to suggest they follow you on Twitter. Don’t forget to mention the hashtag.

20. Other auto-response emails

If your website can send people an email when they submit a contact form, add a link to the event here.

21. Cross the streams

If you find that you’re getting traction on one social network, but not others, move the conversation around. If someone shares something on Facebook, thank them on Twitter. If someone mentions the event on Twitter, say hi to them on LinkedIn.

As you can see, we’re recommending a lot of social media activity, taking advantage of any excuse to connect, mention, post, tweet and link.

Pre-event blog posts

22. Write a pre-event blog post

For successful event marketing, begin posting on your blog a week in advance. Like the videos, this could be an interview with one or more of the speakers. Email interviews are an efficient way to produce content quickly. Just send a list of questions and post the answers when the speaker sends them back. Link to this post in the emails mentioned above.

23. Invite speakers to write guest posts

Speakers will recognize that although this takes a bit of time, there are SEO and social media benefits to guest blogging. If they do write something for you, encourage them to share that content with their networks.

ProTip: Do a guest blog post exchange with a speaker. Here is an example of how a content strategy event was promoted with two guest posts, one written by the speaker and posted on the event site, and another written by the event organizer on the speaker’s blog. 

Working with partners

24. Photo and video partners

If you don’t have the budget to hire professionals, offer free admission (or even a table in the event space) to a pro photographer or videographer in exchange for services. Make sure they commit to providing you with assets in a reasonable timeframe. And make sure you give them good exposure in exchange for their time.

25. Standardize presentations

Create a standard Powerpoint template and share it with your speakers. It may only be two slides (a title slide and an interior slide) but it will have fonts and colors that match the event theme. This will help things look good later when you share the presentations after the event (see post-event email below).

26. Affiliate partners

Create a unique promotion code for each partner and speaker. They can use this code when they promote the event, offering a discount to people on their social networks. Since the code is unique to that partner, you’ll know how effective that partner was at promoting the event. Now you can pay them a referral fee to that partner for those registrants.

27. Pre-written tweets

Don’t just encourage your sponsors, partners and speakers to help with promotion, make it easy for them. Write a list of compelling tweets and send them along in an email. Now they’re more likely to help and less likely to use the wrong link or hashtag.

28. Dinner and drinks

Invite speakers, sponsors, influencers and members of the press for a night out before the event. This is a chance to bond and have some fun. If you try this, you’ll likely find people referring to the dinner conversation during the event. “We were just talking about this the other night…” Strong personal connections may lead to better cohesion on the big day.

Submit to media and industry websites

29. Submit to local media outlets

Many media sites, especially the hyper-local news sites, let you post events. Find these by searching Google for “event calendars” in your city.

30. Submit to industry associations

Industry and trade associations may also allow you to submit. If the event is relevant to their audience, ask if they will accept, post or promote events from outside organizations. Chambers of commerce are often happy to promote events relevant to their members, especially if the organizers are members themselves.

31. Let the press know

There are likely journalists who cover local events. Find them by searching for similar events on news websites. Then graciously contact them with an invite, press badge or offer of a relevant article. This could be an interview with a speaker or a guest blog post from you for their website. If you successfully get their attention, you may get a bit of press!

Make your event page SEO friendly

People may be looking for your event right now! Follow these basic instructions to search optimize the event webpage or the Eventbrite registration page.

32. Target a keyword

First, we need to choose a relevant keyword. The target keyword should combine the event topic, the word “event,” and the name of your city. Examples: “orthodontist event Tulsa,” “campfire safety event Charlotte” or “vegan cooking event Chicago.” For tips on finding more specific keywords, take a look at this post: How to Research Keywords.

33. Title tags and headers

Use a title tag and header that include your target keyword. In the title tag, it’s best to put the name of the event last, so the keyword appears first. This helps indicate relevance to Google. For example, an event for veterinarians in Texas may benefit from a website with a title tag such as “Veterinarian Event in Dallas – PetCon Dallas.”

34. Search-friendly description

The event page should have a nice, detailed event description, which includes the keyword several times. If it’s long, break up the text into short, concise paragraphs. Use lots of formatting, including headers, sub headers, internal links, bullet lists, etc. You can find more advice on this SEO checklist.

35. Linking

Internal links are important for search engine rankings, so make sure to link to the event page from other pages on your site including older blog posts. This will guide visitors to the page, and also help search engines know that the page is relevant.

During the event

Live tweeting during events is a huge opportunity for event marketing and promotion. Registrants will be watching the hashtag, so fill that stream with interesting content.

36. Tweet quotes

Listen for juicy nuggets in conversations and in presentations. Mention the person who said it and use the hashtag.

37. Share pictures

Make sure to take pictures of people, speakers and attendees, as things are happening and share them on Twitter. Smartphones make this easy. Mention people and use the hashtag.

38. Hold a contest or drawing

Even if you’re giving away something small, like a book or a gift from a sponsor, use this as an opportunity to gather email addresses (with permission of course) and then share a picture of the winner holding the gift on the social networks.

The end of the event isn’t the end of the event marketing. After the event, follow up with activities that will make your next event an even bigger success.

Post-event blog post

Event recap blog posts are often easy and fun to write. Post them on the event site or submit them as a guest post to a relevant blog or local or industry/association website. They can include all kinds of relevant content.

39. Summary of presentations

These summaries can include quotes of positive feedback from a follow-up survey.

40. Speakers’ presentations

As with the photos, it’s ideal if the presentations are embedded into the event site or blog post using a tool such as Slideshare.

41. Gallery of event photos

Ideally, these galleries are embedded into the event site or recap blog post using tools such as Flickr. If so, you’ll be sending traffic to your site, rather than a photo-sharing website.

42. List the “top tweets” from the event

These are easy to find if you used a hashtag. It’s even easier with Storify.

43. List the speakers, sponsors and attendees

List.ly is a very social way to build lists and embed them into a website. This kind of list may help attendees find each other afterwards and get a better networking benefit from the event.

Post-event email

The email follow-up to registrants is a way to say thank you, share important links and keep a bit of buzz going…

44. Link to a survey

Surveys are a great way to get feedback, but they’re also a way to gather testimonials that you can use for future events.

45. Link to post-event blog posts

Since you already gathered up your best content and posted it, linking to it in these emails should be easy.

46. Invite registrants to follow you on the social networks

Some of your registrants may not follow you yet. Never miss a chance to promote your social media accounts!

47. Invite registrants to be notified of the next event

Some of your registrants may not be subscribed yet. Link to your email signup form to grow your list and promote your email marketing.

Post-event social activity

Now it’s time to share stories, say thank you and stay connected. Here are some social media activities.

48. Thank you tweets

Show your gratitude after the event by thanking the speakers, sponsors and attendees in follow-up tweets and posts. This is good for networking.

49. Post photos

Put a few of your best photos on Facebook and Google+. Be sure to tag and mention people.

50. Keep sharing

In the days after the event, listen for tweets, mentions and blog posts from others. Hopefully, the hashtag makes this easy. When you see these mentions, share them!

Culled from Orbit Media

The Best Way to Meet Customer Expectations

The more you know and understand the background and behaviour of your audience and their needs, the better you can prepare your approach to dealing with them.

Human behaviour is a function of the environment in which the individual finds himself. In business, striving to have our customers’ background information can help us identify their needs, concerns and inquiries.

Our competency in establishing this knowledge will be enhanced through effective communication skills, empathy/emotional stability and efficiency in handling difficult situations and customers. Customer service attitude is beyond initiating greeting and smiling to a customer. A satisfactory skill set must be attained to be an effective customer service representative that is meeting up with customer expectations.

Gaining, retaining and maintaining customers in a friendly working relationship, while at the same time maintaining a business-like relationship which brings about loyalty on the side of the customer, is a necessary skill needed by salesmen, brands and service providers who aim to control and dominate a market.

 

Who is a Customer?

Customers are the people that patronize us in our business and who go away with a positive impression of our firm.

A customer may pay for our goods and services but must achieve satisfaction for their expenses. The success of the four essences of marketing, i.e. product, promotion, price and place, is based on the continuous patronage of the customer.

A business is dependent on the customer. Therefore, an effective customer service campaign is brought on by delivering service excellence. It is the quality delivery of output. Customer expectations for patronage range from customer to customer, but on a general note, every customer requires the following:

 

Some Customer Expectations

• To be given awesome service because many are more likely to give a repeated business or referral after a good service experience. Likewise, many customers may stop doing business with a company due to poor customer service experience and failure to resolve their problems in a timely manner.
• Most customers make purchasing decisions as a result of the influence of visual factors in our workplace, website, staff appearance and approach. Many make judgments about a firm’s credibility based on these factors.
• Customers like it when you underpromise but deliver beyond expectation. However, reverse expectation is expected if it is otherwise.
• Sustaining valuable content and brands and presenting new ideas for customers enhance their experience.
• Consistency in driving and maintaining professional core values will be a measure of loyalty. Measuring satisfaction on customer journeys is more predictive of overall customer satisfaction than measuring happiness through each individual interaction.
• Pay a lot of attention to the few customers who may have complaints or observations because for every one complaint you get, there are more unhappy customers who have remained silent. Investing in a feedback mechanism is crucial. In this case, on-the-spot attention in resolving customer wants is advisable above the drop-box comment technique.
• Steady availability on speed dial paid or toll-free lines for making home delivery requests will draw your customers to you.
• Rewarding loyal customers through socially responsible perks will likely increase the volume of goods and services sold. Loyal customers are more likely to recommend a product, service or brand.
• Quality customer service forms the basis of the customer experience. Most customers’ main interaction with a business is through interacting with a business’ employee, either by visiting a store or by speaking on the phone. In essence, the company representative has the opportunity to deliver excellent customer service and thus create a great customer experience through proper motivation. If you take care of your employees, they will in turn take care of the customers.

TemiDayo Babatunde is an Associate of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and can be reached via his LinkedIn (chatwitdayo@gmail.com).

Post Tags:#brand#business#Market

Where Do Successful Authors Get Their Most Brilliant Writing Ideas?

Do writing ideas just fall out of the sky? Is it reasonable to sit around waiting for a great idea to land on your lap, so you can write the next big bestseller?

I don’t think so.

When it comes to developing worthwhile writing ideas, it’s either feast or famine for most of us. Some writers have so many ideas, we can’t decide which one to pursue. Other writers struggle to find something worth writing about; they don’t have enough ideas.

And even if you have a compelling idea, the idea itself might not sustain a story or a poem. It’s not enough to have a concept: you need characters, settings, plots, subplots, and themes.

When writers are at a loss for ideas, they often self-diagnose with writer’s block. I believe that’s a misdiagnosis. People struggling with writer’s block aren’t at a loss for ideas. Many are merely dismissing their own good ideas (often because they aren’t perceived as original enough), or they don’t want to put a lot of effort into looking for ideas. I also think that poor health or stress are sometimes misread as writer’s block, in which case the only cure is to take better care of oneself.

However, for the rest of us who are struggling to find the right ideas, there’s no shortage of sources we can turn to for inspiration. Why not start at the top? Why not find out where some of the most successful authors have gotten their brilliant writing ideas? If that doesn’t inspire us, I don’t know what will.

No Imagination Necessary

First, let us dispel the myth that if you want to be a writer, you must have a vivid imagination. Plenty of writers have found success by being simple observers.

Mark Twain is a shining example. His idea for Huckleberry Finn wasn’t an idea at all; he simply based the character on someone he knew from real life. It turns out that the beloved character was practically a replica of Twain’s childhood friend, Tom Blankenship:

“In Huckleberry Finn I have drawn Tom Blankenship exactly as he was. He was ignorant, unwashed, insufficiently fed; but he had as good a heart as ever any boy had. His liberties were totally unrestricted. He was the only really independent person—boy or man—in the community, and by consequence he was tranquilly and continuously happy and envied by the rest of us.” — Mark Twain

Have you ever known someone with a standout personality? Such a person can influence your work in the same way that Tom Blankenship influenced Mark Twain.

Political, Religious, and Social Commentary

Of course, Mark Twain is not the only author to successfully draw from real life. During the Great Depression, hundreds of thousands of people migrated from the Dust Bowl to California and other western states. John Steinbeck (one of my literary heroes) told their story in The Grapes of Wrath, which was developed from a series of articles that ran in the San Francisco News in 1936.

But it was more than a story about people struggling with poverty in a downtrodden economic climate:

“I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this [the Great Depression and its effects].” — John Steinbeck

Steinbeck’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel is a thoughtful commentary on social injustice and the forces behind poverty and oppression.

In today’s world, which is rampant with political, religious, and sociological commentary, one need not look far for writing ideas. If you can find an issue that matters to you, just look to the news and documentaries for true stories that you can use for inspiration.

Dreaming Things Up

Creative people from all walks of life from artists to inventors have found answers and ideas within the magical world of dreams. One of the most successful living authors of our time, Stephen King, attributes a dream as the inspiration for Misery, a novel that was also made into a film and an off-Broadway play:

“Like the ideas for some of my other novels, that came to me in a dream…I fell asleep on the plane, and dreamt about a woman who held a writer prisoner and killed him, skinned him, fed the remains to her pig and bound his novel in human skin. His skin, the writer’s skin. I said to myself, ‘I have to write this story.’ Of course, the plot changed quite a bit in the telling. But I wrote the first forty or fifty pages right on the landing here, between the ground floor and the first floor of the hotel.”– Stephen King

Unfortunately, many of us don’t remember our dreams, and if we do, they’re hazy at best. Luckily, there are some proven techniques to help us learn how to remember our dreams. Try a few of them and see if you can’t get your next big writing idea while you’re sound asleep.

Making Connections

Suzanne Collins broke the mold with The Hunger Games, arguably the most successful post-Harry Potter series to date. The books captured the hearts and minds of untold millions of young adult readers, and the films turned the story into a cultural phenomenon. So how did she do it? Where did Collins get the idea for a dystopian, young adult novel set in a future where citizens are required to tune in to an annual reality show so they can watch teenagers fight to the death in an oversized arena?

“One night, I was lying in bed and I was very tired, and I was just sort of channel surfing on television. And, I was going through, flipping through images of reality television where there were these young people competing for a million dollars or a bachelor or whatever. And then I was flipping and I was seeing footage from the Iraq War. And these two things began to sort of fuse together in a very unsettling way, and that is when I, really, I think was the moment where I really got the idea for Katniss’s story.” — Suzanne Collins

Look at the world around you. There are unimaginable things happening everywhere. Some are horrific; others are endearing or bizarre. What connections can you make in the world today to prompt yourself to imagine what the world will be like tomorrow?

No Excuses! Writing Ideas Are Everywhere

So much for writer’s block — and so much for imagination. We writers need only be influenced and inspired by the world (and the people) around us.

“You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.” — Neil Gaiman

You know what that means: no more excuses! You’re a writer, so go out there, find your writing ideas, and then write. Write your hearts out.

Source: Writing Forward

5 Reasons Rejection is Good for Your Growth

 

Chances are, you read the title of this post and huffed, “I hate rejection! Rejection, I will dance upon your grave!”

The good news is that if you are to sustain your growth as a writer, you’ll never stop experiencing rejection, so you won’t have to be shining up your dancing shoes anytime soon.

Wait — did I say the good news?

I did. In my career as a magazine writer, book author, content marketer, blogger, and copywriter, I’ve been rejected well over 500 times. Yes, I counted.

But instead of seeing “no-thank-yous” as a sign that I should just give up and get a real job, I see them as a tool for boosting my career success.

Here are five reasons to consider rejection your bestest friend …

#1. Rejection teaches you how to stop being rejected

In the late 90s, I was trying without success to break into the national women’s magazines. Every pitch was met with rejection.

Then, one day, I received an email from an editor at Woman’s Day. She said she liked my query — in fact, she wanted my permission to showcase it at a writers’ conference as a pitch that was almost-but-not-quite there — but that I didn’t do enough research on the topic. Why don’t I expand on the idea and send it to her again?

So I did a few interviews, added some quotes to my pitch, included a few examples of what I would include in the article, and turned it in.

Behold! My first women’s magazine assignment.

And I went on to write for Woman’s Day again, and also sold more than a dozen ideas to Family Circle (and became their highest-paid writer) using my new, well-researched query approach.

Of course, not all rejections will be full of friendly tips from prospects, but you can learn even from boilerplate “No thanks” responses.

For example, if you’re getting a lot of these impersonal rejections, that’s a sign you’re doing something wrong and need to reconsider your approach. Something about your letter of introduction, pitch, offer, or samples may be lacking.

#2. Rejection allows you into an exclusive, world class club

Ever hear of The 4-Hour Workweek — you know, that New York Times bestseller that created a worldwide movement to work less and earn more? Author Tim Ferriss was rebuffed 26 times before he found a publisher willing to take him on.

Stephen King’s first novel, Carrie, was turned down 30 times. King was so frustrated he chucked his manuscript into the trash. His wife fished it out and encouraged him to submit it just one more time.

JK Rowling suffered countless rejections before scoring a hit with the Harry Potter series. She’s now one of the richest people in Britain.

Take heart that the rich and famous have been where you are right now, fielding no-thank-yous left and right. When you get rejected, you have something in common with the most successful writers out there.

#3. Rejection demolishes your competition

I cannot even tell you how many wannabe writers I hear from who gave up in the face of rejection.

That makes me sad, but it offers an advantage for you: The more writers out there who let “no’s” stop them, the more opportunity there will be for you to land those content writing gigs.

In other words: Fewer writers = less competition. Yay, right?

#4. Rejection helps you cut through the crap

Think of rejection as clearing the path towards your best successes.

All those prospects who are turning down your content writing offers — they’re just obstacles you need to get past before you finally reach the prospects who will hire you.

Every rejection brings you that much closer to an acceptance. Think of those famous failures we just talked about. What if Tim Ferriss had stopped at rebuff #26, or Stephen King had given up for real at #30?

They were at their final rejections, people!

Who knows which will be the final rejection on your current marketing campaign? If you’re learning from rejection and tweaking your copy and offer in response, chances are you’re getting pretty close.

#5. Rejection brings you better clients

My take on rejection is that if someone turns me down, that means we wouldn’t be a good fit.

Sayonara, sucker!

You may be thinking — especially if you’re a newish writer — that any client would be a good client, but believe me (I know from experience) that there is such a thing as a bad client, and that you don’t want one.

So the ones who turn you down? They’re sparing you from slogging through an assignment for a client that isn’t a match for you in work style, writing style, pay, or PITA (that’s Pain In The A**) level.

Even better: When you get a rejection from one prospect, that leaves room for better ones to enter your life. (Why yes, I do believe in all that woo-woo energy stuff!)

Over to you …




Why do you love (or hate) rejection? Are you on the verge of giving up?

Can you see how rejection can be used as an ally in your work, instead of merely a hard bump in the road?

**

 

Culled from Copyblogger

• FIRST-TIME WRITERS
• FREELANCE WRITERS
• REJECTION
• WRITER'S GROWTH

Five Habits to Avoid in Fiction Writing

 

As with personal documents or academic writing, fiction writing can be challenging. Our editors have encountered five problems on a regular basis. By avoiding these habits, your fiction writing will be greatly improved.

1. Generic verbs and nouns

Imagine trying to paint everything in the world using just four colors. The results would probably look pretty generic. When you are a writer, your language is your medium. People, places, and things (i.e., nouns) have names, and it’s your job to know what they are.

Precise nouns work wonders in fiction writing because nouns have connotations or meanings that go beyond their dictionary definitions. If one character gives another character flowers, tell readers what kind of flowers. Are they tulips or columbines or snapdragons or peonies? This information could hint at what time of year it is (tulips are pretty scarce in September) and could also tell us something about the character who gives the flowers. Four dozen roses are expensive—does this person have money or like to show off? A bouquet of wildflowers might have come from the character’s backyard—perhaps this person likes to garden.  

A similar thought process should be applied to the selection of verbs. There are at least 12 synonyms for the verb to laugh, and each one evokes a specific image. A character could express amusement by cackling, chortling, chuckling, giggling, guffawing, snickering, sniggering, tittering, crowing, whooping, simpering, or smirking.

Precise verbs contribute greatly to characterization. If a man walks into a room, all your readers know is that he has entered. He could be anybody. But if he limps in, right away readers want to know if he is old or injured or tired. If he runs in, readers know he is energetic or excited about some piece of news. If he swaggers, readers wonder if he is full of himself or perhaps just drunk.

2. The exception: He said, she said

Reading good dialogue makes readers feel like they’re actually listening in on a real conversation. Because of this, it can be very disruptive if the author keeps butting in to tell readers that the speaker intoned or declared or asserted or retorted. It may seem like using “said” repeatedly in dialogue tags is repetitive, but in fact the little word is so inconspicuous, it just fades into the background—which is exactly what we want when we’re trying to listen in on a good conversation.

The rare deviation is fine (asked, in particular, seems to be okay once in a while), but if you find yourself using a colorful synonym for every dialogue tag in your manuscript or screenplay, you may be doing more harm than good.

3. Adjective/Adverb-a-rhea

Sometimes a well-placed and specific adverb or adjective strengthens or clarifies an image. However, many writers, in a misguided attempt to make their fiction writing descriptive, overuse these words. If you master the use of precise nouns and verbs (see tip number one), you’ll almost certainly avoid the bad habit of propping up a weak verb or noun with a host of intrusive modifiers, as in the following example:

Carrying a steaming and fragrant mug, she walked angrily and loudly into his office.

Why write that, when you could have simply said:

Carrying her peppermint tea, she stormed into his office.

The second sentence actually gives us more information using fewer words.

Furthermore, when editing your manuscript, be especially wary of adjectives that don’t actually convey much…

interesting, lovely, exciting, beautiful

…and adverbs that introduce redundancy…

stereo blared loudly (blared implies high volume)

scrubbed vigorously (scrubbed implies intensity)

…or contradict the meaning of the verb or adjective they modify.

slightly pregnant (with pregnancy, you either are or you aren’t!)

very unique (something is either unique or not unique)

4. Inconsistent point of view

An author of fiction must choose the perspective, or point of view, from which a story will be told. In first-person narration, one character tells the story in his or her own voice (using “I”). Third-person narration can be either limited (an objective narrator tells the story by focusing on a particular character’s thoughts and interactions) or omniscient (the narrator sees and hears all).

No single point of view is better than another, but once you have made a choice, be consistent. If your story is told in first-person, then remember that the narrator must be present in every scene he describes to the reader; otherwise, how would the character have the information?

Similarly, a limited third-person narrator who hears only Tom’s thoughts tells the story for the first four chapters, the reader should not suddenly be privy to the mailman’s daydreams in chapter five.

Of course, there are some great examples of novels that experiment with point of view by switching between narrators. But even in these stories, some kind of predictable pattern is imposed for clarity, such as a change in narrator from one chapter to the next, but not within a chapter.

5. Unnaturally expositional, stilted, or irrelevant dialogue

Read your dialogue out loud. Does it sound like the way people actually talk (without all the ums and ahs and boring digressions, of course)? Do the characters rattle off factual information you are trying to jam into the story? Are they talking about the weather? Because if they’re talking about the weather, you’d better have a good reason for it. Otherwise, the reader will feel bored, and a bored reader closes his or her book and turns on the TV.

All of this advice is important, but by far the worst habit a fiction writer can develop is the habit of giving up too easily. Keep writing every day. If you need help, remember that our manuscript editors are available 24/7 and that they can help you tackle all of your manuscript mishaps.

Culled from Scribendi

• FICTION
• GENERIC VERBS
• WRITING

The Best Ways to Create Effective Dialogue

As the author of 12 novels, including several bestsellers, I’ve found that the effective use of dialogue can greatly enhance your writing. Dialogue, when used correctly, can enhance your plot, make your characters come alive, and create tension and conflict, all key aspects in making your book a success. It also keeps your readers coming back for more.

Here are the best ways I’ve found to create effective dialogue:

Keep it Real

One of the key aspects of writing good dialogue is to make it sound like real people are talking with each other. A great way to learn this is by listening to how people talk. When I go to coffee shops and restaurants, I’ll listen to other people’s conversations. Not to spy on them, but to hear how they phrase things – you’ll notice right away that most conversations aren’t in full sentences – you’ll hear mono-syllables, half-sentences, phrases, arguments, etc. You’ll also pick up dialect and inflection. Another technique is to watch TV programs and movies, or listen to radio – here again, you can pick up memorable voices that crackle with authenticity. Lastly, read novels in the genre you write – you can learn quite a bit by how other authors write dialogue. One of my favorite authors is Robert Parker; he was a master in writing short, snappy conversations for his mystery thrillers.

Use Dialogue to Propel Your Plot

Conversations between your characters can propel your plot forward. I’ll give you an example. In the first chapter of my thriller KILLING WEST, the first two lines were dialogue:

“And if he won’t talk?” Rachel West asked.

Her CIA field officer took off his wire-frame eyeglasses and began cleaning them.

“In that case, Rachel, you kill him.”

Most people that read this will immediately want to know: What’s going on here? Intrigued, they’ll keep reading, which is what you want.

Another way to use dialogue is to disclose information – you see this all the time in TV dramas – usually two or three of the characters are discussing a case or a problem, knowing some of the facts, but not all, which is just like real life. You can dole out clues, even red herrings, as they talk, all the while creating suspense, tension, and conflict.

Create Tension and Conflict

All novels need conflict in order to be successful. Think about every great book you’ve ever read – they all had some major conflict. So how can you create conflict? One useful method is to use conversations to create that tension. It can be a lover’s quarrel, or someone being fired from their job, or a pregnant woman being told by her doctor that she’s going to miscarry. All these situations are ideally told through dialogue – if you did it through description, it wouldn’t have the impact of a people talking or arguing. I’ll give you an example from THE MEDIA MURDERS, my most recent J.T. Ryan thriller. In this novel, the FBI’s John (J.T.) Ryan and Erin Welch are investigating the suspicious deaths of several news reporters. In the book there’s a tension-filled, life-an-death conversation that takes place between the President of the U.S. and the FBI Director. I won’t give away the plot twist, but suffice it to say that this two-page-long dialogue changes the course of American history.

Don’t Forget Humor

One of the most effective ways to use dialogue is to have the characters interact humorously. My novels are serious in nature, with people often risking their lives. But I always include light-hearted moments. If you want your novel to come alive, the selective use of wit can be one of your best friends as a writer. Earlier I mentioned a couple of my main characters, J.T. Ryan and Erin Welch. Although the two admire each other for their job skills, their personalities are quite different. The beautiful and highly-intelligent Erin has a serious personality, while the John Ryan is much more laid-back, often making a joke, even when things are bleak, or if they’re in a dangerous situation. Their dialogue reflects this, creating tension between the two. An occasional use of humor and sarcasm will make your book much more readable and entertaining.

Less is More

When writing dialogue, keep these things in mind: (1) Once you establish who is speaking (especially in a two-person conversation) you don’t need to keep repeating the tag lines. An occasional ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ will suffice. (2) People don’t always answer questions when asked – sometimes when conversing, they ignore questions and stay silent. This can add drama and mystery. (3) Short conversations, using only a few words can many times be more dramatic than long, drawn-out soliloquies, which readers will find boring.

Culled from: Book Marketing Tools