#michael la ronn

[xythlia]

FANFIC WRITING RESOURCE MASTER POST

so in the spirit of wanting to see writers thrive I've decided to make a big master post of every single resource I use in order to create my works. It can be really hard to find concrete resources and it's frustrating to feel like you just don't know how to do something or how to get started but no worries hopefully you can find answers in this post ^⁠_⁠^

ON WRITING SMUT

› writing resources to keep on hand while you write

The Ultimate Guide to Writing Smut Fic by QuinnAnderson on AO3

The Sexy Thesaurus by Laurel Clark

Lewd Vocabulary in Erotic Fiction Survey by KJ Scott (from a survey done on r/fanfiction)

75+ Ways To Say Heart Pounded by Kathy Steinemann

Ways To Describe Breath & Breathing by Kathy Steinemann (everything on her site is super helpful tbh)

21 Other Words For Vagina by Lisette Marshall

The Gay Sex Positions Guide (be advised this is a photo guide!)

Writing Sex Scenes by Michael La Ronn (video resource)

GENERAL HELPFUL WRITING TOOLS

› things that can help when you feel stuck on certain words, want to avoid repetitive sentences, or check your spelling and grammar

Reverse Dictionary (search for words based on their definition)

Related Words (help you find words related to another word or phrase)

Describing Words (find adjectives)

Words to Use (reference that groups subject related words by parts of speech)

Wordhippo (has synonyms/antonyms/ect based on different definitions)

Netspeak (search for words you don't know yet/internet slang)

OneLook (thesaurus/dictionary)

Fighters Block (overcome writers block by setting it up as a game to achieve a certain word count)

Scribens (lesser known spelling and grammar check but does more! Helps prevent word repetition, rephrasing, vocab enhancement, + other stuff)

THE BASICS OF WRITING

› helpful resources to give you a solid foundation for your writing

7 Fundamentals of Writing by Michael Stover

Fundamentals of Writing by Jim Westergren

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

› this section is books on writing I recommend reading, you can either purchase them or if you know how to pirate you can get them that way too

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

On Writing Well by William Zinsser

The Elements of Style by William Strunk & E.B. White

Ernest Hemingway on Writing by Larry W. Phillips

The Writers Journey by Christopher Vogler

[linkablewritingadvice]

Self Publishing Promotion Advice

Once you’ve self-published a book, it can be frustrating to try and get eyes on it. How do you direct traffic to your book on Amazon or any other platform?

What NOT To Do

Never pay for “book promo” accounts or reviews.

These accounts do not attract followers that want to buy or read books in any specific genre, and they don’t curate the books they post. They do not send meaningful traffic to your book. They are a scam and a waste of money. 

More info:

Questions To Ask Book Promoters on Instagram

Book Promotion Instagram Scams

Never post a link to your book in an online group or forum without EXPLICIT permission.

The vast majority of forums, subreddits, discords, etc. for writers are constantly getting spammed by people promoting their books. Typically, this is against the rules of that community. Posting in a community in a way that violates their rules is not a good way to build recognition for your name and work. Also, you are not likely to find people who want to read your specific book by shotgun blasting your link around the internet. 

Many places do have weekly self-promo threads or other specific opportunities for writers to self-promote. Look for those and be sure to read and follow all their rules. But know that there is still a very small chance that you will find a meaningful number of readers in the population of people who happen to be skimming these self-promo threads, especially ones that are not genre specific. 

Don’t push friends and family to buy and review your book.

If people who don’t frequently read and buy books in a certain genre all visit your book’s listing right when it launches, it can confuse the algorithm and keep your book from being shown to the right people. Any money you make off people buying your book out of personal obligation will never amount to much and is not a good use of people’s time, money, or good will. 

What TO Do

Make sure your book is attractive

Good cover art and a strong tagline and blurb are critical. No amount of ads, links, swaps, etc. will help you if, once you get that visibility, people don’t like what they see. 

Look at the books that are the top sellers in your categories on Amazon. Notice trends and patterns in their covers and blurbs. Do research on what makes a strong blurb. Many online writing communities will give feedback on blurbs (be sure to read and follow their rules before posting!). 

There are a lot of free resources and courses out there on how to write a compelling blurb. Here are a few to get started:

Reedsy article

Fix My Story

Blue Ink Review

You can also hire a professional cover artist or someone with expertise in your genre to help you with your blurb.

Learn Amazon and Facebook/Meta ads

Amazon and Facebook ads are some of the most powerful ways to get your book seen by people who are likely to be interested. Like any powerful tool, there is a learning curve when it comes to making them work for you. But time spent learning this tool will ultimately be MUCH more effective than just about anything else you could try.

There are lots of people out there selling courses and books on how to use Amazon and Meta ads. My recommendation is that you start with freely available resources and then decide whether you have specific questions or want professional advice in specific areas. Some people understand the data and analytics dashboards but need help writing ad copy that drives clicks while others might need help understanding how to target ads or evaluate their success.

You can watch videos about it, like this one from Michael La Ronn or this one from David Gaughran. 

Or you can follow written tutorials, like this one at Kindlepreneur, this one from Jane Friedman, or this one from Written Word Media.

Start reading and searching around and learn as much as you can. When you are confused about something or find a gap in your knowledge, search for videos or articles that address that particular issue. 

When it comes to paid courses, I have personally enjoyed the Ad School course from Bryan Cohen, and I’ve also heard good things about Mark Dawson’s courses. The Self Publishing Titans have pretty great SEO, for what that’s worth. Always check out someone’s free resources and look at reviews of their course on other platforms before dropping big bucks.

Use Author-Specific Platforms To Attract Readers & Get Reviews

There are a number of websites that cater specifically to self published authors trying to connect with readers. Many of them work by letting you offer free review copies to readers who are interested in your genre. They read your book for free, then post a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever else you want them to do so.

These sites do not guarantee readers or purchases just by doing the bare minimum - they are tools to use, and you need to learn how to use them effectively for your purposes. Read their documentation. Join the site as a reader to see what things look like from the other side.

These types of websites often cost money for premium features. Try noodling around with their free version before deciding whether it will be worth it. 

Some websites in this vein to check out:

BookSprout

BookSirens

NetGalley

Reedsy Discovery

Run a BookBub ad or promotion

BookBub is a specific website that lets people browse for books on sale. You can run ads on BookBub or use their platform to promote a sale on your book. More here: BookBub Promotion Tools

Use A Free Reader Magnet To Build A Mailing List

The website BookFunnel lets you upload a free book (or novella, or short story, etc.) that people get to download in exchange for joining your email list. This is called a lead magnet or a reader magnet. If you have a good reader magnet with an attractive cover and blurb, and you join the right swaps and promos, you can very quickly build a mailing list. 

Fun tip: Since having a cool, genre-appropriate cover is key for this, one thing I like to do for a lead magnet is browse through pre-made covers, buy one I like, then write a novella that fits that cover!

Once your lead magnet is up on BookFunnel, you can use their platform to join “swaps” or “group promos,” where your book is promoted by other people or in conjunction with other similar books. You can also post a link to your mailing list signup/book download page on your own social media or wherever else makes sense.

There are other websites that let you do this too - many of the author promo websites linked above have similar features - but I’ve only used BookFunnel, and I find it very easy to use. 

You will also need to use a general newsletter platform like MailChimp to connect to your account, but I find it pretty simple to understand once you’re setting things up. And then, of course, once you’ve built a mailing list, you have to use it effectively!

Resources:

The Ultimate Lead Magnet Guide

How To Use BookFunnel Like A Boss (video)

How To Start & Grow Your Mailing List

Grow An Organic Social Media Presence

This is a tough one, but for some people, can be pretty fun. Figure out which social media platform has the most active readers in your genre - Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, probably, but different genre readerships tend to congregate on different ones. Look at the social media of successful self published and traditionally published authors in your genre. See what they’re doing and figure out what’s working. Then do that. 

Follow and interact with readers and writers in your genre. Create catchy content that fits the vibe of what is working on your feed. Use analytics tools to improve. 

There are lots of tools and guides out there to using social media, from gaming the algorithm, using the best hashtags and keywords, posting at the ideal times, and creating the most ‘viral’ content. You can use a program like Canva to create images and videos. 

You can go deep down the social media rabbit hole. There are third party services and platforms that let you post different content and compare its performance. The best thing to do is tons of research, then noodle around with the different dashboards and tools available.

How Successful Authors Use Social Media

The Ultimate Social Media Guide for Writers

Social Media Writer Guide

Of course, those links above just scratch the surface of what’s out there. Start working on this, and you’ll soon discover what you need to figure out. Then search for tutorials or guides on that. 

Hire Marketing Help

If you are struggling with marketing your book and want to hire a marketing professional specifically to help with this, there are people out there who will lend their expertise to you in exchange for some money. 

Know exactly what you want to hire for - design and copywriting to create effective content? One-on-one coaching and tutoring for you on understanding the back-end of running Amazon ads? A pre-packaged ad campaign they’ll run for you?

Be careful that you are hiring a professional with credentials in exactly what you are trying to do - run Amazon ads, build an Instagram following, create frequent click-worthy videos, etc. Do not fall for scammy “publishing services.” Check someone out on Writer Beware and/or look for reviews on other websites (not just theirs!) Ask to see work they’ve done for other clients and their data on how well it worked. 

You could look for a social media marketing company like this one or this one  - search for digital marketing or social media marketing -, or an author-specific one like the ones listed here. These are all just examples - I don’t vouch for any of these and have never used any of them. 

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Whenever we begin something, we often make errors through not realising some fundamentals. Michael La Ronn, who has published over 40 books, was no different, and shares this advice in the following video. 

[nicholasrossis]

Writing Interactive Fiction

A couple of years ago I wrote about the Choose Your Own Adventure books. In the books—for those not familiar with them—you read until you come to a decision point, which prompts you to flip to another page, backward or forward. They invite you into an exciting, dangerous world where you, the reader, had to make decisions that meant life or death. They were interactive fiction at its finest.

A…

[lets-poetryvideos-me]

Getting to Know the Scrivener Writing Software

Getting to Know the Scrivener Writing Software

Getting to Know The Scrivener Writing Software

The Fall is often a time of completion. Where people want to relax, spend time with family, have fun, and to feel as good about the year’s efforts and successes; especially in their occupations and professions in the western world of providing goods and services. During this time, Philanthropic projects also brings a sense of a job well done! 

Well,…

[outernerd-blog]

Book Review: Death Marked

Death Marked is book one in the Modern Necromancy series by authors Justin Sloan and Michael La Ronn. This story follows stage magician Rohan Evans as he attempts to bring his recently deceased fiancé, Senna, back from the dead. With the help of Senna’s doctor and a Russian guide, Rohan’s journey takes him from stealing magic skulls in the Ural mountains to opening underworld portals in the deserts of Turkmenistan. The good doctor turns out to be not so good after all, and soon Rohan is chasing him through the afterlife with the help of his new BFF, a spirit named Corinne. 

“I didn’t realize his evil convictions until the knife was in my gut.” 

The book was fast paced from start to finish. This surprised me a little, as it’s the first book in the series, but I was quickly pulled into the story when Rohan, Altemus, and Lev not-so-covertly broke into the monk’s temple in the first few pages. The pace never slowed down after that. It was action scene to action scene, which really shouldn’t be surprising when you consider the Hollywood trend of non-stop action in a lot of movies being made today.

The downside of all the action is that there’s less time to get the backstory of the characters. Honestly, I had a hard time connecting with Rohan. I don’t feel I got to know the character very well, but I find that’s sometimes the case with the first book of a series. However, I really liked the spirit Corinne. I think the authors did a great job developing and building the friendship between Rohan and her. I also think Altemus turned out to be a great bad guy, kind of a cross between Voldemort and Joseph Mengele.

“You don’t have much of a choice. The game is over. You’re fighting to the death now.”

This book falls into the urban fantasy genre. To be perfectly honest, before this, I didn’t even know what urban fantasy was. I’ve heard people throw the term around on podcasts, but I had to google it to find out what it meant. Apparently, the stuff I usually read is considered high fantasy. 

I rate Death Marked four stars. It’s not the type of book I typically read, but as a fan of Sloan’s Falls of Redemption series, I thought I’d check it out. I’ve never read anything by Michael La Ronn, though his Android X series looks interesting. The two make a good team. They write with one voice and kept things moving fast enough that they held my interest, even though it wasn’t my typical fare.

[bibbitdarling]

Outlining

I’m not sure about all of the other writblrs out there, but I have a lot of trouble with outlining my novel. I’ve tried several methods that I thought might be helpful, and so far nothing has stuck. So today, I went on a mission. I opened up YouTube and put in: Outlining a novel. I wasn’t disappointed.

The reason why I went to YouTube is that I’m mostly a visual learner, so I learn best by reading and watching videos (even better if I can watch a video with subtitles), and I’ve already looked at some tips written on Tumblr. 

For each video I will provide a brief summary and my thoughts. WARNING: MY THOUGHTS ARE JUST MY OPINIONS AND ARE NOT FACTS. Before moving onto the next video I will post a rating (this rating is based on how useful I found the video, so again, this is just my opinion. You could very well prefer a video I gave a 3 star to than a 5 star). 

Here is what I came up with:

1. HOW TO OUTLINE - Katytastic

I loved Katytastic, I already followed her before I went looking for an Outline video, so I was pleasantly surprised when her video popped up first in my search. Her outline is simple and pretty easy to understand: It’s a 3 Act, 9 Block, 27 chapter example. The video not only explains how she charts out this diagram, but also uses an example novel to show the watchers (readers) how it works with a novel. It was easy to listen to her explanations, and her example was delightful. She also goes into more depth on the example, as the original was a quick (like you would do in a first draft) write down, which was extremely helpful. Overall, I believe this to be a very good example of an outline (One I might try for another novel of mine). 

Bonus: Now I really want a white board to write an outline on.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

2. #HowlWrite- Alessandra Torre

Alessandra Torre is a New York Time’s Bestseller. I haven’t personally read any of her books (although, from looking at her website, I’m considering trying out her Deanna Madden Series), but what drew me to her video was that it was different from Katytastic’s, both are physical outlines (which I’m always drawn to). I also like that she takes the time to show us her way instead of just talking about it (a few of the videos I’ve found do that, and they don’t really work for me). 

For Alessandra’s outline technique you need: Note cards (different colored cards are most useful) and a pen. She uses a well known story (Cinderella) as her example with this method, which makes it easy to follow. 

I’m going to start off with what I liked about this outline. I like how physical it is. Unlike with Katytastic’s method, if we want to change something around we just move our cards around (with a pen/pencil/marker and paper/white board we would have to erase and I don’t know about you, but that can get a bit frustrating when you’re moving things around too much). 

So here’s the thing. It is a very simple technique. I don’t mean this in a bad way, but to me (yes, this is my opinion, and in no way a fact), this seems to be a useful way for brainstorming your story. I brainstorm a bit too much, when I originally come up with an idea for a story I almost automatically have 5 characters off the bat, so this method could get a bit too confusing for me. I do get the advantages for this outline though, so I thought it would be useful to share. 

As well, I think Katytastic’s pace was better (for me that is), and Alessandra is a bit slower (so I lose concentration faster). I do have ADD though, and don’t respond well to slow videos. This is in no way a dig on Alessandra, just a preference and completely my fault. 

Rating: 3 out of 5 (However, this method might work for you, just not for me).

3. Beat Sheet Method- Iasmina Edina

First, I want to mention that I picked this method 1. Because I really liked her hair. 2. Harry Potter. 3. Different from both methods mentioned above! 

While this video doesn’t show a physical representation of the method, she does showcase the beat on the side of the video (I don’t know what they are called, but I’m going to leave it at that). According to the summary of her video, the beat sheet method is from Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat (and now I’m considering getting the book), so this is her way of explaining the method to the best of her abilities. Let me just say: She does a fantastic job. She uses the Harry Potter film as an example when she explains each beat, which can really clear up what is done in said beat. 

The beat method, from what I’ve gathered, is similar to the 3 Act structure (which I believe is what Katytastic used), but as Iasmina says, is more of a plot structured template. Instead of being 27 chapters, it’s 15 beats. 

The trouble I have with this method is that I have trouble figuring out how to structure this into what I need to fill with each chapter (15 chapters seems to little, and I’m pretty positive that the beats don’t equal the amount of chapters). I need a structure that tells me what I need to do for each chapter, so far, the 3 Act method seems to work best for me.

This method should work well for most of you though, I’m just a little special when it comes to outlines. 

Rating: 4 out of 5: I like it, it would definitely help me flush out my story, but it’s not the exact method I see myself using.

4. SnowFlake Method - Brit Poe

Brit Poe is super cute, which was definitely my main reason for picking this video... just kidding. It was partially why. The main reason I picked this video was that I wanted to know more about the SnowFlake Method. I’ve heard about it before, but never looked into it, but now I have! I can’t say if I’m super into or not, because I haven’t figured that out yet. One reason may be that it still doesn’t help me with the chapters issue that I mentioned with the Beat Method. Another reason may be because it wasn’t very visual. 

What I did like about this video was that she explained it very well, even if I checked out about halfway through. The best part about Brit is that she realizes that some may be more visual learners (*cough* like myself *cough*), so she leaves several links in her summary- one of which leads to her blog post where she has everything she said written out (which helped me a lot). She also leaves links to the SnowFlake Method website and a free resource to a character chart template (this girl is so sweet, she kills me). 

The last thing I want to mention is that... I ended up creating an account with Trello because of her blog. At the end of her blog post that goes along with this video, she offers a Trello Outlining of the SnowFlake Method (MORE VISUALS), if you’re a member (you can sign up, its free, and you join a the Scribe Community- which is pretty cool). I should mention that this is not at all a promo, I get absolutely nothing out of this, I just thought this was really cool and kind of works with the Act 3 method (but not completely as the boards are vertical and I can’t seem to change it to horizontal)

Rating: 4 out of 5: I really liked it, I loved the resources she gave, but when it came down to it, I still wasn’t 100% sold. 

Overall, I think my favorite method out of these 4 is the 3 Act method.

That is the end of my search. If you want more methods, you might want to try out this video:

It showcases a bunch of ways you can outline your novel. I’m not going to give a review for this video, as I find it’s a bit much to unpack. I will say that I think Michael La Ronn, or Author Level Up, does really well at giving you the information and resources needed to find out which outline might work best for you. He includes a bit of visuals, so I don’t get completely lost. 

So there you go, the videos I found (that weren’t Part 1, 2, 3, etc.) that might be helpful in your journey of outlining. 

Maybe I’ll make another post on helpful sites or apps that I use when building my novel? 

[nj-stone]

I got 16 books for $20.00. Check this deal out if you're doing NaNoWriMo.

  Michael La Ronn @MichaelLaRonnI can't tell you how excited I am about this NaNoWriMo StoryBundle. I'm working my way through the books--just finished The Relaxed Author by The Creative Penn and Mark Leslie Lefebvre  and it's fantastic. Get it and 15 other books here--> http://storybundle.com/nano #writing #nanowrimo2021

[supersergiofabi]

Ronn Moss e Lino Banfi a Venezia per “Surprise Trip”   I due attori arriveranno in laguna il 10 settembre per sfilare sul red carpet e mostrare le prime immagini del film che li vede protagonisti Ambientato tra New York e la Puglia, è una commedia brillante che narra la storia di Michael, un broker newyorkese innamorato dell'Italia che compra una masseria in Puglia per dare un cambio alla monotonia della sua vita. Quando arriva in Italia per il rogito dell'immobile ne succederanno di tutti i colori, ma non tutto è ciò che sembra.  #ronmoss #linobanfi   https://www.instagram.com/p/CTO8ASsrtON/?utm_medium=tumblr

[reading-products]

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[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Michael La Ronn reflects on mistakes he made when publishing his first book. 

One piece of advice which resonated with me the most was trying too hard to be unique, one of the main reasons why previous original fiction ideas eventually bit the dust and were never finished. 

I find now that a more of the same, but told in a different way serves the reader better. Sometimes we can become so invested in the idea that we lose sight of the fundamental elements of story, particularly that of relatable characters. 

La Ronn has some great ideas and advice on his channel, and is very honest with his viewers. No ego, just a genuine desire to see people write faster and better.