1. About Ann Videan
Book Shepherd, author, editor, illustrator, composer
• A professional writer since 1981
• Owned award-winning marketing firm, vIDEAn Unlimited, LLC, since 1996
• Editor: corporate, publishing house, and 60+ client books
• Author: Rhythms & Muse, Song of the Ocarina, Enchanted Faerie Portals
• Co-owner Absolutely Wild! Enchanted Faerie Portals & Other Whimsy—
inspired by Fae characters in Song of the Ocarina
Other career highlights:
• 2007 – Selected by peers for the Public Relations Society of America’s
top honor: the PERCY Award
• 2005 – Selected by national panel for Crown Jewel Award:
top U.S. home-based business
• 2004 – Served as catalyst to reintroduce white rhinos to the Phoenix Zoo.
• 1996 – Enticed 15,000 extras to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ, to film football
movie scenes for Jerry Maguire

2. Top Secrets
for Savvy
Book Creators
Ann Narcisian Videan
ANVidean.com
Oct. 7, 2020

3. My Top Tips
• Writing: Active verbs | Active voice
• Editing: Lazy words | Edit expertise
• Formatting: Know your tools | Font treatments
• Cover: Book blurbs:
Story question for fiction and nonfiction
• Publishing: ISBNs | POD set-up
• Marketing: Start your street team

4. WRITING

5. Top WRITING Tip #1:
Use Active VERBS
Word choice subliminally
affects readers. They may not
even know why they love a
story, but it’s often because of
active verbiage choices.

6. Use Active
Verbs
Inactive verbs =
bland
“to be” (was, were,
am, are, had, have,
been, be, +)
Active = vibrant
mental images
cheers, pray,
binge, stumbles,
stared

7. Use Active
Verbs:
Examples
Inactive:
He’d been in the city since
before I was born.
Active:
He’d lived in the city since
before my birth.

8. Top WRITING Tip #2:
Use Active VOICE
For active voice, start your sentence with the subject and
use an active verb to describe what the subject does.
Passive voice often uses inactive verbs followed by words
ending in “-ed” or “-ing”
We often speak in passive voice, but we should write in
active voice—using any tense: past, present, or future.
• Passive voice
• is cheating, are bouncing, have revisited
• Active voice
• cheats, bounces, revisited

9. Use Active
Voice:
Examples
Passive
voice:
She is
shaking her
head in her
disapproving
mother’s way.
Active voice:
She shakes
her head in
her
disapproving
mother’s way.

10. Practice
Active
Verbiage
Change these sentences to
active verb or active voice:
1. Train wrecks were always
on the news.
2. It is doubtful that the cat
ever leaves the tree.

11. Practice
Active
Verbiage
Revised sentences:
1. Train wrecks always
appeared on the news.
2. I doubt the cat ever
leaves the tree.
(It is I doubt that the cat
ever leaves the tree.)

12. EDITING

13. Top EDITING Tip #1:
Fix Lazy Words
Superfluous and unnecessary words
dull our writing.
While editing, search for:
• that (often follows “it was…” or
“that was…” phrasing)
• which
• then
• get
• seem

14. “That,”
“which:”
Example
No:
• She visited the patio that was
outside the back door, which they
had converted to an Arizona room.
Yes:
• She visited the patio outside the
back door after they had converted
it to an Arizona room.

15. “Then:”
Example
No:
• They married and then divorced four
years later.
Yes:
• They married and divorced four years
later.

16. “Get:”
Example
No:
• I stood behind the door to get a
peek at the visitor.
Yes:
• I stood behind the door to
sneak a peek at the visitor.

17. “Seem:”
Example
No:
• The man always seemed to
wear a rose in his lapel.
Yes:
• The man always appeared
wearing a rose in his lapel.
Or, even better…
• The man always wore a rose
in his lapel.

18. Top EDITING Tip #2:
Don’t Edit Yourself
Hire a professional. Period. [wink]
• Though helpful, beta readers,
critique groups, friends and family,
are not professional editors… and
neither, probably. are you.
• You connected your brain
synapses too well while writing!
• I am an editor, and I rely on a pro
to proof my final manuscripts.

19. FORMATTING

20. Top FORMATTING Tip #1:
Know Your Tools
Explore your word processing
program.
• Menu bar
• Ruler
• Search
• Find and replace
• Track Changes

21. Menu bar: Center/justify

22. Ruler: Margins/indent

23. Search

24. Find and Replace

25. Track Changes
TUTORIALS:
For Mac — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OTTlZlFL4E
For PC — www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_knruAysnA

26. Top
FORMATTING
Tip#2: Font
Treatments*
* Refer to handout with formatting directions
“Double quotation marks”
• Spoken words
• Scare quotes (term used in a non-standard, ironic, or special sense), unless within
a quote, then use single quotation marks
• Article titles (not book or movie titles, which are italicized)
• Song/poem titles
• Remembered dialogue spoken by another character (sometimes)
‘Single quotation marks’
• Quoted material within dialogue
Italicized
• Mental thoughts (internal dialogue, in first person)
• Foreign words, except proper nouns
• Ship names
• Book and movie titles (not articles)

27. Keystroke Time Savers
Keyboard shortcuts:
• Cntrl+B: bold
• Cntrl+I: italic
• Cntrl+S: save
• Cntrl+E: center text
• Cntrl+L: left align
• Cntrl+R: right align
• Cntrl+1: single spacing
• Cntrl+5: 1.5 spacing
• Cntrl+2: double spacing
• Cntrl+J: justify
• Cntrl+M: indent
• Cntrl+Shift+M: unindent
• Cntrl+T: hanging indent
• Cntrl+Shift+T: un-hang indent
* Refer to handout with formatting directions

28. COVER
SPREAD

29. Top COVER Tip #1:
Book Blurb
Synopsis vs. book blurb
• Synopses go to editors, agents and
publishers and recap key plot points.
One to two pages long, they provide
information.
• Book blurbs go on back covers and
in Amazon descriptions. One to three
paragraphs long, they hook the
reader and market your book.

30. Book Blurb Skeleton
Best tool to frame a blurb: Story Question
• When something happens, your protagonist pursues a goal. But, will they
succeed when the antagonist provides opposition?
The story question gives you a mini-synopsis with:
• Inciting incident/compelling purpose
• Main good character
• The story’s overall goal
• Villain/opposing character
• The conflict
*http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/ and Fantasy Fiction Formula by Deborah Chester

31. Book Blurb:
Fiction Example
Harry Potter
When he finds out he’s a
wizard, Harry Potter moves to
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry to learn about
magic and his mysterious past.
But, will he succeed when the
dark Lord Voldemort, who killed
Harry’s parents, returns to
retrieve an immortality stone so
he can destroy the young
student?

32. Book Blurb:
Nonfiction
Example
Inspirational book
Growing up in a cloud of fear and self-
doubt, Susan went on a spiritual quest
to find herself. Floundering to develop
self-worth while unemployed and in the
midst of a divorce, will she be able to
use her mind and will to overcome the
hardships and forge a path to joy and
fulfillment? Or will spirit intervene?

33. Top COVER Tip #2:
Font and Image
To grab the attention of a reader,
think “thumbnail.”
• Can you read the title of the book
clearly on an Amazon page? Is the
font legible?
• One eye-catching image stands out
among books on a webpage. Does
the image reflect the book contents?

34. PUBLISHING

35. Top PUBLISHING Tip #1: ISBN
Free KDP ISBN: allows you into expanded distribution so you
can appear in book sales and lending systems
Purchased ISBNs: for each format of a book
(MyIdentifiers.com)
Barcode: The ISBN number is reflected in its barcode
(created by POD publisher or purchased separately).

36. Top
PUBLISHING
Tip #2:
KDP Set-up
• Consistent title/subtitle/series set-up
Good idea to keep exact notes of initial
book’s set-up.
• Key words
Test search function for previous terms
readers searched.
• Categories
Author Central page will allow you better
service and access to smaller
categories.
• Price
Amazon will suggest price for similar
books, then up that.

37. MARKETING

38. Top
MARKETING
Tip:
Street Team
Start now to develop a book
support group
• Members
Loudest supporters/readers, social
media expert, accountant, legal
counsel, creatives, documentarian,
event planner, PR pro
• Ideas:
Fan art/fiction, book trailers, games,
video interviews, events, online
launches, giveaways, post
photos… let your team dream.

39. EXTRA We’re in this together...
Writing tips on my
website:
ANVidean.com
Discounted consultation:
1.5 hours for $50
602.769.8316
ann@annvidean.com