A big part of your story sense and narrative flow is the feeling of forward-moving energy in your writing. When the flow of your content pulls your reader forward, your readers go with you where you want to go. However, nothing wrecks the sense of momentum more than the use of passive verbs!
No, this is not a grammar lesson, but please bear with me while I rant about passive verbs. Passive verbs are "energy suckers" that drain the life out of your writing.
Passive verbs occur a lot in reports, such as the minutes of meetings, executive summaries, etc. No wonder so many of those kinds of reports are boring!
For example: "The meeting was held at 3 p.m. Wednesday, September 10."
Or "A decision was made to increase the marketing budget by 15%."
Or "Several dissenting viewpoints were heard by the task force before the vote was taken."
Ugh! Tedious indeed! Passive verbs do not convey power or authority; rather they convey the sense of some outside force acting upon people.
Compare now: "The task force held its meeting at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, September 10."
"The task force decided to increase its marketing budget by 15%."
"Several members disagreed with the budget increase and expressed their views prior to the vote."
Granted, the above sentences are not what you'd kill to read, but I've converted them to the active verb form, and you have to admit that the sentences do have a bit more energy.
Since passive verbs are so common in business writing, many writers of business books make the mistake of thinking that resorting to the passive makes them sound "official". They think it's a way of getting their own voice out of the way so that the "material" stands on its own.
But please DON'T get rid of your own voice! If you don't write in your own voice, you're going to sound tepid. Just because a piece of writing is factual doesn't mean it's voiceless. You want energy in your writing. Passive verbs do not make you sound authoritative. They just make your content boring.
Eliminate the passive. Replace it with the active. This is one very easy way to immediately enhance the authenticity and energy of your writer's voice. When you write anything, read it over and root out any passive verbs. Find a way to replace them with the active form of the verb. It's amazing how much this improves the entire effect of your content.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
A glut of books? Is there hope for yours?
Last night, I was thinking about an interview I had listened to several months ago featuring Mark Tauber, Senior Vice-President and Publisher at HarperOne. Mr. Tauber had lots of interesting things to say, as he provided tips to prospective authors who hope to publish with HarperOne (or with any other publisher).
He talked a lot about the need to make your book stand out from others and how difficult that is to do. He pointed to the huge changes in the publishing industry--leading to trends such as the growing need for an author to have a "platform" (i.e., a media presence, a speaking career, some area in which he/she is well-known), the 90-day winndow to make a book sell well (i.e., you only have three months to get decent sales before you are overtaken by other books, and the huge increase in books being published. Mr. Tauber mentioned that over 176,000 books were published in the US alone last year. I'm not sure if he meant non-fiction books or all books.
I could just imagine the what was going through the heads of many prospective authors who heard that interview. "If the competition is that high, what chance do I have?"
I have a firm belief that every good book can find its readers IF a) the author has a passion for the topic and deep knowledge about it; b) the author has the courage to write the book with a strong voice; and c) the author seeks out good advice about the creation of the content.
Mr. Tauber said one particularly wonderful thing--that there are always going to be people who have original things to say, an interesting perspective to present, a way of imparting wisdom in a fresh way that can capture the attention of publishers and readers.
So, instead of worrying about the "book glut", focus on your own content, what you love about it, what you are passionate about, what words of yours you want to meet the world, and then tell that story with conviction, love, and commitment to do what it takes to get it done.
The pathway to a successful book is, as Mr. Tauber said, not a walk in the park. But it IS do-able. Don't be one of the discouraged. Instead, be one of the encouraged.....and go for it!
You don't have to do it all alone. There are publishing industry professionals such as myself, and others out there, who can help you uncover your greatest publishing asset--your own writer's voice that speaks your own wisdom.
He talked a lot about the need to make your book stand out from others and how difficult that is to do. He pointed to the huge changes in the publishing industry--leading to trends such as the growing need for an author to have a "platform" (i.e., a media presence, a speaking career, some area in which he/she is well-known), the 90-day winndow to make a book sell well (i.e., you only have three months to get decent sales before you are overtaken by other books, and the huge increase in books being published. Mr. Tauber mentioned that over 176,000 books were published in the US alone last year. I'm not sure if he meant non-fiction books or all books.
I could just imagine the what was going through the heads of many prospective authors who heard that interview. "If the competition is that high, what chance do I have?"
I have a firm belief that every good book can find its readers IF a) the author has a passion for the topic and deep knowledge about it; b) the author has the courage to write the book with a strong voice; and c) the author seeks out good advice about the creation of the content.
Mr. Tauber said one particularly wonderful thing--that there are always going to be people who have original things to say, an interesting perspective to present, a way of imparting wisdom in a fresh way that can capture the attention of publishers and readers.
So, instead of worrying about the "book glut", focus on your own content, what you love about it, what you are passionate about, what words of yours you want to meet the world, and then tell that story with conviction, love, and commitment to do what it takes to get it done.
The pathway to a successful book is, as Mr. Tauber said, not a walk in the park. But it IS do-able. Don't be one of the discouraged. Instead, be one of the encouraged.....and go for it!
You don't have to do it all alone. There are publishing industry professionals such as myself, and others out there, who can help you uncover your greatest publishing asset--your own writer's voice that speaks your own wisdom.
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