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Ashleigh Renard

@ashleighrenard

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Author, ghostwriter, book coach. My memoir Swing has been called “a whole new genre, hot self-help.”

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Signed copies at link in bio. 💜 by @ashleighrenard

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8 months ago

After an exciting day yesterday, I’m reflecting on the release of The Clock Tower. It’s both thrilling and terrifying because the love of books is so subjective. This story has stirred within me for a long time, and I took a chance hoping it will find its place in the world. If you like middle-grade fantasy, please consider The Clock Tower for your next book or as a gift for the young people in your life.

Description:
In the peaceful village of Proska, no human knows trouble is coming. But in the nearby town of Durna, Famal Warsa installed a dream-stealing device in the clock tower to turn those who walk past it into obedient laborers for his factories. And the fairies have noticed.

For generations, fairies have been unable to communicate with children, but under the direction of their leader, the magical unicorn Uanna, they band together to reestablish their long-broken connection.

Simpa, a fairy, arrives at Zulen’s home while he prepares for the Rising Sun Festival, an important Proskan tradition where twelve-year-olds declare their field of study. As Zulen figures out his dream, Simpa tries to warn him of impending danger. Will she get through to him before it is too late? by @ashleighrenard

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10 days ago

Kid calls from basement for snacks, played by Common Starling by @ashleighrenard

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4 months ago

Last cowriting until 5/14! Meet us on zoom at 1:00 pm Eastern, 10:00 am Pacific today, Monday, 5/4.

Zoom link in stories and here
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87498970062

Use passcode 230005

May the fourth be with you. by @ashleighrenard

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5 months ago

What is almost harder than writing a great book?

Learning how to talk about it in a way that makes people listen

Here is my quickest piece of advice and an important piece of homework for Day 7.

If you are writing a book or thinking about writing a book, start today having ten real conversations about the themes and important issues you plan to write about.

A conversation could happen in your DM’s, in your comments on social media, in someone else’s comment section, or in real life. Try explaining this thing you care about in different ways and see what makes people want more, tweaking your messaging as you learn through each conversation.

Ten, every day.

Repeat.

I’m sharing 30 days of writing and publishing advice. If you’d like to write a book or sell more copies of the books you already have published, stick around.

If you’d like accountability in your writing, join us for cowriting every Monday and Thursday at 10:00 am Pacific and 1:00 pm Eastern. We’d love to see you!

And along with my real life friend and favorite editor, Jamie McGillen, we help authors indie publish (and sell) books they are proud of. If you want this to be you, please reach out. We’d love to tell you how we can help!

https://renardmcgillen.com/ by @ashleighrenard

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6 months ago

How to make money as an author. I self-published a memoir that sold 5000 copies in the first week and continues to sell thousands of copies a year. I advise my clients to do one thing very differently than how I did it.

I ask them to focus on selling direct.

In addition to setting up clients to have their book available through all online channels, independent bookstores, and libraries, I ask them to set up e-commerce on their website so they can sell signed copies themselves.

The book-buying and social landscape has changed and a huge number of your potential readers would rather buy a book directly from an author than give any money to Amazon.

If you have a website with e-commerce, you can easily set your book up as a product and link it to Meta and Tiktok to tag your book in social media posts. Readers can buy the book directly from you without the leaving the apps, making it an easier user experience than buying almost anywhere else.

And authors can easily charge $30 for a signed copy of their book.

An indie published author can get author copies of a paperback for less that $5. A traditionally published author can get them for around $10.

USPS media mail allows you to send books for less than $5 postage. With a bubble mailer and two pieces of tissue, indie authors can get a book out the door for $10 and traditionally published authors can buy and ship their books for $15.

I recommend authors price their books at $30 with free shipping. After accounting for the cost of the book

Profit = $15 - $20 per book

Compare that to the $2 royalty a traditionally published author will get on a paperback or the $5 royalty an indie published author will get if someone buys their book on Amazon or from an indie book store and you can see how selling direct changes the $ game considerably.

I’m sharing 30 days of writing and publishing advice. If you’d like to write a book or sell more copies of the books you already have published, stick around.

Along with my real life friend and favorite editor, Jamie McGillen, we help authors indie publish (and sell) books they are proud of. Reach out so we can tell you how. by @ashleighrenard

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6 months ago

You can’t believe what people tell you about your book

Here’s what you can believe instead.

You can trust what people tell other people about your book.

I think one of the biggest mistakes new writers make is gatekeeping their work. If you want to know how people are going to respond to your work do this one easy thing.

Let people read it.

Let someone who is curious about the book read it. A year and a half before SWING came out I did a simple giveaway on my then-small socials where for one week, I sent the first chapter to everyone who shared one of my posts and the full manuscript to one person at the end of the week.

If you do something like this, send the manuscript to your prospective reader via email in PDF format. Ask them not to share it with anyone, but if they have any friends who may also enjoy it, have them email you and you’ll send them a copy as well.

When I did this with SWING, within four weeks of a friend telling a friend, I’d sent the manuscript to 425 people.

And as each person emailed me to ask to read it I got more information, in their friend’s own words, about why they were recommending the book to each other.

And I knew I had a hit on my hands.

And I was developing a growing audience of invested readers who couldn’t wait to support the book through to publication.

Having people read your book and NOT recommending it to others?

Check the posts from Day 1 - 4 to see if your book is hooking and holding a reader’s attention. And if you need help, please reach out!

I’m sharing 30 days of writing and publishing advice. If you’d like to write a book or sell more copies of the books you already have published, stick around.

If you’d like accountability in your writing, join us for cowriting every Monday and Thursday at 10:00 am Pacific and 1:00 pm Eastern. We’d love to see you! by @ashleighrenard

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6 months ago

Want to write a book people can’t put down?
You only have to do two things to get people to enjoy your book.
Make them curious. Make them care. Repeat.
Here is the RENARD McGILLEN version of the SAVE THE CAT story beats.
Execute these story telling techniques at the right time and you’ll have a book people can’t put down.

Enjoying this series? Follow along and visit https://renardmcgillen.com/services/ to learn how we help writers proudly indie publish a book people want to read. by @ashleighrenard

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6 months ago

Want to write a book people can’t put down? Here is how to hook your reader...

Before I was a writer, I was a synchronized skating choreographer and I learned you can’t take a judge’s or an audience’s attention for granted.

If you want them to be entertained, you need to entertain them.

So how does that affect how you should start a book?

In the first couple chapters of a book you need to lay out the THE SIX THINGS THAT NEED FIXING*

*If you haven’t already, check out SAVE THE CAT, my favorite book for learning about story arc.

THE SIX THINGS THAT NEED FIXING are the problems in the hero’s head and in their world that need to be repaired in order for them to have a happy ending.

In the first 20-30 pages of a book the reader should know the biggest things that are wrong in the hero’s world and already be formulating their ideas for what the solution could be. We want the reader to know what to root for on behalf of the hero.

Figuring out THE SIX THINGS THAT NEED FIXING is especially satisfying for memoirists, because you get to reflect on the improvements you made in your life and understanding.

Readers stay hooked if they know how they want the book to end and the writer gives them the appropriate amount of tension and stress that the hero may not figure out a solution to their problems.

The amount of tension is based on genre expectations and that is what we will discuss on Day 4.

I’m sharing 30 days of writing and publishing advice. If you’d like to write a book or sell more copies of the books you already have published, stick around.

If you’d like accountability in your writing, join us for cowriting every Monday and Thursday at 10:00 am Pacific and 1:00 pm Eastern. We’d love to see you!

https://renardmcgillen.com/services/ by @ashleighrenard

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6 months ago

Writing a book? Here’s how to figure out the best order for your scenes. The best story arc isn’t chronological; it’s emotional!

Check Day 1 for instructions on making a scene list! Take a look at your list and mark each scene with a + or a - to indicate whether it takes the hero closer to or further from their goal. Use ++ for medium positive and — for medium negative. Mark the very best scene with +++ and the very worst with —.

Your most intense scenes act as landmarks the rest of the story can be built around.
When figuring out the general order of your scenes, place these first!

- **Midpoint False High or False Low,* at 50% give the reader a ++ or — , an impactful and intense scene that carries emotional significance**
- **Bad Guys Close In, from 50-75% we want to place several minus scenes in a row as things unravel for the hero**
- **Dark Night of the Soul, 75% into the book, thing are as bad as they are going to get and here’s where you put your big baddie — and a few — just to add insult to injury**
- **Break into Act Three, at 80% the hero starts to get their act together and find their way out of the darkness with some ++ scenes back-to-back**
- **Finale, at 99% give the reader the resolution they hope for with the happiest scene you’ve got +++**

A well-paced story continuously takes the hero closer to and further from their goal.

**Once you’ve placed the most intense scenes, build out the story around them, alternate + and - scenes giving the reader the experience of three steps forward, two steps back, as the protagonist out innovative solutions to the problems that plague them at the beginning of the story.**

In tomorrow’s post I’ll tell you how to figure out what those problems are! In the meantime, check out *SAVE THE CAT by Blake Snyder. It’s a super accessible explanation of narrative arc.

I’m sharing 30 days of writing and publishing advice. If you’d like to write a book or sell more copies of the books you already have published, stick around.

If you’d like accountability in your writing, join us for cowriting every Monday and Thursday at 10:00 am Pacific and 1:00 pm Eastern. We’d love to see you! by @ashleighrenard

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6 months ago

Want to write a book and don’t know where to start? I’ve got suggestions to get you writing and this process is great for fiction or non-fiction.

Make a list of all the stories or conversations that may go in the book. Identify each scene with a few words that make sense to you.

Examples
Conversation with dad at the boat launch
Argument with sister on birthday
Getting the news of a diagnosis
The moment you first saw the person you fell in love with

Don’t think too much about it or pressure yourself to write details at this point. Just list. Try to get 40 scenes.

Each time you sit down to write, take a look at your scene list and see which one feels the easiest or most inspiring and start there.

Write the details you remember or that you think are the most important, including: dialogue, setting, time of year, time of day, who else was around, how you felt, and inner thoughts.

Don’t worry if you only get a few details. Move onto the next scene that is inspiring and type out those details.

In the next post I’ll give you my best advice for figuring out the order the scenes should appear in your book. Spoiler, it’s not chronological!

I’m sharing 30 days of writing and publishing advice. If you’d like to write a book or sell more copies of the books you already have published, stick around.

If you’d like accountability in your writing, join us for cowriting every Monday and Thursday at 10:00 am Pacific and 1:00 pm Eastern. We’d love to see you! by @ashleighrenard

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6 months ago

Spoiled brats say what? Hunter and I just found out we’re getting a next-door neighbor. by @ashleighrenard

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6 months ago