Blog - News and Updates from the World of Ghostwriting and Self-publishing

What Makes a Great Biography or Memoir?

Posted on July 12 2016 by Mark Graham
#5 Samaritan Court

This moving and powerful biography is a collaboration between Maria Mai-Thuy Swenka and Mark Graham Communications.

First things first, please understand that a biography and a memoir are NOT the same thing.  A biography is about your life, more or less from beginning to end.  A memoir is a snapshot from a particular time in your life.  A biography allows you to explore all aspects of your life, while a memoir gives the reader a picture of who you are based upon a finite timeframe.  Both are very effective, and we at Mark Graham Communications have written many successful and well-received books in both genres.

Remember that both a memoir and biography weave other people into your story, and the reader wants to know how these people influenced your life. Family, friends, associates.

Enemies, adversaries, competitors.

Always be forthright and honest with your readers. The truth is what they are looking for. You can be colorful and dynamic, funny and poetic, longwinded or brief as long as you tell the truth. Yes, you are looking at your story through your eyes, but that does not give you license for bending the truth. Your story is unique; let that be enough.

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How to Start Writing a Book

Posted on June 7 2016 by Mark Graham
This wonderful self-help book on re-partnering is a collaboration between Deborah Potashnik Hecker PhD and Mark Graham Communications.

This wonderful self-help book on re-partnering is a collaboration between Deborah Potashnik Hecker PhD and Mark Graham Communications.

You have a book you’d like to write.  A novel, a biography, or a self-help book; a business book, health book, or philosophical masterpiece.  Where to start?  How to start?  Those are questions that go through every first-time writer’s head.

The key word is “start.”  Yes, you can read all you want about the process that famous writers take or study step-by-step hand-holding guides, most of which are written by people who don’t really want to “start.”

You can wait for inspiration to strike, but writing a book is more about hard work than inspiration.  It is more about sitting down at your desk with a pad and pen or opening a blank page on your computer and getting down to business.

You “start” with idea. Specific or fuzzy, it does not matter.  You may have a plot line or a character in mind. You may have a new diet you want to impart to the world or a business model that you think will help others succeed. You may want to put your life story down on paper to establish your legacy.  Whatever it is, believe in that idea.  If you feel passionate about your idea, then it is a good idea. Write it down. Create a premise.

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How Ghostwriting Works

Posted on May 11 2016 by Mark Graham
This unique self-help book on realizing your dreams as a reality is a collaboration between Jason McKinney and Mark Graham Communications.

This unique self-help book on realizing your dreams as a reality is a collaboration between Jason McKinney and Mark Graham Communications.

Please do not be intimidated by the ghostwriting process. It is as straightforward as picking up the phone or drafting an email. It begins with an idea and finding the best possible fit for your idea.

For us, it normally begins with an initial inquiry, normally through our website and normally with a simple email requesting more information or a phone call asking how the process works. A simple note to info@markgrahamcommunications.com will get the ball rolling.

An introductory phone call comes next.  For us, this is such an important step. It allows you to describe the book idea you are working on or thinking about working on. It allows us to walk you through the process.  How will we gather the information we need to get the ball rolling?  Do you have material already written down or research we might do? Are face-to-face interviews best for our launch?  We talk about the genre of your book, the audience, even the tone and style we think might be most appropriate.

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Are You a Storyteller

Posted on May 2 2016 by Mark Graham
Inspired by real life events, this fascinating story is a collaboration between Gretchen Wiegand, Anna McDermott and Mark Graham Communications.

Inspired by real life events, this fascinating story is a collaboration between Gretchen Wiegand, Anna McDermott and Mark Graham Communications.

Not everyone is a storyteller.

Not everyone wants to be a storyteller. But it is my contention that everyone loves a good story and have since the beginning of time.  We love to be swept up in what is the heart and soul of any good story: conflict.  Make no mistake, there is conflict in everything that we do because conflict is second nature to human beings.  We are blessed with two primary instincts: fear and survival. There is no way that those two words don’t imply conflict in its most primal way. Conflict is filled with emotion. Conflict is filled with jeopardy.

The best storytellers have a gift for tapping into our emotions and letting us inside the jeopardy that is inherent in most situations and every relationship.

Books are my favorite vehicle for storytelling, though not every book represents good storytelling.  The movies attempt to convey a story in two hours.  Some are successful, some are not. The theater is much the same.  Art?  Well, there are lot of artists who proclaim themselves storytellers, but not every painting, sculpture, or piece of pottery rises to that level.    For my money, it doesn’t matter. If you make the attempt to write a book or a poem, create a script or produce a movie, act in or direct a play, pick up a paint brush or mold a piece of pottery, you’ve taken a risk in the creative world and ventured into the realm of storytelling. That in its own right is a success.

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The Importance of a Well Designed Author Website

Posted on March 15 2016 by Mark Graham
Crude Policy, an exciting novel about one man's plan to save the US from imminent decline, was a collaboration with Joel Albert and Mark Graham Communications

Crude Policy, an exciting novel about one man’s plan to save the US from imminent decline, was a collaboration with Joel Albert and Mark Graham Communications

People are online all day every day, or so it seems.  This would seem to suggest the importance of having a website to promote your book, or to promote you as an up and coming or well-established author. This is hard to argue.  What is not hard to argue is that an average website is good enough, or that a template that you can buy for very little money makes sense.

What we know is this. An ever increasing number of people are making buying decisions based upon what they see online, and this includes the quality of their experience at any given website. Selling your book or selling yourself as an author is no different. In fact, as the e-book becomes an ever more popular form for getting your reading fix, your author website takes on more meaning.

Books are a competitive business. Make sure your website measures up. Make it special. Make it memorable. Both in design and content.  Most often, this design component starts with your book cover. Why?  Because you want to feature your book cover prominently on the home page of your author website. The image of your book cover should very likely travel from one page to the next.  Start there. Choose your cover design wisely, and remember that it will represent you in your ad campaigns both on social media and in traditional media.

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The Author and the Art of Blogging

Posted on February 19 2016 by Mark Graham
This intense and suspenseful read, written by King Hurly and Mark Graham Communications will keep you on the edge of your seat from cover-to-cover.

This intense and suspenseful read, written by King Hurley and Mark Graham Communications will keep you on the edge of your seat from cover-to-cover.

Whether you love social media or not, make no mistake that it serves a purpose.  Whether you have written a novel, biography, self-help book, or business book, blogging is vital on many levels.  When it comes to your book, it is all about exposure, and that is the essential purpose of blogging: to get you and your book noticed.  Blogging is your way of speaking to the search engines that are the Big Brother of the Internet. Blogging is like a conference that draws interested party-goers to your party. Blogging is marketing, and ever author ever born has to market.

The book you have written surely came from a place of passion. Passion for your story, your character, your self-help message, your inspiration. Yet the book you have written is also the basis for a business: the book is your product; you, as the author, are an extension of that product; you, therefore, are the promoter.  Blogging is one of your promotional vehicles.

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Ghostwriting and Self-Publication

Posted on January 19 2016 by Mark Graham
Risk: A Road Worth Traveling – collaboration with Craig Huntington and Mark Graham Communications

Risk: A Road Worth Traveling – collaboration with Craig Huntington and Mark Graham Communications

There is a direct correlation between the ghostwriting process and the self-publication process.  Some people will tell you that both are easy.  You have an idea for a book – a novel, biography, business book, or self-book, for instance – and you bring some one on board that is advertising themselves as a top flight writer.  Here is your first and perhaps most formidable obstacle.  How can tell this person is top flight?  How can you tell if he or she has, first, the credentials to write your book, and, second, the interpersonal skills to make the collaboration work?  You do your due diligence. You trust your instincts.  You make sure you know what you’re getting into and how easy it is to extract yourself if it goes south.  Your book is close to your heart. Don’t let your heart get in the way of choosing someone who shares your passion, but also understands the process and possesses the requisite skills; there are not a lot of people like that.

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Every Writer Needs an Effective Website

Posted on December 18 2015 by Mark Graham
The Domination Game, an enticing tale of a strong heroine persona clashing with a strong alpha male was written by Jennifer Byars and published by Mark Graham Communications.

The Domination Game, an enticing tale of a strong heroine persona clashing with a strong alpha male was written by Jennifer Byars and published by Mark Graham Communications.

It is all about exposure.  You may have written the best book in the world, but it will be impossible to sell if no one knows about it. With that in mind, let’s talk about creating a special website promoting you, the writer, and the book you’ve spent so many hours creating.

Problem one is that there are websites ad nauseam that are essential advertisements. Don’t go there. If your site is nothing more than a “please buy my book,” it is destine to fail. The truth is this: you won’t sell books if no one knows about your website, and don’t count on any staying on your site or recommending it to others if it’s primarily an advertisement. A website is meant to build a platform to generate interest in you, your book, and everything you want your book to accomplish, and ad sites do just the opposite.

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Fire and Fiction

Posted on November 16 2015 by Mark Graham
SumoLand

Sumoland, a great fictional story of an outsider is a collaboration with King Hurley and Mark Graham Communications

As the myth is told, mankind can thank the Greek titan Prometheus for the gift of fire. Prometheus apparently had a soft spot for humans and knew we needed fire to have any chance of rising above the fray.  Zeus, ruler of Olympus and Lord of the Sky, didn’t share this fondness for men. And since he was not eager for us to have power over fire – or much of anything else really – it was left to Prometheus to perform an act of thevery unparellelled in the annuls of myth and mystery. As the story goes, he stole a fiery flame from the lightning that Zeus controlled, concealed it in a hollow stalk of fennel, and brought it to man. The rest is history.

Fire provides heat, light, and fuel. Fire nurtures the soil. Fire stimulates growth and regenerates our ecosystems. Okay, we all know this. But fire’s most important gift is driving the imagination to new and often dangerous heights. There is not a soul on earth who isn’t fascinated by the mystery of fire: the way it moves; the sounds it manufactures; the vibrant colors it produces; the danger it brings to mind.

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The Novel and the Art of World Building

Posted on October 5 2015 by Mark Graham

This exciting fantasy fiction is a collaboration between Sylvio Tabet and Mark Graham Communications.

Oh, yes, you hear everyone using this phrase these days: World Building.

It is meant to convey something that writers have been doing since the dawn of the pen: dropping the reader into scenes that not only fit your story, but give it momentum and purpose; creating a setting that brings your characters to life and effectively stirs the reader’s imagination.

It begins, generally speaking, with the task of deciding when your story is going to take place.  What is the time line?  Is it the 19th Century or the 22nd Century.  Both require creating a world that the reader will buy into and be excited to live in for a short time each day. That is the challenge. That is also the wondrous pleasure that no one can take from you.

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