How to Critique an Essay

From http://dfdinsauce.tripod.com/ProcessEssay/id2.html
1. Read the thesis. Stop reading and write what you EXPECT will be the topic and purpose of the essay. Write your response after first paragraph. Who is the audience and were there needs met? (you may need to ask the author who the reader is supposed to be-remember you need to know what THEY would know before you will be able to judge whether their needs are met in the intro and throughout the essay.)

2. Now, finish reading to the paper. Were your expectations met? If not, what do you now think the topic, purpose and audience are now?

3. Is the thesis sentence itself a strong statement (not a quote from someone else, not a question, etc)? does it give a purpose for the essay/topic? Does it address the process that will be discussed? Make sure there is a very specific statement at the beginning of the essay that will be supported through the essay.

4. Mark the examples you find(could be whole paragraphs or just single sentences). At the end of each example, evaluate its usefulness or strength in supporting the essay by adding a comment.

5. Mark the helpful hints and first aids you find. How many are there? Are they appropriate for the audience's needs? Are they detailed enough for the audience to follow and use? If this is a "how it was done" paper rather than a "how to," there should still be helpful hints and first aids describing the problems that occurred when the process was completed.

6. What did you like best about the essay? Add a comment about what you liked about it

7. What did you like the least about the essay? Add a comment about what could be improved about it.

8. Did anything in the essay surprise you? Be specific!

9. What TWO features of the essay most need improvement? Mark them and add a comment/suggestion about what/how they could be improved. Remember that just marking a problem area without explanation won't help the author fix the problem.

Why Do People Hate Their Jobs

Great Article by  James Altucher. Click Here
It's kind of a downer, but really true.

I limped out of the meeting and said, “excuse me”, and took the elevator down 67 stories, went to Grand Central, limped home, and never went back to work at that job.

Every day I try to practice reversing that. I do that by listening to the body, the mind, being grateful, being around positive people, sleeping a lot, eating well.
But having a job and being controlled by Masters ruins the practice. 

 Jobs are modern-day slavery. We are paid just enough to live and not more. You are punished if you ask for more. 

- We are often verbally abused on the job and we take it because we think it’s normal that people would yell at us. 

- The government gets up to 50% of your paycheck and then 10-20% of that goes to kill people on other parts of the planet, including our own children. 

- We are deluded into thinking our job-friends are our real-friends. With our job friends we talk about pens, genitals, and cubicles. We stop having real-friends. 

- There’s a glass ceiling. It doesn’t matter if you are a woman or minority or a white man. The glass ceiling is that you aren’t allowed to make more than your Master, even if he’s an idiot.

- You realize that all the dollars you spent on degrees to get you a job that will make you happy were completely wasted. You were scammed but you can’t let the next generation know how stupid you were so now you become part of perpetuating the scam. 

- A trillion dollar marketing campaign forced you to buy a house you didn’t really want and now you will “lose a house” you never really owned if you don’t bow down to the Masters every day. The words “The American Dream” were coined by Fannie Mae in a marketing campaign 40 years ago to sell mortgages to slaves. 

- Your spouse is tired of hearing about your job after six months. And you couldn’t care less about hers. Ten years later you wake up next to a total stranger. 40 years later you die next to one 

- Your IRA was not intended to provide for your retirement. It was intended to take money from you every month so you remain chained to your cubicle. Inflation then takes 90% of your IRA. 

- Over time everyone is getting fired and being replaced by younger, cheaper, more temporary, more robotic, versions of you. You see this but are afraid to do anything about it. 

Cross-posted here.

The Power of the Author Interview

by Sherrie Wilkolaski

A marketing tool all authors need to utilize to market and promote their books is the author interview. It’s quite simple to create and the investment of 30 minutes or less will go a long way to produce a tool that can be used time and again, both on and offline.  If you’re interested in treating yourself to one of the most valuable 30 minute book marketing exercises…please read on.

What is an author interview?

An author interview is a series of questions and answers that is prepared by the author.  Questions are typically pulled together by the book publicist and coordinated with the overall goals of the author’s marketing and PR campaign. The questions are developed and put into a Word document and then the author types (writes) out their answers. That final interview Q&A is then ready to be used and re-purposed in a variety of ways.

What kinds of questions should an author be asking themselves?

Authors should be asking basic questions (see list of examples below) about how the book came to life as well as questions that provide a deeper insight and teasers about their new book release.  Once the book basics have been covered, then the questions can get more personal and the author can talk about everything from their writing style and what books are on their own bedside table.  This is an opportunity for authors to share more about who they are. Authors should have fun with their questions and answers.  Asking questions about things outside of writing, like favorite foods, or types of music make for an interesting interview.

7 tips to capitalize on an author interview:

1. Use the author interview on their website.  Authors can use their online Q&A and publish it in their “about the author” section of their site.  It is more than just an author bio.
2. Incorporate the Q&A into the book media kit.  Every successful author media kit has prepared questions and answers for the media to use.  An author’s book publicist will use the author’s media kit to pitch the author to the media for interviews, both on and offline. Radio interviewers will always require this of every author before putting them on the air, so why not be ready for the invitation.
3. Online author interview is ready for instant guest blog appearances. There are thousands of book sites looking for online author interviews. Once the Q&A has been pulled together, it can be submitted along with the author’s bio and book summary to any website looking for this type of content. Makes for quick and easy book marketing.
4. Elevator-pitch preparation. Amazingly, authors learn a lot about themselves doing this exercise and it helps to prepare them their elevator pitch and for any typical questions they are likely to encounter while marketing their title.
5. Book signings and events. Bookstores and other venues that may be interested in considering an author for a signing will see how professional an author is because they have their Q&A pulled together.
6. Social media. Authors can use their online author interviews to promote their books in an interesting way. Send out a Tweet to your online interview, post random questions to your Facebook fan page or pin it. So many possibilities!

Get creative! There are so many ways for an author to use their author interview to present themselves to their audience and the media, think outside of the box.

Embrace the author interview.

The author interview opens so many doors for authors and is a marketing cheat sheet that will be used more than an author could ever anticipate. It will showcase the author as a professional while creating interest from readers looking or an insider’s peak at what the author is all about. Questions for fiction and non-fiction authors will be different.

As an example, see how the authors of the Salem Witch Trilogy included Q&A in their online media kit, as well as on the individual “about the author” pages for co-authors Jack Heath and John Thompson.

Here are a few interview questions you may want to consider using for your own Q&A.

• Tell us a little bit about yourself. (Short author bio)
• Can you tell us where people can find you? Website, social media, blog, etc.

Fiction:

Here’s your chance to market your book.  Describe it.  And why readers should pick it up?

• How did your book come to life?
• Who is you favorite character in your book and why?
• How did you name your characters?
• Are the characters in your books based on people you know?
• Why do you think your readers are going to enjoy your book?
• Are your characters’ experiences taken from someone you know, or events in your own life?

Non-fiction:

Here’s your chance to market your book.  Describe it.  And why readers should pick it up?

• How did your book come to life?
• What other books are most similar to yours?
• Why do you think your readers are going to enjoy your book?
• How long did it take you to write your book?
• Who designed the cover?
• What are you doing to market the book?  Are you using social media?
• In two sentences or less can you tell readers something unique about your book.

Don’t forget personalize your questions and answers so that they best position your book. If you’re looking for a customized author interview and need help with building your personal media kit, please email services@authorsboutique.com.

Best of luck!

About the Author

Sherrie Wilkolaski is a public relations and book marketing expert for independent authors and traditional publishers, specializing in small to mid-sized publishers.  She is the former Director of Publishing Services at Lulu.  She is a columnist for Press Pass.  In 2011 she co-founded Pressque Publishing, a traditional publishing house.  She is a bestselling author, radio talk show host of Pub Smart, and IFWTWA board member and treasurer.  To learn more go to www.authorpublishingservices.com.

How to Write a Compelling Author Bio

Source: Excerpted from How to Sell More Nonfiction Books author training program, available in video format along with the 37-page Nonfiction Book Marketing Resource Guide. This article was written by Dana Lynn Smith.

For how-to nonfiction books, it's often just as important to promote the author as it is to promote the book. Book buyers want to feel that the information in the book comes from a credible source, so the author bio is an important promotional tool.

You will need several bios in different lengths, to use for your book cover, website, speaker introductions, resource boxes for articles, and so forth.

I recommending writing a bio of several paragraphs first, then condense it down to several shorter versions for different purposes. Aim for a one-sentence blurb, a one-paragraph summary, and a longer bio of several paragraphs.

The nonfiction author bio is about expertise and credibility. List those things in your background that are most relevant to the book and your target audience. It's not a resume - keep it interesting, engaging, and focused on the audience.

Answer these questions to start building your bio:

• Do you have a degree, special training or extensive experience in the topic that you're writing about and/or in the craft of writing?
  
• Do you have a professional certification in your area of expertise?
  
• How do you use your credentials to help others? For example:  "Dr. Liz draws on her background as a clinical psychologist to help couples find their way back from the brink of divorce."
  
• What awards or other recognition have you received?
  
• What kind of media exposure have you had? For example: "Joan's relationship advice has been featured in Good Housekeeping and other major media.
  
• How many people do you reach each month through speaking and writing? For example: "Susan runs the most popular blog for aspiring authors, with more than 100,000 visitors a month."
  
• What leadership positions do you hold?
  
• Why should people listen to you or read your books?
  
• What interesting or unusual facts are relevant to your expertise? For example: "Hank started his first business at age 12, recruiting a team of neighborhood boys to do yard work."

Grammer Rules

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