All posts by Celeste Hall

6 Important Steps for Better Content Writing

Content writing can be challenging, but there are steps you can take to stand out among the hundreds, if not thousands of writers entering the market every year.
I was browsing through Facebook today and saw an advertisement pop up for a software application that was being marketed as a one-stop solution for content writing.
Curious, I stopped to read the ad and then skimmed through some of the comments underneath. Within moments I was laughing at the witty responses from actual content writers responding to this perceived challenger in their industry.
The truth is, no piece of software can cheat the system. You can’t have a meaningful conversation with a machine that has no feelings and no empathy for your situation. A good content writer will always win.
So how do you become a good content writer? Well, following the steps below is a good place to start!

Bots make terrible content writers
Bots make terrible content writers

6 Important Steps for Better Content Writing


1 Keep Reading

The best teacher is experience, right? Before we ever become writers, we are first readers. We read what others have written and then we write our own stories.
If you want to write quality content, you need to be out there reading quality content. Find other writers in your niche and read what they’re writing about. A quick search of your field in Google should offer up hundreds if not thousands of opportunities for you to see quality content writing in action.
Save snippets of your favorite articles for later, especially the headlines that made you want to click and read more. What are they doing that you found so appealing? Pay attention to their voice and style, how it speaks to you or to a problem you have that they might solve. Study their beginning stories and their closing paragraphs.

2 Take Notes

When we’re writing articles, we will generally have a specific topic that we’re writing about.
Depending on your audience, this might be something extremely broad, like ‘How to Publish a Book’. Or it might be something extremely niche, like ‘What to do if your cat chewed off that tiny red mouse button in the center of your old Dell Laptop computer’.  
One way to approach each project, is to do a little research. Let the internet be your best friend. Do some searches, make some notes.
Find out which keywords bring up the best information and which ones are the most searched for.
Jot down references and any quotes from industry leaders that you’d like to use. Make a list of things you’d like to cover.
Once you’ve got material to work with, you can go back through and sort it into easily consumable bites for your readers.

3 Learn Your Keywords

These days, content marketing is largely online. Yes, we may still be asked to create mailers or flyers to reach low- tech or no-tech communities, but smart phones have brought most of today’s shoppers onto the internet.
For that reason, every writer should learn at least the basics of search engine optimization (SEO), a term to describe how well Google can find your page or article online.
There are new pages and articles being created every day, so if you want yours to be found, then keywords are important. Learn the niche keywords for your industry and your article within that industry.
Think of how you do a search on the internet. You search for “blue dog collar” or “wireless mouse and keyboard set”. These are keyword phrases. Use targeted keywords in the body of your text and in the header, whenever possible.
If you’re writing articles for someone else, be sure they have a list of those keyword phrases so they can include them in their site’s meta data.

4 Attention Grabbing Headlines

Just like reading can make you a better writer, paying attention to what makes you stop and read articles can teach you how to right good headlines.
When someone types their keyword search into Google, a list of pages and articles will show up. If you want people to find you in that list, then your title needs to stand out and grab their attention.
Make sure it targets the exact way that you can solve their problem.
For example: “How I made $139,233 writing 1 article each day for 1 year”. Be specific. Target what they’re looking for and how you can solve their problem.

5. Your First Paragraph Counts

Use your keywords and make that first paragraph count. Give them a reason to keep reading.
Using the headline from above, you could continue with something like, “In 2018 I was a dead broke author on the verge of becoming homeless. After taking a content marketing course and learning the secrets I’ve listed below, I managed to make $81,612 with my website in the first three months, which snowballed into an income that has saved my home and allowed me to finally feel secure in my career choice.”
Obviously, you’ll want to write a paragraph that targets your audience and your industry, this is just an example. Show them how you can help them and why they should keep reading your article.
In most cases, you have less than 10 seconds to gain their attention and make them want to read more, so make this first paragraph count.

6 Be Honest and Be Yourself

This could be broken down into two steps, but they are both pretty much the same thing. You need to be your true self. Be honest about who you are. Show empathy for their situation and that you want to help, but don’t mislead them. If you’ve got a sense of humor, let it shine. Be human. Share a little of your back story and your reason for wanting to share this information.
Go back and read that first paragraph again and see how it incorporated a reflection of where the author was coming from. Let your unique voice and experiences help readers relate to you as a writer so they don’t feel like they’re just reading something that has been written by a robot.
If you’re writing about something that you don’t have a personal relationship to, you can still create an emotional response by infusing humor and talking to the readers as you would talk to a close friend. Keep the tone inviting, warm, and open for further conversation.

CelesteHall.com

My 3 Best Tips for Writing Restaurant Reviews

Writing restaurant reviews can be fun!
Have you discovered the most amazing new restaurant and want to leave them an equally amazing review? Maybe you’re traveling and you want to help your fellow travelers discover that charming little gem of a diner you happened to stumble across.
There are a lot of reasons you might want to leave a review, but it won’t help anyone if it doesn’t grab attention and get bumped up by people who appreciate your suggestion.

Writing Restaurant Reviews
Writing Restaurant Reviews

My 3 Best Tips for Writing Restaurant Reviews

1. Give Them a Good Appetizer

Let your readers know right away if the review will be worth reading. Think of one descriptive word which might encompass your entire visit. Something like “amazing” might be a little too vague, but “delicious!” or “authentic!” are great words.
Now use that word to write your title, or the first line of your review if the review site doesn’t support titles. “Wow! This is real authentic Japanese ramen!

2. Give Them a Little Background

In one or two lines, give them a little background on how you ended up in this restaurant. You might want to include whether you were in a group or on a date with your special person or even what time of day or night you visited.
My boyfriend and I just got in from a long flight and didn’t know the area very well. This place was open late, so we didn’t have high expectations, but boy were we surprised!”

3. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Here’s where you will describe the food, the service, and the atmosphere or feel of the place. Make sure you’re not just saying that the food was great, but that you describe why. Give an example of why the service was good or bad. Describe notable things about the decoration or the atmosphere inside.
I had the Shoyu Ramen, and it came in a large bowl, absolutely loaded with toppings. The broth was richly seasoned, the meat was tender and delicious, and the noodles were perfectly cooked, not mushy or clumped together. The waitress was so sweet and kept our glasses full the entire meal, we never had to ask for anything. I loved the traditional Japanese décor and the warm, welcoming ‘irasshaimase!’ as we entered. This was such a memorable experience. I highly recommend you visit!

The goal is to keep the review brief but still cover all the important details in a way that people can relate to. The meat was tender, not chewy. The noodles were cooked well, not mushy. The waitress was attentive.
Think of things that matter to you when you’re dining out and that will give you an idea of what people want to know, but don’t get too longwinded because nobody has time to read an entire novel of a review when they’re hungry.  

Bonus Tips:


Take pictures! Almost everyone has a camera on their phone now. Take a few snapshots of your meals and the restaurant.

Japanese Ramen Shop
The best Japanese Ramen Shop I’ve ever visited!

Also, be fair, we’ve all had to suffer through that new waitress who is just learning the job and bungles up the drink order. You can mention that the waitress mixed up your drink order but remember that by the time your review is read, she will likely have skilled up. Don’t let her mistake influence what you tell others, they may get a totally different version of her.

Writing something like, “Worst Restaurant Ever” might make you feel a little better in the moment, but it doesn’t offer anyone any insight as to why. It really speaks more about your temper than it does the restaurant. If you need to leave a bad review warning people off, give your reasons why. If you want an example, ask me about a restaurant I visited in Nazca, Peru and the wretched days which followed. 🤢

Lastly, check your spelling and grammar! If you’re in doubt, copy and paste the whole review into a Word doc and run an editing check on it. If your review is full of spelling or grammatical errors, people might skip past your reviews or misunderstand it completely.

CelesteHall.com

5 Time Management Tips for Writers

As a writer, it’s important to work smarter and not harder. Creating entire worlds is hard enough, so here are 5 great time management tips for writers!

As a writer you could easily spend every waking moment trying to move your career forward. You could spend hours writing, editing, tearing your hair out over the perfect submission letter, or working on any one of million other things piling up on your desk right now.

Two old Clocks and a Cuckoo
Two old clocks and a cuckoo

Here are 5 time management tips for Writers!

  1. Discover when you are the most productive.

When do you feel like your physical and mental energy levels are at their highest?
Do you feel wide awake in the morning, but start to drag around noon?
Do you feel sluggish during the day, but get a fresh burst of energy in the evening?
I’ve noticed that my favorite time of day is early in the morning before my daughter wakes up for school. I love waking up before the sun and focusing my full attention to the project without distractions.

  1. Learn how to prioritize into high-value and low-value tasks.

A high-value task for a writer might be sitting down and churning out at least fifteen minutes a day of writing. Maybe that’s a paragraph. Maybe that’s a page. If you have deadlines, you’ll have to determine how much writing a day is necessary to meet that deadline and then you must sit down and actually do it.
Low-value tasks for a writer might include responding to emails or social media comments, posting content to promote published books, or just doing research on locations for world creation.
Once you have your priorities, you can plan your high-value tasks for your most productive, high-energy hours and the low-value tasks for your sluggish hours.

  1. Plan how your ideal workday would look.

If you’re anything like me, you probably collect blank notebooks in drawers, cupboards, and stacked haphazardly on your desk. Well, here’s your chance to use one! Sit down on work out a schedule for your high-value tasks, low-value tasks, meals, breaks, and whatever else you might need to do on the daily.
The goal is to visualize your time and discover any obstacles, such as those thirty minutes you might be spending in the school pick-up lane each day.

  1. Create a daily to do list or plan.

Use what you’ve learned from step three to create your daily to-do list. You can set yourself up for success by identifying your most important tasks and getting them done during your high-energy times and pushing off the low-value tasks to periods of time when you’re not able to devote your full attention to the work.
It can be motivating to check items off your list and see yourself accomplishing those daily tasks.
You may find additional things that need to be done and add them to your list along the way. Keeping your list updated will help you create a better schedule over time.

  1. Give yourself a break!

Studies have shown that we need to take breaks, especially after periods of deep concentration or focus. A great way to break up your day would be to set aside no more than 60-90 minutes for high-value tasks, with at least 10 to 15-minute breaks in between for snacking, walking, or just watering your houseplants.
Set yourself a timer and write for an hour each day, then give yourself a break and maybe work on a quick low-value task before going back to writing again!

Do you have some time management tips that you think might help other authors? Please share them in the comments, I’d love to hear from you!

Old Clock
Enjoy your free time!

CelesteHall.com

Spanish and Portuguese Book Translations

New Spanish and Portuguese book translations coming soon!

Cristina Garcia has just finished translating Felicity into Spanish.
Felicity is the prequel story for the Savage Throne series and tells the story of Gerrard, who you’ll see again in Fealty, the following book in the series.
This is the first foreign translation for Felicity and I couldn’t be more thrilled!

But Felicity isn’t the only new translation this month!

Luciana Maira has just finished translating The Seven Ravens into Portuguese. Yay! The Seven Ravens is now available in both Spanish and Portuguese! The Seven Ravens is a zombie fairytale originally included in the Once Upon an Apocalypse series, published by Chaosium Inc. It is my twist on the Grimm Fairytale with the same name.

Felicity Spanish Cover
Felicity Spanish Cover
The Seven Ravens Portuguese Cover
The Seven Ravens, Portuguese Cover

Both of these books, and translations of my other novels, are available through all major global retailers including Amazon, Google, Apple, Nook, Kobo, Scribd and 300+ regional and country online retailers.

Love Is A Witch Audiobook

♡ A Kitty Coven Audiobook ♡

I thought I had a good pattern going with ACX, but it seems I was mistaken.

Love Is A Witch is finally available in audio book format now, but it took twice as long for the files to clear and I have no idea why.
I’d love to talk to other authors or narrators who have experience with ACX if anyone is out there in the digital world with a moment to spare!

Rachel grew up on a small farm on the edge of Aspire. She has always loved animals, but doesn’t feel like there is a place for pets in her new apartment. Besides, she’s too busy trying to keep her brother Matt from making one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

A Yowling Yuletide Audiobook

♡ A Kitty Coven Audiobook ♡

A Yowling Yuletide is now available in audio as well! There are only two books left in the Kitty Coven Series! Although, that won’t be true for much longer. I do have another book in the series which will be ready to publish soon.

While you’re listening, has anyone tried having their foreign language editions turned into audiobooks yet? I noticed that ACX doesn’t allow me to claim any of the foreign language editions. I’m wondering if they’re just not set up for other languages on Audible yet?

After being rejected and betrayed by the only woman he’s ever loved, Matt swears off dating completely. He’d rather die alone than have his heart crushed like that again. But the obnoxiously perky redhead that the temp agency sent over will not take no for an answer.

Something Wicca This Way Comes

♡ A Kitty Coven Audiobook ♡

Yay! Another Kitty Coven series book joins my audio library!

Something Wicca This Way Comes

This book was so much fun to read because it required so many voices! The scene with all thirteen witches gathered together really challenged by vocal range. A couple of them ended up with southern accents, because I could only do so much with pitch, breath, and range.

I’m really working hard on improving my narrations, because I know there are a lot of authors out there who are probably facing the same case of nerves that I had about putting my voice out there. Maybe, if I can get good enough at narrating and editing, I can help others with their audiobooks!
I love helping other authors succeed and have spent hours and hours creating covers for them or helping with proofreading. I hope I will soon be good enough to help in this area too!

The Seven Ravens Audiobook

The Seven Ravens Audiobook
The Seven Ravens Audiobook

The Seven Ravens Audiobook is now available!

They say we never stop learning, right? Well, I’ve learned a lot about creating and editing audio books in a very short amount of time.
You really can’t just sit down and rattle off a perfect edition, no matter how good your reading skills. There is a lot of editing that comes afterward to make sure the audio files meet industry standards.
It wasn’t until I finished The Seven Ravens, that I realized some of the beginner mistakes I made with The Bare Witch Project.

While I love The Bare Witch Project, I can hear a clear difference in the quality between that audio and The Seven Ravens.

The Seven Ravens

While the length is shorter (about the perfect timing for a 30 minute gym workout or a walk around the neighborhood) the sound is so much richer.
I’ll probably need to go back and reread the The Bare Witch Project when I get the chance. It’s not bad, it’s just sounds a little hollow to me now.

The Bare Witch Project Audiobook

The Bare Witch Project Audiobook
The Bare Witch Project Audiobook

The Bare Witch Project Audiobook is now available!

Have you ever heard a recording of your voice and just cringed? That’s how I felt for a long time, which is why I have stalled for so long in creating audio versions of my books. But I’ve been working on myself and decided that I needed to be brave and put myself out there again.
The Bare Witch Project was a perfect place to start. I still love this series for it’s cute, lighthearted spirit!

The Bare Witch Project by Celeste Hall

This series has some shapeshifter related nudity, but the reader doesn’t “see” anything, so it’s safe to listen to the audio books in the car with the windows down. Once I get a little braver, I might start on the spicier books, but I’m still working on my courage.

Morgan is a wannabe witch with a fear of cats and a traumatic history that puts her straight into the path of trouble. When a large black cat races into her house to escape a dog attack, she considers it just another example of how bad her luck has become. But this was no ordinary cat. Her life was about to be turned upside down by an ultra sexy beast with a few dark secrets of his own.

Saving Seeds and Saving Money

Save money by saving seeds? Absolutely!

This has been such a strange winter, it can’t seem to make up it’s mind. In a single day it might shine, snow, shine, rain, shine, then throw a windstorm tantrum. Honestly, I can’t wait until spring.
Seed Library
Dreaming of springtime and growing things, I thought it might be fun to talk about seeds. I recently purchased this gorgeous spice rack and repurposed it for storing my garden seeds.
Isn’t it pretty?

It also taught me something that I hadn’t considered before… I might be hoarding more seeds than I need. Like, a LOT more seeds.
The reason I’m bringing it up in this post, is because I think a lot of homesteaders struggle with how to make a little extra money to cover things like phone bills and fuel for the truck.

A small package of seeds can cost anything from $1 to $5 depending on the rarity of the seeds in question, and a single jar of seeds in my library could probably fill hundreds of packages.
Seed LibraryMore if they’re small seeds, like lettuce or onion. (Note: please make sure none of the seeds you want to sell are trademarked, copyrighted, or branded against resale).

A year or so ago, I packaged up some of the purple orach and hollyhock seeds, just to see how well they might sell. I marketed them on just a single group in Facebook and made over $500 in just a month. Yes, that meant I had to make weekly trips to the post office, but I simply scheduled them with shopping trips to save gas.

It’s not a fortune, and eventually you’d run out of seeds, but I thought it might give you ideas for how even small gardens can help pay for themselves and give you a little extra cash.

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