Five Reasons You Should Abandon the Traditional Advertising Mindset

 

In today’s world, there are many competing viewpoints – for everything you agree with, there is an alternative point of view. I aim to set one point straight today: The traditional mindset needs to be put down.

The traditional advertising mindset refers to the status quo that has been accepted by companies with their marketing agencies. They get comfortable dressing up vague ideas and painting them in various lights. Alternatively, a data-first approach is black and white — either it works or it doesn’t. The traditional mindset lacks accountability, honesty and effectiveness.

My agency was once running digital lead generation campaigns for a client. We had all necessary trackers in place to attribute form submissions to our ads and collaborated with the client to confirm which leads turned out to be fruitful customers. Upon reviewing the numbers, our ads resulted in a confirmed 366% return on investment, not even considering potential future value. So you can imagine our shock when we reported this to the client’s decision maker, and their response was: “I’m frustrated with digital because I feel powerless. With traditional, at least I can drive by my own billboard …”

This is the mindset that, let’s be frank, we vehemently oppose and battle against every day. Maybe you share this frustration. Maybe you lean traditional but think this example is absurd. Or maybe you even share the sentiment in the client’s response. Regardless, here are five reasons for you to abandon the traditional advertising mindset and shift towards a data- and revenue-first approach.

Your opinions don’t matter; data matters.

There is a simple reason that some businesses fail and others survive. With all other things being equal, it is fair to say that a business that survives sees what works and does it repeatedly. The same principle applies to advertising. Too many times we have seen agencies that deliver exactly what the client wants, simply because they want it — and then the campaign fails.

We never run a campaign based on what the client thinks they want. Instead, we come to them with data showing what works. If there’s one saying that has helped us build trust and break down the traditional mindset with our clients, it’s this quote attributed to W. Edwards Deming: “In God we trust, all others must bring data.”

You can improve your tactics real-time; no more getting stuck in a rut.

Real-time account optimization is not only beneficial for us advertisers — it’s even more important for clients since it saves you money. Here is a solid example that manifested from an unfortunate situation. Hurricane Irma was one of the most devastating hurricanes in modern-day history and was projected to make landfall in Florida. About 36 hours before Irma made landfall, its path changed and it was aimed directly where we’re located in Tampa, Florida. When the news broke, we shut off various accounts for three days and saved our clients a combined $14,536 by not paying to deliver ads during a time when no one would convert.

You can attribute return on investment.

A 2014 survey revealed that 93% of CMOs said that they are under more pressure to produce an ROI. This insanely high static is just another example of how and why the traditional mindset should be broken down. Attributing an ROI to your campaign is not only possible, but it should be a standard across all agencies. Using conversion pixels and analytic tracking, we can attribute ROI for our clients by comparing revenue versus spending. A conversion pixel is a piece of code placed on the backend of your website that allows advertisers to track online interactions and attribute them to various campaigns. As we like to say around our office, “a campaign without metrics is a campaign without merit.”

You can combine the power of traditional and digital media.

In 2009 we coined the term “The Activation Bridge,” and since then it’s been the best way to get the point across to clients about taking a digital-first approach. The Activation Bridge is a means to close the gap between traditional and digital media to create an effective, holistic advertising strategy. We do this is by taking a digital-first approach to solving a client’s problem. By accessing behavioral targeting through our digital products, we can figure out exactly who is engaging with a product or service and then apply that data to a targeted traditional media approach. Through this process, we are once again able to steer our clients away from the traditional mindset of jumping on board with an idea that simply sounds good in theory.

You can evaluate your business goals more objectively.

The traditional mindset is clearly ego based. The ego has been proven to be a good thing and in many cases, allowing you to be more competitive and driven toward your goals. The issue surfaces when the ego starts to take over the way in which you operate.

In the instance where a client wanted to see the company on a billboard, the ego clearly won. Yes, you can see yourself on a billboard, but what direct benefit does that have for your business? At some point, you must subdue the ego and let the facts speak. The fact that you are not seeing your digital ads every time you pop online is a good thing. It means we have vetted the target market appropriately and are optimizing the campaign based on purchases. Unless you are directly in that behavior-based target, you probably won’t see the ads.

The traditional mindset approach toward advertising is destructive and irrational. It can foster unhealthy relationships with clients, and the “big idea” — the idea that sounds cool but isn’t backed by ROI-based data — doesn’t cut it anymore. Approaching your campaigns with data to show an ROI is key in today’s market, and there’s no better way to do it than using a digital-first approach.

Culled from Forbes

Elements of Fiction: Literary Techniques

 The fiction writer’s choice of “literary techniques” is an important element of fiction.

There are many techniques available to the writer, such as allusion, alliteration, allegory. Some popular techniques/devices include symbolism, imagery, and figurative language–such as simile, metaphor, and personification. The writer can use any number of literary techniques to tell his/her story.

Unlike the other elements of fiction, which must be part of the story, the fiction writer has a choice about the literary techniques to use. The writer’s choice often depends on the type of genre he/she is writing and personal preference.  As well, the writer uses more techniques in a novel than in a short story. The writer uses these techniques in his/her writing for the purpose of creating a more interesting, meaningful, authentic, and entertaining story.

The following identifies the most common literary techniques that fiction writers use:

• Allegory
• Symbolism
• Irony
• Imagery

• Allegory. The writer creates a story in which the characters and events form a system of symbolic meaning. George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” is a story in which each animal represents a specific person from the Russian Bolshevik Revolution.

• Symbol. The fiction writer can use a word, object, action, or character in the story to suggest or mean something other than its dictionary or literal meaning. For instance, an owl can represent “wisdom.”

Symbols can be universal or cultural. These types of symbols are known to both the writer and the reader.

The writer can also use contextual symbols. These are created by the writer for the story, and must be discovered by the reader. For instance, a motif is a recurring symbol that is incorporated by the writer into the story to express deep meaning.

As well, a contextual symbol can be an archetype.  An archetype is a recurring symbol that embodies some essential aspect of human experience. An archetype can be a theme, symbol, setting, or character. Essentially, the archetype is an “original model” or “type” after which other similar things are patterned. For instance, “‘Frankenstein’, ‘Dracula’, and ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’  are archetypes that have influenced all subsequent horror stories.

The archetype has a dual nature, in the sense that it has its literal meaning and another meaning, such as wind, sun, fire, water, and the four seasons. Examples of archetypal symbols include the snake, whale, eagle, and vulture. An archetypal theme is the passage from innocence to experience; archetypal characters include the blood brother, rebel, and loving prostitute. There are many others.

• Irony. The writer can use three types of irony. The first is verbal irony. Essentially, the intended meaning of a statement is different from the actual meaning. It is often a form of sarcasm. The second type is situational Irony. It occurs when the expected outcome of an action is different than the actual outcome. The last type is dramatic irony. Essentially,the audience knows more about the character’s situation than the character does.

• Imagery. The writer uses language that appeals to the senses to create “word pictures” in the mind of the reader. The writer can use imagery that appeals to the sense of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing.

Imagery can be figurative or literal. Example: “The war zone looked like the moonscape” is an image that is based on a simile. Figurative imagery is based on figurative language. Literal imagery is the use of concrete and specific language to create vivid images. Example: The boy walked along the muddy, wet, gravel road, as the red maples and crimson birch blew in the cold autumn wind.

 Some other popular literary devices include alliteration, foreshadowing, juxtaposition, word play, and stream of consciousness.

Figurative Language

A writer can also use figurative language to create a more interesting and meaningful story. Figurative language is language used to make a comparison between two different things. Common figures of speech include the following:

• Simile. A figure of speech in which the writer makes a direct comparison between two unlike things, usually with the words” like” or “as.” Example: Her cheeks were as red as cherries…He runs like a race horse.

• Metaphor. A figure of speech in which the writer makes an implied comparison between two unlike things, without using “like” or “as.”Examples: Love is a treasure box…Life is a journey, not a destination.

• Personification. A figure of speech in which the writer assigns human qualities or attributes or abilities to an animal, an object, or an idea. Example: The angry wind knocked over the chair and slammed the shutters.

• Hyperbole. A figure of speech in which the writer uses to exaggeration or overstatement for emphasis. Examples: The journey took forever…He was so hungry that he ate everything in the refrigerator.

Resources for Writing Fiction

There are several good books available to help you learn about the elements of fiction. The following books—and resources that I recommend— were used to research this article:

• Writing Fiction: A Guide to the Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway
• Creative Writing: A Guide and Glossary to Fiction Writing by Colin Bulman
• The Art and Craft of Storytelling by Nancy Lamb
• How to Read Novels Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
• The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
• A Passion for Narrative: A Guide for Writing Fiction by Jack Hodgins

Next, I will discuss  “dialogue”, an essential component of fiction and one that the aspiring writer needs to master, in order to craft memorable fiction.

Culled from Davehood59

5 Reasons You Should Write (and Publish) Your Work

Ever since I can remember, I loved the idea of being a writer.

After all, how cool would it be to create something as epic as The Lord of the Rings, or The Chronicles of Narnia, or Gates of Fire and know that this amazing story came from you?

But time passed and I never did write my great novel…

Sure, I made some half-hearted attempts; a few paragraphs here, a few sketches there…but never anything substantial.

And certainly nothing I would actually “publish.”

Fast forward 15 years and I’ve finally written and self-published my first book (a couple actually), as well as published about a half-dozen books from other amazing artists and authors.

In these past two years since I finally hit the “publish” button on my work (and others), my life has improved dramatically (same for the authors I publish).

Below are the 5 most important reasons I’ve found for writing – AND publishing – my work…

Reasons that I hope inspire you to do the same.

Good luck.

5 Reasons to Write and Publish Your Work

#1. Become a Sought-After Authority

Before I published my first book, no one knew my name.

Or at least not the people I specifically wanted to know my name.

Since I’ve published, I’ve been interviewed on top-tiered shows like Growthhacker.tv, EntrepreneuronFire.com, and FirepoleMarketing.com. More importantly, people consider me an authority on the topics I write on.

The Complete Guide to Pay What You Want Pricing has given people a reason to call me an expert (and even guru) on the topic.

I don’t say this to brag – the point isn’t whether or not I’m the expert – the point is to show you how powerful this is.

Think about it: if you’re looking for help on a topic (“Pay What You Want” in my case), who do you go to? Probably the subject matter expert, right?

Exactly.

Because of this, my writing and publishing has allowed me to leverage my authority on the subject to create lucrative consulting gigs and get invitations to speak at conferences and meetups, and it has improved my credibility when the topic comes up.

#2. Conquer the Imposter

According to Psychology Today, over 70% of people suffer from imposter syndrome (at some point in their lives).

While there are lots of ways to overcome feeling like a fraud, the fastest way is to write and publish your work.

Why?

Because it forces you to get over yourself, get outside your own head, and come to grips with reality (that most people probably won’t read what you write anyway, so why not do it, right?).

In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield writes about “Resistance” – that nasty thing that keeps us from doing great things in life.

Well, imposter syndrome is just one element of “Resistance,” all of which can be defeated by the commitment to write (daily) and publish (as soon as you can).

#3. Create Additional Streams of Revenue

In my last year in the Army, I had no idea what I wanted to become after I left.

Lawyer? Wall Street broker? Real Estate Investor?

Because I had no idea, I figured the simplest thing I could do was test out various creative pursuits to see if they were economically feasible. Since I can’t program to save my life, I figured writing would be the thing I could legitimately test in the marketplace.

Sure enough, it only took 1 published book to show me what was possible (and that was PWYW!).

Since then, I’ve written and published more, and scaled that impact dramatically by publishing other people’s work.

Now, with every new book, is another stream of income that will continue into the future (I try to only write and publish “evergreen” content – stuff that doesn’t fade over time). Best part is: all of this compounds.

So if you’re waiting around believing you’ll eventually finish and eventually publish. Stop.

Set a ship date and launch in the next 30 days (I dare you).

#4. Build Something That Lasts Forever

This is the reason I do what I do in the long run.

Money fades. Success fades. What’s cool or hipster or whatever fades.

But good books don’t fade.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is as applicable today as it was 1,000 years ago.

And through his writing, we get to experience a piece of what he was like. Certainly not the entirety of his personality, but better than nothing.

So when you question your writing, or your ability, or your worth, stop, and remember:

It’s not about you.

#5. We Become What We Do

In the past two years, since writing and publishing my first book, I’ve realized something important:

Envisioning myself as the person who has written a bestselling book is a lot different than actually writing one.

Too often we love the idea of being someone or something, but don’t embrace what it means to become that person (guilty).

It’s nice to envision oneself as a bestselling author.

It’s a different thing entirely to work every day to become one.

No, it’s not easy.

But then again, it’s not supposed to be.

The question is: what do you want to become 1 year from now?

And while the answer differs from person to person, the next step is always the same:

Start today.

3 Successful Ways to Promote Your Business on Social Media

 

Looking for new ways to promote your business and put your brand in front of social media users?

Wondering what’s working for others?

It’s possible to keep your social posts focused on your brand and avoid seeming self-centred and overly promotional.

In this article, you’ll discover three ways to promote your business on social media more often without turning people off.

#1: Turn to Micro-Influencers Who Share Your Brand Aesthetics

What’s wrong with branded content in the first place? “Most branded content is advertising under a thin layer of information or entertainment. Scratch the paint, find an ad. It’s the brand putting itself first,” Andy Crestodina explained. In other words, branded content is self-serving, and your audience knows it.

The solution: Don’t create it yourself. Instead, go the way of influencers. Unfortunately, here’s where terminology can get you in trouble. Influencer marketing is normally presented as old-school networking dressed up in fresh, digital clothing. Build relationships. Add value. Create a roundup or two. Then reach out for links and shares.

When it comes to branded content, however, influencer marketing is far more akin to advanced product placement. Step one: Get your product or service into the hands of someone your audience trusts. Step two: Get that person to create content around it. Step three: Integrate their content into your platforms.

This article on how to set up a social influencer marketing campaign provides fantastic guidance for getting off the ground. But what exactly does this approach look like in action?

Founded six years ago, Pura Vida Bracelets evolved from a college graduation trip to Costa Rica into a multimillion-dollar e-commerce empire. Alongside a host of tools, their marketing has revolved heavily around influencers.

In this paid influencer post, Pura Vida was able to leverage Rachel Brathen’s (@yoga_girl) 2.1 million followers and track ROI through an exclusive coupon.

As co-founder Griffin Thall explained to me, “Our team digs through Instagram to find creators and influencers that fit our brand’s vibe. We communicate via email and feel them out for ‘trade for product’ or paid collaboration in return for photos, posts, IG stories, IG lives, account take-overs, and giveaways.”

That approach has yielded massively popular posts on influencer accounts as well as on Pura Vida’s own.

With content creators whose audiences are fewer than 50K, Pura Vida trades ‘product for photos’ to leverage micro-influencers.

And it’s the simplicity of Thall’s explanation that offers the most hope for branded content. By seeking out creators with fewer than 50K followers or influencers with more than 500K, you can scale your approach to fit your business.

#2: Give People a Way to Share a Laugh with You

If you’re going to create and host branded content, there’s one ingredient that unites nearly all of the top performers: humour.

This isn’t just because everyone likes to laugh. In his book Contagious: Why Things Catch On, Jonah Berger discusses the close connection between physiological arousal and sharing. Simply put, pumping hearts lead to busy fingers (digitally speaking). As surprising as it might sound, “Funny content is shared because amusement is a high-arousal emotion.”

Denny’s Tumblr is an excellent example of how to make funny work. From bizarre pictures of horses with their midsections Photoshopped into an English muffin to blogs titled “How do you kill a pancake successfully? I need to know for research purposes,” their content communicates that they don’t take themselves too seriously and you shouldn’t either.

Denny’s Facebook Live Q&A with a pancake was pure branded gold.

Along the same golden lines was Hamburger Helper’s Watch the Stove campaign. More than just humorous, Watch the Stove brought on serious musical heavyweights, and as General Mills’ Senior Marketing Partnership Planner Ashley Wright put it, “We tried to take away any corporate aspect of it.”

Humour is a great way to make it feel like your branded content isn’t, well, branded.

#3: Integrate Brand Advocates’ Social Content Into Your Marketing

Much like influencer marketing, user-generated content (UGC) has been around for years. However, brands have only recently begun to systematically integrate it into their marketing.

Why? Because from sales to social, UGC is conversion gold.

In How Companies Will Use Social Media In 2017, Ryan Holmes points out that UGC “taps into users’ basic impulse – the one at the heart of social media’s appeal in the first place – to create and engage, rather than sit on the sidelines passively.” Campus Protein, for instance, does this masterfully by soliciting, sharing, and regularly posting content made by customers.

This UGC was submitted by a fan, and distributed on a host of Campus Protein’s accounts and added to their on-site checkout process.

But sharing isn’t all Campus Protein does. Having collected over 1,800 reviews and countless images through their hashtag #teamcp, they’ve taken all that UGC and integrated it into their product pages as well.

With their hashtag #Gymshark, Gymshark takes a similar approach and uses UGC in top-of-funnel and bottom-of-funnel content.

The reason for this integration comes straight from the data. According to Yotpo’s benchmark study of more than half a million online shoppers, people who see UGC are 166% more likely to convert than those who don’t. In essence, when you leverage UGC in branded content, you make the customer the hero, instead of the company.

Gymshark mixes their in-house content with UGC both off-site (such as on Facebook and Instagram) as well as on-site to reach new customers through their existing customers’ connections.

Generating UGC comes down to a handful of intentional steps. First, actively invite people to provide UGC not just on social but especially through transactional emails like order confirmations. Second, make submitting UGC as easy as possible with dedicated hashtags. Third, use UGC tools like Yotpo or Engage Hub to collect reviews, ratings, photos, and customer stories.

Remember, you’re not your best salesperson. Your customer is.

Conclusion

The truth is, despite the explosion of branded content, few have overcome its fundamental problem: Everybody hates branded content.

For example, Beckon’s study “Marketing Truth or Marketing Hype?” found that “while branded content creation is up 300 per cent year over year, consumer engagement with that content is totally flat.” According to their numbers, a mere 5% of all branded content accounts for 90% of total engagement.

That’s an uncomfortable ratio. But it also presents an opportunity. If 5% fuels 90%, then getting branded content right has huge payoffs.

Thankfully, it’s no secret what makes content lovable: for people, by people, that entertains and educates. In the words of the 20th century’s patron saint of advertising, David Ogilvy: “You know, you can’t bore people into buying your product. You can only interest them in buying it.” The same thing is true today.

What do you think? Have you tried any of these methods for getting your audience to love your branded content? Do you have any other tips to share? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Social Media Examiner

Post Tags:
#Content Marketing#Digital Marketing#Social media#social media mareting

Why Should Authors Care About Digital Marketing?

 

One of the biggest challenges for independent authors is getting their book in front of readers. There are millions of books published every year, and unless you’re very famous independently of your book, odds are that you’re nervous about how to get people interested. That’s where digital marketing comes in. You’ve probably heard this term before, especially as you travel down the road of independent publishing. You’re probably asking questions like: What does digital marketing entail? How does it get books in front of readers? And how could it work for me?

Digital marketing is simply getting your book information in front of Internet consumers, typically in the form of online advertising. So why should you develop a digital marketing strategy?

People Are Online

Consumers spend 5 hours per day on mobile devices. That’s right—5 hours. This is the majority of people’s leisure time, so the best place to find that perfect reader is during their daily Facebook scroll or YouTube binge.

No Need for Marketing Studies

In the past, if you were manufacturing lip gloss and wanted to advertise to TV-watchers, you’d have to pay someone to do a market study of various TV shows, figure out which audiences buy a lot of lip gloss, and take out ads based on that information. The Internet has changed that. Now, Facebook will tell you that there are 3.7 million people who love James Patterson and exactly who they are. If you’re a thriller writer, you’ve just found your audience without expensive market studies.

Digital Marketing Is Less Expensive

Most digital advertising on any social media platform can be adapted to all budgets. Remember that TV ad I mentioned earlier? Not only did you have to do a market study to see if it’s worthwhile, you also had to spend thousands of dollars on the slot and production. Very few independent authors have that kind of cash just lying around. Digital advertising doesn’t have these kinds of requirements. You can adapt the advertising to fit your budget, and though you may find more success with more money, you can still get your book in front of more readers with small advertisements than with no advertisements at all.

You Can Boost Book Sales and Your Online Platform Simultaneously

If you decide to market your book on social media platforms, you get the double benefit of driving social media users to buy your book and generating awareness of your social media profiles. Because they are seeing these ads from your author page, readers who buy the book will be more likely to follow your profile and learn about your new projects—which makes your book marketing for the second book faster and cheaper.

You Control the Content

Did you start an ad, only to think of a better idea or notice that no one seems interested? Then change it. Unlike traditional print or TV advertising, you are not stuck with bad ideas or ineffective ads. The ease with which an ad can be updated or adapted is a huge benefit to advertisers of all sorts.

Once the writing is finished, finding ways to get readers interested in your book is your number one task. Learning about tools such as digital marketing will provide insight when you talk to book publicity and book marketing firms about plans for your book and expand the ways you can reach your book’s newest reader.

Source: Ingramspark

How to Write for Teens Without Sounding Like an Adult Writing for Teens

Ask any agent and they’ll tell you the trick to nailing young adult writing is in the voice. And even though I spend my workdays with teens, I heard it countless times when I was looking for representation for my failed first YA novel. So when I finally buried that novel for good and moved on to what became DON’T GET CAUGHT, I was determined to make sure the voice was right. It took more than eight drafts and constant revisions, but ultimately I signed with an agent who sold the book in a little over a month. The trick, I’ve found, is first to get yourself back to thinking like a teenager again, and once there, writing your novel as a teenager would. Here are 10 practical tips on how to do just that

1. Time travel

To sound like a teenager, you need to become a teenager again. Here’s what I want you to do: Spend a week or longer solely writing out your teenage memories. Start it as a list at first—naming friends, enemies, teachers, adventures you had, successes and screw-ups, choices you had to make, etc. Next, choose the memories that stand out the most to you, and write about them. The important part here is to focus on how you felt during these experiences. This is definitely a dam-opening type of exercise of memories and feelings.

2. Relive the terror of your yearbook.

Yearbooks are essentially monsters collecting dust in your closet. Open one up and you can’t escape seeing people who didn’t want to see ever again, reliving moments it took a team of therapists for you to forget, and being filled with all of the confusing emotions high school fills you with. But it’s also a great way to get in touch with those emotions, which is essential to writing authentic voice.

3. Listen to the music.

I got this trick from fellow YA author Josh Berk who once told me when he needs to return to thinking like a teenager, all he has to listen to is Green Day’s “Dookie.” For me, I use my youthful obsession with R.E.M. To this day I can’t hear any of their songs without being transported back to my high school bedroom or cruising around in my beater of a car. Other bands also transport me to other times in my life. It’s an odd trick, but it works. If you listened to anything obsessively in high school, or if there’s a movie you watched endlessly, revisit them and see what place they take you to. Write down the feelings you get from them.

4. Contact your old high school friends.

This is a simple one: Get in touch with old friends and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll revert back to sounding like you’re a teenager again. Failing that, eavesdrop shamelessly on teenagers. It’s not hard—they’re not usually the quietest bunch! Plant yourself at the places they hangout—the mall, coffee shops, school sporting events, etc.

5. YouTube it.

Teenagers broadcast their lives these days to the nth degree. Take advantage of that. YouTube is full of videos of teens talking, giving advice, and just being plain. Tuning in is a great way to pick up the flow of their language. Search: “Teen YouTube Stars” to get started.

6. Find a picture and make it talk.

Once I have a clear image of my character, I have a good idea of how that character sounds. Do this: Image search high school photography studios. Search the results until you find your character—you’ll know him when you see him. Now, what does he sound like? Copy and paste the picture onto your document and have this person introduce himself to you. This likely won’t be the finished voice of your novel, but it’ll let you get started.

7. Write for plot first.

More so with YA writing than with other genres, I suggest writing the complete story out first, then worrying about revising the voice later. This is so you can focus on one thing at a time, instead of plotting and getting the voice right at the same time. Try to write it in a voice close to what you want, but focus on getting the story down first with no pressure of getting the voice right.

8. Loosen up.

Something about being an adult just tightens you up. To write YA with authentic voice, you need to loosen up. With Don’t Get Caught, when I knew I had the story I wanted, I revised (and revised and revised) with a relaxed, devil-may-care attitude—one that eventually helped me find my MC’s real voice. Do this: Take a paragraph you’ve written and are unhappy with voice-wise. Now, stand up, walk around the room maybe while chewing a piece of gum (always good for loosening up!), and type the idea of that paragraph again, but faster and looser, telling yourself no one will ever see it but you. When you’re finished, do it again, maybe after some jumping jacks this time, or blasting a pop radio station. (Really. Try it.)

9. Overwrite.

When you’re doing your voice revision(s), it’s the asides, apparently meaningless observations, and throwaway conversations that will help you hear your characters. Teenagers have opinions on everything, so put them into your draft. Don’t worry about word count at this point; that’s for later. You can trim back an overwritten passage much more easily than you can add voice to a sparse one.

10. Shorten It Up.

OK, so your novel-in-progress is now full of lots of teen thoughts in just the voice you’ve been looking for. It’s time to cut it way back. Because here’s the thing—teenagers don’t speak in long, drawn-out monologues (hint: Don’t use “Dawson’s Creek” as an example). They generally don’t describe things that way either. Their vocabulary is common and accessible. Before you send out the book to your critique partners, cut way back on the paragraphs, descriptions, dialogue, and change any adult verbiage to more common language.

Culled from Writers Digest