Review: Successfully Marketing Your Novel in the 21st Century

Successfully Marketing Your Novel in the 21st Century by Austin Camacho

I just finished this book, and I thought a review of it would be entirely appropriate for the blog. I met the author a few months ago through KindleKorner, a Yahoo group I'm a member of. Someone was recommending one of his books as being a good read set in DC. Since my series is set in DC, I decided to give it a try. Blood and Bone is an excellent hard-boiled detective novel. Austin and I met in person, and I've been following his newsletter. In a recent newsletter, he mentioned the book on marketing, and I immediately ordered it, even though it wasn't available as an e-book, and I read very few paper books these days. No regrets. It's good.

The book is primarily aimed at the small-press or self-published author, and he covers almost every element of  book marketing. He talks about the look of the book to make it look less like a self-published piece. He talks about using short stories based on your book as a marketing tools.

He has a lengthy section on ideas to get your book in front of people. If you've never done a reading, he has the template for what he uses at readings of Blood and Bone. I'll certainly be referring to his template when I do my first book reading!

I particularly liked his ideas for non-traditional outlets for your book. He discusses how to get your book in local coffee houses and how to sell them at craft fairs. I never would have thought of the craft fair, but I could see that being an excellent avenue!

Missing from his book were using social media and how to market e-books, not surprising since the book was last revised in 2008, before either of those had hit the big time. However, don't let that stop you from reading it. He's almost convinced me to release Warlock Case Files in Print on Demand versions, just so I can try out some of his ideas.

You can learn more about Austin Camacho at www.hannibaljonesmysteries.com. Oh, and my review of Blood and Bone is currently the featured review on the site. Cool!

November Didn't Quite Work Out as Planned

Remember my goal to write 50K words in November?

Yeah, that didn't happen. Lots of good things happened in November, business-wise. But little of it involved writing.

I saw an hilarious video yesterday about becoming a writer. In it, the aspiring writer quits his day job and has delusions of what his life as a published author will be like. Watch the video. It covers pretty much every misconception of being a writer.

I sure wish I could do the quit the day job thing. Well, not really. I love being a coach, but it does take time away from writing fiction. I know I can do both. Not that you'd know it from last month, but I'm not going to waste my time wishing I'd done more. I'm looking ahead. I've got time scheduled today for writing.

Dafydd has a lot of stories to tell. Time for me to sit down and write them down. I'm setting a much more realistic goal for December. How about 10K words? I think I can manage that.

E-Book Readers: Dedicated or Not?

Allow me to go off-topic a bit today and talk about e-book readers.

I've been reading e-books for almost a decade now, starting with a Handspring Visor running Palm OS and now on my iPhone. I've also used a dedicated e-book reader, so I've experienced e-books in many formats.

The big problem with the current generation of e-book readers is the format wars. Yes, it's Beta vs. VHS and HD vs. Blue Ray all over again.

There are three big contenders in the e-book reader world:

Amazon Kindle
Barnes and Noble Nook
Sony Reader

There are more books available in Kindle format than in .ePub, which is the format used by the other two. But library e-books, which are in .ePub or .pdf format, can't be read on Kindles.

So what is an e-book reader to do? Simple. Buy an iPhone or iPod Touch. These devices are now the most universal e-book readers. There is a Kindle app, a Nook app, Stanza for everything non-DRM, and iBooks, if you simply must buy from Apple.

And now there is BlueFire Reader, which plays nicely with Adobe DRM and allows reading library books. I downloaded and tested it this week, and it works well.

Except for a handful of Mobipocket DRM titles, which can be found in other formats, I can read anything on my iPhone.

Yes, all these also work on the iPad, and I expect BlueFire or a similar app will soon be available for Droid.

Why buy a dedicated reader when your smart phone can read anything? And before you say size does matter, remember that I started reading on a 160 by 160 pixel device. Modern smart phones are way beyond that. And most people have them with them all the time.

Any format. Any time. What's not to like?

Amazon is now selling more e-books than hardbacks. Some recent titles have sold more e-books than hardcovers, including sales from sources other than Amazon. It's a great time to be an author of e-books. What's stopping you from writing one?

NaNoWriMo a Waste of Time?

I read an article yesterday that argued it is.

Briefly, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, and it happens every year in November. I wrote last week about my unofficial participation this year. Obviously I don't think it's a waste of time. Why did the author think it is? There were two main reasons given.

1. Amateurs often participate, and they focus on writing 50K words and ignore the editing process. Then in December, they spam editors and publishers with bad manuscripts.

2. The ones who do what they "should do," namely put the manuscripts in a drawer and forget about them have wasted the month.

I have sympathy for #1. I've read plenty of bad writing. It's painful, and any participants who ignore the revision part of the writing process are doing themselves (and unlucky readers) a disservice.

But #2 is unbearably arrogant.

Writing is something anyone can do. It doesn't require special tools or equipment. All you need are paper, pencils and an idea.

Writing 50K words in 30 days is hard work. I've been writing all my life, and I've never written that many words that quickly. It takes planning, discipline, determination and sacrifice.

All those are worthy things to learn and practice. 3 days in this exercise, and I've already had to juggle time to meet my goal. Last night, I wrote instead of watching TV because I was determined to make my goal. Even though the latest episode of Hawaii 5-O was calling. Loudly.

I'm learning I can write quickly. I don't need to agonize over every word. I had a character go in an entirely unexpected direction because I'm not stopping to self-edit. Will I keep that development? I don't know. That decision is for next month when I start editing.

There's value in writing 50K words in 30 days. Even if those words are never read by anyone else. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Total words so far: 5864. I'm still on track!

NaNoWriMo

A couple of people have asked me if I am participating this year. (That's National Novel Writing Month for those of you who, like my husband, went "Huh?"

The purpose of NaNoWriMo is to get people writing more. The goal is to complete a 50K word novel in the month of November. The catch for me is that it needs to be a single, discrete work, and none of it can be written ahead of time. I'm already about 10K words into The Case of the Lost Werewolf Puppy, and I don't want to abandon that for a whole month. Nor do I have another book ready to go. I have the basic plot line of the third Warlock Case Files, but since each book builds from the last (and an important sub plot is started in Lost Werewolf), I can't write them out of order very well.

So I've decided to participate unofficially. My goal is to write 50K words of fiction in November. I'm not sure I've ever written that many words in one month before, so it will be good for me. There's a Buffy story I need to finish by the 15th. (Yes, need. I'm participating in a LiveJournal event.) And of course, there's the current book. Plus another fan fiction that I'm having a blast with but probably will have to be on hold until December, considering other obligations. :(

I'm using this blog as my formal commitment to 50K words in November. And of course, I'll keep you posted on my progress. Cheer me on!

Pros and Cons of Learning on Fan Fiction

I've been writing most of my life. I've written several novels, a non-fiction book, newsletters, over 200 blog posts and, yes fan fiction. I've learned something from all of my writing, but today I wanted to talk about the pros and cons of using fan fiction to hone your craft.

I believe that you learn to write by writing. It matters less what you write than that you just write. Fan fiction certainly fits. And if you write it, you are writing fiction, which is good practice for writing commercial fiction. Assuming you are aware of what you're learning, both good and bad from the experience.

I'm going to be contrary and start with the cons.


Cons of Learning from Fan Fiction

1. You don't have to write a complete story

Character, setting and background are all provided. You don't have to create those. It makes it easier, but it means you're not experiencing the full scope of what is involved in story creation.

2. In fan fiction, nothing has to happen

This was a big learning for me. Fan fiction stories can be moments in time, random dialogue between characters or a reworking of a scene. It's possible to write a story without a clear beginning, middle and end. Worse, it's possible to write a story with little to no conflict or dramatic tension. My first draft of The Case of the Haunted Vampire suffered from that. My husband read it and said, "Nothing really happens. I don't care about the characters or the plot." He liked certain scenes, but he didn't care about the story as a whole. Oops!

When I went back to rewrite, I realized I had fallen into the fan fiction trap of character development and dialogue but not enough strong story. The Case of the Lost Werewolf Puppy starts with a bang, and I'm working on having a compelling story to carry it along. Not making that mistake a second time!

3. Critique is spotty

People will read your fan fiction stories, unless you write in a completely obscure fandom. (Crossovers of Greatest American Hero and Castle perhaps?) People will even comment. While those comments will usually feed your ego, they may not help you as a writer. Readers are gentle with your stuff because they want you to be gentle with them. I got lucky early on and found a good beta reader who knew when to push me. She helped me take an okay story and make it good by telling me I was being lazy and could do better. And I learned from that. I'll read my stuff now and ask, "Would Liz tell me I'm being lazy?" You might not be so lucky.

Did I just talk you out of writing fan fiction? Sorry. Now let me give you the other side.

Pros of Learning from Fan Fiction

1. You don't have write a complete story

Wait a minute! Didn't I just say that's a bad thing? No, I said it was something to be aware of. But for a new writer, it's easier to have character, setting and background handed to you. That allows you to focus on plot, story and dialogue. Not having to write a complete story with a beginning, middle and end frees you to work on a particular writing element.

2. Dialogue

This is key. New writers have a tendency to have all their characters sound the same. Fan fiction is a good cure for that. You have to make your readers hear their favorite characters. Xander must not sound the same as Spike, or your readers will let you know. Fan fiction is the best place I know to play with dialogue and develop an ear for how people speak and how to express that in writing.

3. Experimentation

You aren't going to sell these stories, so don't worry about doing something weird or different. Who cares if it won't "sell." I learned how to write humor in fan fiction because there was no pressure. One of my best stories (which I will be rewriting for Paul and Dafydd) was a total experiment in point of view and tense. I alternated between first person, present tense and third person, past tense. I've never seen it done in commercial fiction, but it worked so well for that story. Readers loved it and were pissed when I killed off my original character, who was the one written in first person. The tense made them identify more with him. Too bad I can't use that when I rewrite this time. I've decided to go first person, past tense for the entire series.

4.Validation

Okay, not all fan fiction readers are good judges of writing (or character), but there's little point in writing just for yourself. Writing is meant to be read. Fan fiction levels the playing field. Anyone can write and develop an audience. Some think that's a bad thing. I think it's good. Self-publishing is going to level the field in commercial fiction. There are some very good fan fiction writers out there. I hope they hone their craft and then make the leap to self-publishing. Trust me. It'll be good for readers to experience writers like Kim Fielding. I "met" her through Buffy fan fiction. She wrote a very good book, Stasis, available on Kindle. Try her out and see what I mean. She illustrates the pros of this post.

And I gotta put this out there. I'm looking forward to writing fan fiction crossing my characters with other fandoms. I'm already planning a crossover between my Warlock Case Files and Castle. It'll be so much fun to write a disclaimer that looks like this:

Disclaimer: The characters of Paul and Dafydd do belong to me and are used with my permission (but probably not theirs).

Yes, I know, that's completely geeky, but in my case, the shoe fits. ;)

Interview: Draculas' Authors

You've read the review. Now hear something of the story behind the story.

1. Draculas was written by four authors with some serious name recognition. What prompted you all to write a book together and e-publish instead of going a traditional route?

Joe had collaborated with Jeff, Paul, and Blake before, and Joe and Blake were looking for the next step up from “Serial.” A 4-way collaboration. E-publishing just seemed to make more sense for this type of project since existing contracts would have precluded us from all signing with a major publisher. And the logistics of having to wait 18 months for a final manuscript to come out really didn’t appeal to any of us. Also, the bonus content in this book really couldn’t have been done in a hardcover release. There’s as much bonus content as there is story.

2. From what little I've seen about the book, it's bucking the current trend of angsty, "nice," sparkly vampires. Any particular reason for going the dark route?

We grew up reading books where vampires were truly scary. We just wanted to bring the horror back.

3. Can you share any thoughts or ideas about the co-authoring process? For many writers, creation is a solitary process. How was the experience of working together?

We had very few disagreements. In fact, this was one of the easiest books any of us has ever written. For those interested, the last feature in the book is a collection of over 40,000 words worth of our emails back and forth to each other while we were writing the book, a kind of behind-the-scenes look at our collaboration process.

4. Any thoughts on the (seemingly) sudden explosion of e-books. They have been around for years, but it seems in just the past year to have finally reached a tipping point.

It seems like there’s finally the right technology (Kindle, Nook, iPad, etc.) and the platform (Amazon, B&N, Smashwords) to facilitate the uploading of original, digital work. We’re thrilled with it of course. This book most likely could never have happened in a world without a Kindle Store.

5. What are each of you most excited about this book or collaboration?

I think it’s safe to say we’re all mostly jazzed about the story itself (as it should be). We had a story, tone, and characters in mind when we started out, and it’s been pretty cool to see them all come to life in such horrific ways.

Thanks guys, both for the interview and for the great book!

Review: Draculas

There are a lot of books being written about vampires today. Heck, I'm writing them myself. The vampire has moved from a creature that inspires fear and horror to something that inspired lust and now, most of the time, love.

Four well-known horror/thriller authors, J.A. Konrath, Blake Crouch, F. Paul Wilson, and Jeff Strand, have reversed that trend with Draculas, which will be released as a Kindle exclusive tomorrow.

Buy it.

If you don't own a Kindle, not a problem. You have a computer or smartphone (or you wouldn't be reading this). There's a Kindle app for you.

Why buy Draculas? What makes it worth adding to your busy schedule? Because it's a darn fun book. It's not for the squeamish or faint of heart. But if you want a rollicking, scare-the-pants-off-you good time, it's for you.

I read Draculas on a camping trip. Outside. At night. The only light from a flickering campfire. And, oh yeah, it works.

The action starts immediately. These guys don't waste time with lengthy exposition. They jump right in. And it never lets up. The entire book takes place in less than 12 hours, and, as the authors discuss in the included interview, that was part of the goal. Fast. Short period of time. High intensity.

They deliver.

There's a large cast of characters, but you won't have trouble keeping them straight. Each of them has a distinctive hook. I was particularly fond of Adam, the preacher, and Benny the Clown. For some reason, I envisioned Nathan Fillion as Adam. If you guys do this as a movie (and you should), keep that in mind, okay? Benny's appearance in the story is so well-described, it'll have you in stitches and will stay with you a long time. He's got, in my opinion, the best hook. You always know when he's coming into a scene.

But there's lots more to this book than a great story. When you get to the explosive end, you'll find yourself only half-way through the book. By releasing on Kindle, they were able to add DVD-like extras. There's sample works by the authors, a couple of interviews, deleted scenes and more.

If you are a writer, you'll be fascinated by the complete series of emails exchanged by the authors as they were writing it. Not to be missed for the insight into the writing and co-authoring process.

It's only $2.99, less than a Venti Starbucks coffee. It'll keep you awake better than the coffee too.

So what are you waiting for? Go buy it. Or the draculas might get you.

Want more about Draculas? Check out my interview with the authors.

Share the Good News!

It looks like my non-fiction book is going to be picked up by an indie publisher. I hadn't planned on having someone else publish it, but I'm certainly not going to turn down an offer!

The publisher and I spoke last week, and I think I'm happy with the terms so far. Since this blog was going to be primarily about my journey as a self-pubbed author, I guess I'll have to change my focus a bit. You don't mind do you? I'll certainly write about what it's like to work with a publisher vs. doing it all myself.

Sorry for this being a short post. Next week, there will be two posts. My usual Thursday post about me. And on Monday, a bonus review of the upcoming book, Draculas. It was a wild ride, and I'm looking forward to talking about it.

Until next week, write well!

Funny How Locations Work

Coincidence or fate? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

When I started planning my second story, The Case of the Lost Werewolf Puppy, I knew I wanted to introduce Stephen Dean, my series villain. He's the crooked real estate developer I was location scouting for a few weeks ago. I found a couple of great locations just off 14th Street in Northwest DC.

Then I needed a action-packed opening for the story. I decided the demon who hit the cutting room floor in The Case of the Haunted Vampire was ideal. It's a tentacled Cthulhian thing. I needed a location for the fight scene and decided on the Reflecting Pool in front of the Washington Monument. Even people who've never been to DC should be able to visualize that location. Guess where the Washington Monument is? Yep, just off 14th Street.

Werewolves are (obviously) going to play a big part in this story, and I wanted a werewolf hangout, so I chatted with my DC adviser. She suggested a bar called Green Lantern. This week I went to hunt down its location. And what did I discover? You guessed it. It's just off 14th Street.

So I ask you again? Coincidence. Or fate?

By the way, everyone I've mentioned the opening too has said "Cool!" What do you think of a tentacled monster in the Reflecting Pool? I wish I had Photoshop and the slightest bit of talent. (hint!)

How I Write

This question came up on another forum, and I thought it was a good one to answer here.

I'm an intuitive writer. I admire writers who can outline and plan a novel-length work, but I can't do it. I generally have a rough idea of how a story will begin and end, but the middle happens as I write. For example, with The Case of the Haunted Vampire, I knew I wanted Paul and Dafydd to meet, deal with a ghost and start to become friends. Other than that, I didn't really have a clue what the middle would look like.

I do most of my creation in the car or while walking. I like to put on my headphones, start some music on my iPhone and walk. That frees my mind for scene creation. Most of what I "write" on the go is dialogue and rough plot points. I add in character action later.

I do a lot of actual writing on my iPhone, using Docs to Go, which easily syncs back to my computer. Again, I plug in the headphones and go.

Most scenes have been plotted in my head before I write them down, so the actual writing is kind of a second draft. I can work through things better in my head than on paper. If it sounds free-form, it is. But that works for me. My characters talk to me, do unexpected things and generally have fun. My approach to writing gives them the freedom to do all that. My job is to capture the fun and turn it into something that tracks and is readable.

In fact, I have a 40-minute drive to an appointment this morning, Plenty of time to work on the next scene in the current book. How would you feel if you discovered a were-wolf puppy on your front step? Dafydd is finding out now in The Case of the Lost Were-Puppy.


Anyone else want to share how you write?

What's the First Story About?

Enough talking theory and characterization. What's the first Paul and Dafydd story about?

It's pretty simple. Dafydd is heading to his favorite place to eat and takes a shortcut down an alley when he stumbles across a vampire draining someone. Dafydd's dealt with ghosts, but a vampire is a bit out of his league. He's surprised when the vampire doesn't immediately kill him. He's even more surprised when he realizes that he's been dreaming about this vampire most of his life. One of Dafydd's magical talents is prophetic dreaming, and he's known for years he'd eventually meet this man, and need to help him.

Who was the victim? Paul says it's a serial killer, and he only kills people he's determined are a menace to humanity. As Dafydd says, Paul is kind of a cross between Angel and Dexter. I plan to have a future story deal with a serial rapist, and we'll see more of Paul's motivations in that story.

Why does a warlock need to help a vampire? Because Paul has been haunted by a ghost for years. While most ghosts are harmless, this one is about to become dangerous. Dafydd doesn't know exactly what she would do, but he knows it could be very bad for the DC area.

They decide to work together to help the ghost move on, and as they work on the ghost, they start to like each other and consider maybe teaming up on a more permanent basis.

A note on the ghost issue. The original version had Paul asking Dafydd for help with the ghost, but one of my early readers commented that the story lacked dramatic tension. He also said that he had a hard time believing that Dafydd would trust Paul.

I sat down to rework the story to address both of those issues. I'd decided that Dafydd was talented with divination, and I decided prophetic dreaming fit well with that. The dream made is easy for me to deal with Dafydd's motivation. Since I was aiming for about 15,000 words for the story, I didn't have a lot of time to develop the working relationship. I needed them to jump right into ghost busting.

The dream also led to changing the ghost. Originally, she'd been benign. Paul wanted to get rid of her because she was annoying, not because she was a danger. When I thought about it, I realized that was weak. Making her get progressively more powerful added tension and allowed me to add some nice touches. The weather changes as the story goes on. It starts out sunny, but a storm gradually moves in as the ghost becomes more agitated. Using weather as a way to drive tension was fun. I think I need to tweak those descriptions some more, but it was a nice way to show magic influencing the world without going into a long info dump.

I'm working on a new story, so you can assume they succeeded with the ghost, but if you want to find out exactly how, you'll have to read The Case of the Haunted Vampire.

By the way, I'm planning to offer this story for free, so it anyone wants a copy, let me know. It's not quite the final version, but it's close enough that I'm ready to give it away. I plan to excerpt it here in a couple of months anyway.

Until next time.

Character and Plot Overview

I thought it might be useful to post some basic information about the series I'm writing.

The stories are set in the DC Metro area. It's where I live, so it's easy for me to research locations. In fact, earlier this week, I was out scouting locations for my series villain, a crooked land developer. I found a nice neighborhood that looked ripe for someone to redevelop using extortion and other less-than-savory tactics. What do you think?

There are two characters in the story. One is a warlock named Dafydd Smith. He'll be the first to tell you his name is pronounced "David" and that his mother was responsible for him being known in school as "Daffy Duck" until he graduated. Dafydd's day job is as a stage magician. Stage magic will play a minor role in the series. He's also known by most of the psychics in DC, and he helps them find lost articles and deal with ghosts who are getting a bit out of hand.

The other character is a vampire named Paul. He does have a last name, but it won't be revealed until the third or fourth story in the series. He likes his mystery, and he's not always completely honest with Dafydd about his background. However, he is honest about his motivations. Something happened to him about 40 years ago which made him decide to give up being evil. Exactly what that was will be revealed in the first few stories. He does occasionally kill humans, but only those who are truly evil. As Dafydd says in The Case of the Haunted Vampire, he's kind of a cross between Angel and Dexter.

Next week, I'll post a teaser summary of the first story, The Case of the Haunted Vampire. It's completely written and mostly edited. I'll be releasing it for free, so if anyone wants a copy, just give me your email in the comments, and I'll send it to you.

Research for Fiction Writing

I realize that I digress today. I was supposed to write about my books and their main characters. But a couple of things happened yesterday to inspire me to write about research.

First, I read a blog post about research for fiction writing. The conclusion was that even fiction requires a lot of research. I agree, especially for a story that takes place in a real location.

The other thing that happened yesterday was that I watched State of Play, a political thriller set in DC. Some of the scenes (like the one set in a Metro station) were obviously filmed in DC. Others (like a scene set in Crystal City) were not.

Why does it matter? For many people, it won't. If you've never visited or lived in DC, you won't know where scenes are filmed or how scenes are described in a book.

But if you have lived there, good, accurate descriptions might be the reason to keep reading and buying more books.

As an author, doing research will affect the richness of your writing. When I wrote the first draft of "The Case of the Haunted Vampire," I left my settings vague. Then I went on a walking tour of DC to find good locations. When I went back to rewrite, the descriptions were better. Minor characters came to life. I added fun details. The writing overall was much better.

Research is very important for one of my main characters, who is a vampire. He uses Metro to get around, and I need to keep track of which parts of the route are above ground. I don't want him suddenly turning to dust on his way to saving someone!

It's also important because he's pretty old. (Nope, not telling here how old.) I've done research on his back story, which allows me to plant seeds for future stories. This makes the story richer to (hopefully) attract and retain readers.

Bottom line? Do your research. Make your settings realistic. Use history when you can to enrich your story lines. And then sit down and write something! It's easy to spend all your time researching, but ultimately you've got to write to be a writer.

Why I Am Writing

I thought it would be helpful to say a bit about me, why I am writing and why I choose to self-publish.

I've got a degree in Journalism, so writing is something I do easily and well. But I've never made money as a writer. I never made career choices in that direction. Until now.

I've written two novels and one non-fiction book. A couple of decades ago, I shopped around my first novel, with predictable results. That's when I decided I didn't have what it took to be a writer.

Then I discovered fan fiction. For the first time people were reading and liking what I wrote. I used fan fiction as experimentation. I discovered I could write humor. I played around with voice, point of view and tense. I had some good beta readers who pushed me to write better, and I did a lot of craft honing. Look for a future post on the good and bad of honing your writing with fan fiction.

I started my coaching business three and a half years ago, and began writing a non-fiction book about networking. I knew about Print on Demand and decided to publish that way. This book was intended to be a back of the room sale, and print on demand seemed sensible.

In the time it took me to finish that book (to be published later this year) the book industry has gone through a lot of changes. E-books are more common now. Indie authors are rejecting the big publishing houses. I started to wonder if I could make it as an indie fiction writer.

About that time, I came up with the idea for a series of fiction books about a warlock and vampire, set in DC, which is where I live. I started writing. The first story is written and going through a significant rewrite. I think it will be done in a few weeks. And then I start on the next. My goal is to have a few stories ready to publish before I make them available.

More on the series and how I plan to market it in future posts.

Just the Beginning

This is actually my second blog. I also do one daily on networking and social media. But this is going to be the home for my journey to becoming a self-published fiction writer. Along the way, I'll probably also talk about publishing my other (non-fiction) works because what I learn about self-publishing in one arena will affect the other.

So if you want to learn more about the process of writing fiction and self-publishing, please subscribe. I plan to update this blog weekly.