by Dave Haslett
You’ll also find out who the other experts are, build a network of useful contacts, and discover gaps in the market that you can fill. In fact, your readers and the other experts will probably tell you exactly what those gaps are. And, of course, your website, Facebook page or group is the ideal place to market your book once it’s published.
You don’t need any technical knowledge to set up a website; you can use a drag-and-drop website builder. I’ve used Weebly with good results. Others swear by Wix and SiteBuilder. There are plenty of others. Search online for “website builder”.
If you’re a little more advanced and have a WordPress-based website or blog, try installing the Elementor plugin. It adds the same simple drag-anddrop features that the website builders have.
If you already have the text and photos you want to put on your website, setting it up on one of these services should only take a few minutes. Simply create an account, choose a domain name*, then look through the templates on offer to find one that resembles what you’d like your site to look like. Drag headings, text boxes and image boxes onto the page and drop them where they look best. Paste your text into the text boxes and drag your photos into the image boxes to upload them. Then click the Publish button to make your website live. It’s no more difficult than using a word processor.
You’ll probably want to add additional options such as a contact page, links to retailers such as Amazon so people can buy your books, and perhaps a blog where you can announce your latest releases, personal updates, and other news. These features should all come with the website builder and will just need some simple setting up.
Most website builders also offer extra features for an additional monthly or annual fee. These include shopping carts, booking and reservation systems, live chat, and so on. You probably won’t need these.
*Your domain name is the address of your website. Ours is ideas4writers.com
If you don’t want to set up your own website, blog or Facebook page, another option is to see if there’s one already out there that covers the subject you’re interested in. If there is, contact the administrators to see if you can get involved as a volunteer. Most sites are understaffed and their administrators are overworked, so they’ll appreciate the extra help. They also need things like forum moderators who can help answer questions and keep control of what’s being posted.
This can be a wonderful way of learning a great deal about a subject in a short space of time. You’ll also be interacting with people who share your interest, as well as enhancing your reputation and building trust and expert status. All of these things will be extremely useful when you’re ready to start selling your book.
Before approaching the administrators, spend a few weeks getting to know the site as an ordinary member. Read what the other members are posting, answer their questions, and post lots of helpful, reliable, friendly comments and advice so that they and the administrators begin to recognise and trust you. Don’t just turn up ask to be an administrator straight away.
Historical sources
You’ll find historical sources all around you:
museums
national, state and local monuments
National Trust properties and stately homes
living/working museums and theme parks where the staff live, dress and work in authentic period style
and so on
Historical societies will have lots of historical records and photo archives. Many of them also hold re-enactments in original costumes – which are great for photos if you need some for your book.
The Sealed Knot can provide you with all the information on the English Civil War that you could wish for. They also hold battle re-enactments.
If you visit historic properties, don’t forget to check the gift shop for mementos, guidebooks, postcards, and so on. These can be especially valuable if photography isn’t allowed inside the property.
Most city halls, town halls, local museums, public libraries and record offices have historic maps and collections of photographs showing scenes from past. If they don’t hold them themselves, they’ll probably know someone who has a good collection.
Also consider art galleries, art collections in books and online, biographies and autobiographies, newspaper archives, and local history groups on Facebook.
Online
The starting point for all online research has to be the search engines. Google is the most popular, but there are hundreds of others.
It’s worth spending a few minutes reading Google’s help pages to learn how to use its more advanced features. For example, you can search for specific words or phrases, eliminate results that contain words you aren’t looking for, search within a particular website, limit your search to a range of dates, and much more. Google also has the very useful Image Search and Patent Search.
If you’re researching a specific subject, it’s worth finding out if there’s a search engine dedicated to it. It will probably find results that the more general search engines can’t access.
Universities often maintain huge online databases covering various subjects. As you carry out your research you might be directed to one of these.
Hopefully you’ll also be directed to someone who can tell you how to access it!
Blogs are like online diaries where people write about their lives and share tips, news, reviews and other interesting things they’ve come across. Businesses use them too, particularly for announcing new products and giving advice and information related to their industry. There are blogs covering every subject you can think of, and it’s easy to start your own. Blogger and WordPress are good starting points.
Many websites have discussion forums where you can post messages, ask questions, and interact with others who are interested in the same subject.
Most sites ask you to register an account with them before they let you post messages in their forums. When you’re asked to choose a user name, it’s best to pick one that no one will be able to connect to you. Most forums are friendly and helpful, but if you accidentally join one that turns out to be hostile, you can just stop using it and no one will know who you are. Look at the names the other members are using to get some ideas on what to call yourself.
Similarly, Facebook groups are terrific places for connecting with people who might be able to help you with your book. Type the subject you’re interested in into the search box and see what comes up.
If you can’t find anything suitable, you can set up your own Facebook page or group in just a couple of minutes.
Some social media experts recommend setting up a Facebook page for every book you write. I don’t do this for every book, but my most popular titles have their own pages. You should definitely set up an author page where you can announce your new books as they’re released; chat about them with your readers; give background information; share interesting news, facts and photos from your research trips; and so on. This page should be separate from your personal Facebook page, where commercial messages aren’t allowed.
Before you ask a question in a discussion forum or Facebook group, check if there’s a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. The answer you’re looking for might already be there. Also, search through the messages that have already been posted in case someone else has asked the same question. There’s usually a search box on the page somewhere. If you can’t find an answer, go ahead and ask your question.
You might like to join the ideas4writers Facebook group where you can interact with other writers, share ideas, and learn about our new and forthcoming books and other services.
YouTube is a great place to find videos and tutorials on the subject you’re interested in.
Interviewing
It’s worth learning how to interview people effectively, as you’ll get better and faster results.
You’ll need to know what you want to get out of the interview, how to prepare for it, how to steer it in the right direction and keep it focused and on topic, and how to ask the rig
ht questions and take effective notes.
If you’ve identified the gaps in your book that need filling, and turned them into simple questions, you’ll already know what you need to ask.
There are plenty of good books on interviewing techniques available, but you can’t beat experience. I recommend taking a one-day interviewing course if you can. It’s also a good idea to practise interviewing your friends before you do it for real.
Libraries
Libraries contain two wonderful resources: books and librarians. We discussed librarians in Chapter 4, so let’s concentrate on books here.
When I’m researching a subject I know little or nothing about, and I need a simple, quick-to-read overview of it, I always head for the children’s section of the library. It’s usually the best place to find it.
Next, I go to the adult section and look for the books on that subject that have the best illustrations. These make research and writing so much easier: just describe what you see. If you don’t know what something is called, describe it. If it’s an item of clothing, the picture will show you its colour, texture, how it’s worn, and so on. If it’s a tool or a machine, the picture might show you how it works and how it’s used, and the various parts might be labelled. A few good pictures might give you everything you need to write your book.
If you can’t find any decent illustrations at the library, search for them online. Google’s Image Search feature is especially useful for this.
Whenever you use a book for research, make a note of its title, author, publisher, year of publication, and the page number you found the information on. You’ll then be able to find the facts again if you need them. You can also send the details to your editor or publisher if they need to verify the information. And it’s good practice to put the details in a bibliography section at the back of your book for readers who’d like to explore the subject further.
There’s no reason why novels can’t have bibliography sections too!
The British Library (bl.uk) in London is worth a visit if you’re having trouble finding what you need locally.
Speed-reading and skimming will allow you to zip through a large pile of books in no time. There are tips on how to do this later in the chapter.
My local library’s website has a very useful Resources section, which I can access from home after logging in with my membership number and PIN. It includes free access to several newspaper archives and reference collections, music libraries, an art collection, a biographical dictionary, and more. It’s well worth finding out what library resources are available where you live.
Local research
Whatever subject you’re researching, and wherever you live, you should be able to find an expert on it not too far away. Ask friends, relatives, colleagues and local teachers if they know of anyone who knows about the subject. You could also try the town or city hall, public library, local studies centre, county records office, church records, business groups, and so on.
Facebook is great for this kind of thing. Join a group related to your local area and post a message asking for advice and recommendations. Or approach it from the opposite direction by joining a group connected with the subject you’re researching, and post a message to see if there are any experts near you.
If you want to learn about a particular place and you’re able to visit it, try talking to the old folk who’ve spent their entire lives there. Pop into a traditional-looking pub or bar and ask if there are any old regulars who come in each day. When you meet one, buy him a drink, explain what you want to know and why you want to know it, then sit back and listen. You might have to keep him supplied with drinks, but it’s a small price to pay for the wealth of information and contacts he’ll give you in return.
Most towns have local experts who know an enormous amount about the area, and have access to all sorts of useful documents and archives. You can find them through the local Tourist Information Office, heritage centre, local studies centre, public library, college, or newspaper office. There’s probably a Facebook group that covers the history of the place you’re researching, and the local experts will almost certainly be members of it.
It’s also worth searching online for the name of the subject and the area where you live. For example: “stained glass in Devon”. You should find the names and contact details of several local experts and historians, as well as artists, studios and businesses you could contact for more information.
Newspapers
Newspapers can serve many different purposes. We’ve already considered using them as a source of ideas, but they’re great for research too. For example, you could contact your local newspaper’s office, tell them you’re planning a book, and ask them to print a request for information in case any of their readers can help. They might feature you in the next edition, talking about your planned book and the help you need with it. Within a few days you might have more than enough information to write your book, as well as the contact details of several local people who could help you further.
If the information you need relates to another part of the country or another part of the world, search online to find the local newspapers for that area. As you don’t live there, they might not be quite as interested in featuring you. But even if they only print a couple of lines about your request for information, and they give your email address, it’s better than nothing. If you tell them it’s for a book, they’ll usually print your request – especially if you’ve written other books and have a track record as a published author.
If a newspaper prints your request for information, don’t forget to contact them again just before your book is published. They’ll probably run a feature on it. Make sure you tell them where their readers can buy your book, as they often forget to mention this. Or they say it’s available from “all good bookshops” – which might not be the case if you’re publishing it yourself.
Other People
Other people can be so useful to you that I’ve dedicated the whole of chapter 15 to this topic.
Other People’s Jobs
If you’re writing about a fictional character who does a particular job or follows a particular lifestyle, see if you can find someone who does it in real life. Interviewing him and watching him at work will be much easier and faster than researching it in books or online – and you’re less likely to get the details wrong. You could also ask him to read the relevant parts of your book before it’s published, to check that everything is correct.
Make the most of your time with him. Have another look at the interviewing tips from earlier, and make sure you’ve prepared a list of questions in advance. It’s best to interview him in his home or workplace, rather than having him come to you or meeting him somewhere else. You’ll get much more background information that way:
What does the place look like and smell like?
What sort of state is it in?
What exactly is going on?
Who else is there?
What do they do?
And so on.
If you find someone who’s particularly interesting and co-operative, ask if you can spend a day shadowing him.
It can be interesting to ask a few controversial questions – if only to see whether he’ll answer them. His refusal might be just as useful and informative as a full answer. Controversial questions are best left until the end of the interview though, just in case you get thrown out!
Primary Research
This is where you become the source of the information rather than reading about it somewhere else. Examples include conducting your own experiments, interviews, market research, focus groups, surveys, opinion polls, questionnaires, and so on.
Primary research can be expensive and time-consuming, but sometimes it’s the only way to get the information you need. And at least you can be sure it’s accurate.
It’s worth reading a few articles that give tips on the best practices. Look for those that concentrate on the aspects you’re interested i
n, and especially those that tell you how to get the fastest results. Search online for things like “online survey tips”, “focus group best practice”, and so on.
The EzineArticles website has tons of articles on this sort of thing.
Most of the writers on EzineArticles have written books or have products or services connected with the subject of their article. You’ll find their details at the end of each article. It’s worth reading these to see how they promote their work. You should also consider writing your own articles to promote your book. They work!
Second-hand bookshops
Small independent bookshops and second-hand bookshops are well worth visiting. The staff usually know exactly which books they have in stock and where they are, so don’t waste your time searching; it’s quicker to just ask them.
It’s also worth checking whether they have a website. Some of them have up-to-date lists of their current stock, and you can reserve a book for collection or buy it online or by phone.
Amazon sells used books as well as new ones. This can be a good way of getting hold of out-of-print books.
You’ll also find a huge selection of used books on eBay, the shopping and auction website. You might have to bid for some of the items and wait a few days to see if you were successful.
Use AuctionSniper to win more auctions on eBay. Decide how much you’re willing to pay for the item and AuctionSniper will place your bid in the closing seconds of the auction, outbidding the other bidders and leaving them no time to respond with a higher bid. Other auction sniping tools are available: search online for “free ebay auction sniper”.