Blood and Audience

by Matt Sinclair

How important is building an audience to you? As writers we often want to leave our art on the page. Be bold, we’re advised. Be honest and open. Bleed your emotions on the page, we’re told. Some of us have trouble with all that.

I won’t argue against the advice. In fact, I’d go further. Bleed everywhere. Ok, maybe not everywhere; that gets messy and tends to wig people out and attract vampires. Plus, it’ll cost a mint to replace those bed sheets all the time. I’m talking more metaphorically, anyway.

How has your audience found you? Do you have an audience yet? Sometimes they find you as a result of a blog post or an interview. In this era of Twitter and Facebook and other social media vehicles, you often don’t know where or how your next reader might discover you. Those retweets of retweets might just be an ore you’ve yet to mine.

But if you haven’t bled in your interview, if you haven’t compelled someone by your honest, open writerly persona, then you’ll be just another undiscovered talent waiting for someone to chisel out the real you.

But how do you do that if no one has asked those probing questions? Well, learn from what publicists do: suggest questions or avenues of thought. Most blog interviews of writers are done via email; let’s face it, the vast majority of us are not being called by Vanity Fair or the New Yorker or even Writer’s Digest for anything other than a new subscription. Heck, not even for that!

Remember to be polite in suggesting other questions. It’s their blog, not yours. Even if you’re writing up a guest blog post, they still control what goes out to the world from their channel.

In my opinion, readers don’t merely like to read great and entertaining stories, they like to find interesting voices. That voice happens not only in the manuscript but also in the interview. Readers like to learn a little bit about the writer behind the voice. If you’re an irascible curmudgeon, that’s fine. By all means, bleed curmudgeon juice. (What color is it, by the way?)

The object is to build an audience. Whether you’re approachable or mysterious, you don’t have many opportunities to make initial impressions. Don’t waste them. Be interesting.

Matt Sinclair, a New York City-based journalist and fiction writer, is also president and chief elephant officer of Elephant's Bookshelf Press, which published The Fall: Tales from the Apocalypse, (available via Amazon and Smashwords) and Spring Fevers (also available through Smashwords, and Amazon) in 2012. The latest anthologies from EBP, Summer's Edge and Summer's Double Edge, will be published in July. Matt blogs at the Elephant's Bookshelf and is on Twitter @elephantguy68 

Buzz vs Word-of-Mouth: What Hollywood Could Learn From Publishing

by R. S. Mellette

I moderated a conference of film industry professors a while back, and when one of them said that Hollywood relies heavily on word-of-mouth marketing, I laughed.

I couldn't help myself. Here is an industry that considers a 20% or 30% drop in sales a success! That's not word-of-mouth. Or if it is, good words are not being spoken.

Interestingly, the Hollywood insiders on the panel thought I was the crazy one for doing a spit-take with the Koolaid they were serving. But of course, none of them had theatre or publishing experience.

In those disciplines, word-of-mouth marketing means sales INCREASE with time, not drop. A play that is worth the time, money and effort of going to see will build an audience. A book worth the read will see an increase in sales.

In Hollywood, my filmmaking brothers and sisters have forgotten the difference between Buzz and Word-of-Mouth. So let's take a look at them side-by-side.

Buzz: "I want to see that movie," says one friend to another before it premieres. "Yes," says the friend, "I've heard it's good."

Word-Of-Mouth: "I saw the best movie this weekend, you should see it."

In writing, we call that passive vs. active voice. In court, it's called a firsthand account vs. hearsay.

Marketing generates buzz. The product itself creates word-of-mouth.

Why is that a distinction worth discussing? Because buzz owes only a passing fealty to the quality of the product. Producers in Hollywood will actually judge a script on "trailer beats," meaning juicy stuff they can put in the preview to create buzz. A script that tells a good story but has no trailer beats will be passed over in favor of another script that is more easily marketable.

Compare this to the world of self-publishing today. Sure, sure, there is a sub-culture of writers trying to get good reviews—or spam their competition with bad ones—in an effort to increase buzz. There is nothing wrong with an honest pursuit of good buzz, but the runaway hits in the self-publishing world come almost exclusively from word-of-mouth marketing.

And word-of-mouth marketing is entirely dependent on the quality of the work. It is first-person, active, marketing. One friend telling another, "I enjoyed that, and I think you'll like it, too."

What does this product-oriented marketing technique look like on the sales charts, graphs, and tables? That's easy. No drop off. Sales go up the longer the product is available. And when the same people create a new product, their sales start higher because they have become a trusted brand. As long as they keep up the quality, then their work will generate its own buzz.

And the opposite is also true. How many of us have been fooled so many times by a great preview for a lousy film that we no longer trust the studios? Like so much of the rest of American Industry, studios have lost sight of long term success in favor of instant gratification. They have confused buzz with word-of-mouth.

So the work suffers. We, as consumers, suffer. And worst of all, we artists who must try to make a living in this environment suffer.

R.S. Mellette is an experienced screenwriter, actor, director, and novelist. You can find him at the Dances With Films festival blog, and on Twitter, or read him in the Spring Fevers and The Fall: Tales of the Apocalypse anthologies.

Storytelling and Role-Playing

by Matt Sinclair

The other night I met a person who writes for a nonprofit organization, creating marketing copy and anything else the organization needs to communicate its message. Her organization was hosting the event I was attending, so I figured she would be moving on to mingle with other people, but before she left I asked her whether she ever wrote fiction. The next thing I knew the two of us were chatting for another fifteen minutes -- even though her answer was no.

“What I like most about writing nonfiction is that it’s like putting together a puzzle,” she said, and then gave me some examples of projects she’d been working on and how she assembled marketing packages and messages. She interviewed people, she researched the products and services that were being promoted, and she coordinated with others within the organization to ensure that it said what people wanted it to say.

In a non-confrontational way, I said that fiction is a puzzle also, but as the writer you not only get to assemble the picture, you also design the shapes and cut and fashion them so they fit together exactly right. That’s when she told me about how she used to write short stories and how she still loves reading short story writers. (Yes, she now has a link to the Elephant’s Bookshelf Press anthologies. I’m learning about promotion, after all.)

What’s the lesson from this little encounter? To my mind, it’s that writers of all genres and media, whether it’s fiction, nonfiction, commercial copy, poetry, playwriting, blogging, all have a common goal in mind: communicating a message. In a word, “Storytelling.”

In another way, the encounter was a reminder that we often find ourselves with opportunities to expand our audience. Earlier that same day, I exchanged several Twitter messages with a writer who started following me. I’d not known her before, but her Twitter description sounded interesting. I think she’ll submit a story for the summer anthology from EBP. But I probably wouldn’t have reached out if she hadn’t been clear in her brief Twitter bio about what she writes.

Perhaps this is obvious, but whether we’re writing or selling a book, pitching an agent, following a writer on Twitter, we’re always telling a story. It won’t be a hit with everyone, but if you tell your story well and target it to the right people, you might be surprised to find how many readers you reach and how many appreciate your talents. 

Matt Sinclair, a New York City-based journalist and fiction writer, is also president and chief elephant officer of Elephant's Bookshelf Press, which recently published its latest anthology, The Fall: Tales from the Apocalypse, which is available via Amazon. Earlier this year, EBP published its initial anthology, Spring Fevers, which is still available through Smashwords, Amazon, and in print via CreateSpace. Both anthologies include stories by fellow FTWA writers, including Cat Woods, J. Lea Lopez, Mindy McGinnis, and R.S. Mellette; R.C. Lewis and Jean Oram also have stories in The Fall. Matt blogs at the Elephant's Bookshelf and is on Twitter @elephantguy68

What “Shopping Locally” This Holiday Season Means to and for Authors

by Sophie Perinot

In the run up to the holidays I’ve been noticing a lot of “shop locally” buzz. I like the idea, really I do, but I’ll admit I am a shop-from-my-desk gal (yet another distraction from the WIP). That started me thinking about putting a desk-chair-potato (oops) writer’s spin on the “shop locally” theme. What if this year, we who love stories and make them, used our holiday shopping to support fellow writers?

Our writer friends are both “local” and a “small business.” Surprised? You shouldn’t be. You just have to think about it the right way. Chances are if you write, then—like me—you have dozens of author friends. They may not be “local” in the geographical sense but they are VERY MUCH part of your creative village. My author friends support me all year long—here at FTWA, online in Facebook groups, on the threads of AgentQuery Connect, with a well-placed tweet when I am ready to lay my head down on my keyboard and give up. I know many of them far better than I know the shop owners in my area and—here’s the kicker—like those shop owners, WRITERS ARE SMALL-BUSINESS PEOPLE.

We forget this sometimes but we (writers) produce a product and bring it to market. Whether their wares are offered through a major publishing house or at Smashwords authors have to sell books or they don’t get paid. And most of your author friends (unless you know JK Rowling or Stephen King) are “mom and pop” sized businesses. Once their writing expenses are subtracted from their earnings they likely have to hold down another job to make ends meet. They are not Amazon or Walmart. They aren’t even 7-Eleven. They are the corner store, whose owner is left at the end of many a day wondering how much longer it makes sense to keep doing this. So when we support our fellow writers we are supporting small, independent businesses. *warm fuzzy glow*

Sounds like giving the books of authors we know as gifts is the right thing to do then—the right thing for us. “But,” you ask, “can I support my fellow authors and still get the people on my gift list something they’ll enjoy?” I know why you are asking—we’ve ALL been victims of a gift that was more about the giver than the receiver (like that time Aunt Irma gave you a llama in Chile in support of her favorite charity, not in support of yours). Yes. Yes we can. I am here to assure you that ...

Books are more than a noble gesture—they actually make awesome gifts. If your gift list resembles mine, the folks on it have a wide variety of interests and personalities, but there is ONE thing they pretty much all have in common—they read. How perfect is it then that my writer friends create in a wide variety of genres? Regency and steampunk romances, literary novels, YA, historical thrillers, a novel of the Iraq war, I know writers who write it ALL. Looking at the output of my author acquaintances, there is literally something literary and appropriate for everyone on my gift list this season. There are also books in every price—from the complete set of the Folger Shakespeare Library editions of the bard’s plays ($6 a pop, more than thirty titles) that my daughter covets to the $0.99 cent e-book that might be a nice holiday “tip” for your pet-sitter.

So shop locally—from your desk or in your neighborhood—buy a book (or ten) by an author you know and send it to someone you love, like, or just owe a Secret-Santa gift. You won’t have to worry about size or color and you’ll support an entrepreneur and the future of your art.

Sophie Perinot's debut novel, THE SISTER QUEENS, tells the story of two 13th century sisters who became the queens of England and France. She wants you to know that it fits conveniently in a Christmas stocking (see picture)! 

5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Blog's SEO for Writers

by Jean Oram

You may have heard the inspiring story behind our very own Calista Taylor's recently released Steampunk Your Wardrobe book. If not, the short version is she landed an agent because of her niche-focused blog about steampunk. Her agent, in turn, landed her a book deal within weeks.

When you read something like that you may have that completely natural reaction of "Why not me?"

I agree. Why not you as well?

Today I'm going to share some of the SEO tips I've learned in past few months so when folks Google brilliance it isn't someone else's that hits that first page of results--it'll be yours. But before we do, I need to you to pull out your honking, snorting laugh and pull your pants up a little higher. And if you wear glasses, you're going to need to tape them. That's right, we're getting our geek on.

First of all…

What Does SEO Stand For, What is SEO, and Why Does SEO Matter?

A lot of good questions in that heading. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In other words, the little things you do when you blog or create a website so search engines can easily recognize your site and what it is about. This then helps increase your visibility and allows you to slowly work your way up to the first page of search results. Because honestly, how often does the average Joe sift deeper than the first page of results? (Not that often.)

Wikipedia:
SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience.

Well said, Wikipedia.

Here are five easy tips that you can start using right away. Do note that if you are starting a brand new blog (or website) these things will reap you immediate rewards if used well and you remain consistent. (I’ve tested it.) If you have a long-standing blog that hasn't made the best use of SEO in the past, you may find it takes longer for this stuff to create an impact. (You have a pile of non-SEOized content diluting the SEOized stuff. And yeah, I tested that as well.)

1. Search Engines Love Fresh Content

The more you post on your blog, the more Google and other search engines crawl your site. The more they crawl, the more likely they are to find all your content and horde it in their little brains, bumping you up in their rankings, and bringing you closer to the first page of search engine results. There is a diminishing rate of returns though—and if you make use of the next few tips, fresh content isn’t going to make or break your blog.

So quit hyperventilating already. I promised easy.

2. Niche Content and SEO

Niche content has typically less competition. Usually, there are fewer searches conducted because it is a niche topic, however, the folks who do search out your niche are those who are interested. And interested readers typically spend longer on your site which leads to another bump up in your rankings.

So while it may seem smart to plaster your chick lit blog with “romance” and "fiction" and "book" keywords, be sure you keep honing down to your niche as well. Focus, focus, focus. It's okay if you spread out and talk about other things, but always bring it back to your niche. In other words, make every post about your niche--somehow. (And your niche can't simply be "writing" if you want to be anywhere near the first 20 pages in a search result.)

3. Keywords Increase Your SEO

Probably the biggest thing you can do for your blog or site relates to niche keywords. Find them. Use them. But don't abuse them. Your posts will read funny if you overuse keywords AND search engines will penalize you. 3-4 times in the body of a post for one keyword or keyword phrase is generally plenty. (If you want more info on where to use keywords for the best use of search engine optimization, I’ll run a post on my personal writing blog today as this post is already getting pretty long.)

Tip on finding the right keywords: Use Google's Keyword Tool (and if you use WordPress, use it in combination with Yoast’s SEO plugin—it rocks). Using Google’s Keyword Tool you can find the variations of keywords (and keyword phrases) people use when searching online as well as what the competition level is along with the number of searches conducted on Google per month.

"Chick Lit Fiction" has low competition, but you know if folks are searching for this they are that audience. The number of monthly searches is rather low so this is a keyword phrase that you would want to use in conjunction with others.

With this search you can see that "romance fiction"--a slightly larger niche than "chick lit fiction" still scores low for competition but has significantly more monthly searches on Google.

If you look at the screen shots, both "romance fiction" and "chick lit fiction" are low in terms of competition. That's good.

If you pop "SEO optimization" (redundant on the ‘optimization’, I know—but this is actually a very common search (Important tip: Use the keywords people actually use--not ones you think they should use)) into the tool you will find you have the same number of global monthly searches as "romance novels." (Not shown here.) However the competition is HIGH, not LOW for those 550,000 monthly searches. Low competition is GOOD. Good thing we aren't in the sharing SEO optimization tips business, eh?

Note: You’ll probably notice that there are fewer searches for your niche (eg: chick lit) than your main topic (eg. romance). This is good. Remember: These are the specific readers you want. And, of course, try to use both keywords to hit both bases!

4. Keywords in your URL for Greater SEO

Both Blogger and WordPress allow you to tweak your post’s slug (permalink). A slug is that unique bit of URL tacked on at the end of your site’s URL that correlates to a specific post or page. This is where you can cut extraneous words (such as: the, and, for) that mess up your SEO. Search engines look everywhere!

Example: You will notice this post's title is: 5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Blog's SEO for Writers. The slug/permalink is: tips-to-increase-blog-seo.html Notice the different keyword phrases I hit: "Increase your blog's SEO" and "SEO for writers" and "tips to increase blog SEO" as well as "increase blog SEO." I won't kid myself about hitting the first page of search results, but this will increase the likelihood that maybe it will pop up in someone's results. Someday. Maybe. (Remember the competition is high for this topic.)

5. Links In Increase Your SEO

The more people linking to your blog whether on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, their own blog, blog rolls, or even in blog comments, the better. The more places that link to you, the more search engines say, "This stuff must be good, bump up their ranking." (Especially if the sites linking to you have high rankings.) So get your blog out there. When you leave comments on other people's blog, use the URL feature when you can. And try to link to the same URL every time--don't vary it.


Wow. That was a lot of info on SEO tips for you, my writing, blogging friends. I hope they help you out--and don't stress out about tip #1, okay? If you follow 2-5 you'll do just fine. And if you are looking for more ways to use keywords as well as find out what photos and videos can do for your blog’s SEO, be sure to pop over to my blog where I’ll share more SEO tips today.

So now that you've looked at your blog and its SEO from the write angle, what do you think? Are there some things you can do to increase your SEO? Have questions? Pop them in the comment section.

Jean Oram is a bit of a geek and has spent the week debating the payoffs of market share vs. SEO with her father--seriously one of the first guys to blog--ever. She likes to blog on her poorly optimized writing blog (she may work on that when she has time) as well as tweet, facebook, and some other stuff. If you aren't following her, you should. She shares good stuff you could easily use.

Mind the Gap

by Stephen L. Duncan

One of the nice things about landing a book deal is that you’ll be afforded some time to bask in all the glory and excitement that has built up during the grudge of getting the darn thing published. Usually, it's enough time to foster a healthy and inevitably debilitating fear of your book being ‘Out There.' But it's also a good time to prepare for the madness of your book's release and your debut as an Author.

For me, that stretch of time is two years from contract to publication.

Did I hear a penny hit the floor somewhere out there? (BTW - where did that phrase come from? The penny dropped? Well, then, pick it up.)

So after you tell all the people that two years ago you drunkenly let in on your dirty, little book-writing secret (the same ones who, every day since, have been asking with only the hint of Schadenfreude, “Hey – what’s going on with your book?”) and once you’ve had a moment to reflect on what any of it means in the metaphorical sense, you might find that the days between contract and publication dwindle down both at a molasses creep and faster than Mario Andretti in a cocaine-powered Ferrari.

Slow because, TWO YEARS! And quick because if you’re like me, you’ll procrastinate during all of them, wake up on the eve of publication and realize you haven’t done squadoosh to prepare yourself for authordom.

A Lesson: Don’t be like me. There is a lot to do.

So what all needs to get done?  I’ll throw out a little of what I know. My agency, Dystel & Goderich, sent me a nice little ‘How To’ booklet on things that are helpful. Let’s discuss some of what I’ve ventured into.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Right. So, Facebook, Twitter, that Google thingy, Pinterest and tumblr. Those are the main ones, right? Am I missing any? I’ve opted into Facebook and Twitter with personal accounts. One of the stupid things I’ve managed to do is not open author accounts for both earlier in my quest for publication. Now, most of my friends and followers are following the wrong account. Another idiot move? I’m on the fence with my author name. I’m thinking about using S. L. Duncan to separate my legal career from my author career.

Some more advice: think ahead.

Pinterest and tumlr are both media-oriented social platforms. Lot’s of pictures, see? Videos, too! I haven’t figured out a decent way to incorporate either in a way that would draw attention to my books (Read: The Whole Point), but I can see them being very effective if my stories were more subject matter oriented. Like, if I had a book that was about pretzels, I might showcase the different knot styles. Like a Windsor. I think they do that. Or whatever. You get the point.

BLOG

I started a blog and have failed miserably at keeping it up. But – TWO YEARS, right? I’ve got plenty of time. Still, it’s never too early to get a following. But what to write about? The old stand-by is the process of getting published. That’s cool, I suppose. The thing is, there are loads of authors with really good publishing blogs. What if I blogged about me? Boooooring. I’m not interesting for another two years. And even then…snooze.

Industry stuff? This is good, too, but again – lot’s of people are out there doing it and doing it well. L.L. Cool J style, I guess. And really, unless you’re in a position to be an actual journalist, you’re kinda just reposting stories from Galley Cat and Publishers Weekly.

Have you got any good ideas? I’m hovering somewhere around a behind-the-scenes blog and the author’s life.

If you can, jump into one of these Author Commune type blogs, like From the Write Angle. It’s a great way to connect with other writers (and their followers) and the Kool-Aid is FANTASTIC! Matching Nikes, too! Another popular trend is to start is a debut blog with authors who are releasing their book in the same year. Because everyone knows 2014 authors are better than 2013 authors. Oh, snap. Come at me, bro!

WEBSITE

If you’ve got nerd skills, use ‘em. I, on the other hand (and being a mere lowly dork), have trouble plugging electronic things into power sockets. A website, for me, is going to cost. Luckily, publishing houses like to shower their new authors with some spare scratch to pay for it all. Oh, wait. They don’t .

What I have done, while waiting to win a website from an unsuspecting digitally competent friend in a hand of Texas Cheat’em, is minimal but important. I’ve reserved website names. INKROCK.com. StephenLDuncan.com. SLDuncan.com.  See what I did there? All bags covered. As for character names - I’ll leave that to the publishing house’s prerogative.

OTHER STUFF

Conferences. Writer conferences are good for meeting people and glad-handing. You might even grab a few readers. If your genre allows for it, comic book or fantasy conventions are very good ways to get your name out there.  There are big conferences and little ones. I’ve managed to squeeze into a panel or two at a local regional. You’d be surprised at the popularity of the literature tracks.

Right. So, what am I missing to get done during the gap years? (TWO YEARS!!!) Any ideas?

Stephen L. Duncan writes young adult fiction, including his debut, the first book in The Revelation Saga, due in 2014 from Medallion Press. You can find him blogging on INKROCK.com and on Twitter.

Your Writing Repertoire: The Long and Short of It

by J. Lea Lopez

Most of us probably started off writing short stories, either on our own or as class assignments as kids. Some may still write short stories for our own enjoyment, or maybe to sell to magazines or for contests. But short stories are sort of the red-headed stepchild to the novelist, aren't they? Agents don't generally rep short story collections. They aren't the most lucrative market. (If you are looking for places to publish short stories, Duotrope is a great place to search.) I'm here to tell you that short stories may be more beneficial to you as a novelist than you think.

By now we all know that the digital side of publishing is a huge part of the market and that it's easier now than ever to put together your own eBook. Self-publishing is well within reach for all of us. (Agented authors with book deals may need to check with their publishers and read the fine print of their contracts before self-publishing anything, to avoid any fiasco like this one.) Any of us can self-publish a few singles, or a collection of short stories. This makes the short story a relatively quick and easy tool in your arsenal. Here are a few ways to use short stories to your advantage.

Pre-Launch

Are you an indie or self-publisher about to release your first novel? You've written a great book, have a nice cover, have carefully crafted your short blurb and product description, have been working on your social media presence and building a following, and have decided on a price you feel is both competitive and fair to you as the writer. But you might still be worried about how to better entice readers to buy your book–the one by an author they've never heard of—instead of, or in addition to, the latest release by one of their favorite, well-known authors. Readers can certainly "look inside" on Amazon and sample some of your writing that way. Or you could offer a little something else.

Our own Pete Morin took this approach before the release of his novel, Diary of a Small Fish. The month before he published Fish he released a free short story on Smashwords. I plan on using this same approach when I self-publish my first novel late this summer. A free short story or collection of shorts gives potential readers a way to read something of yours, from start to finish, and get a feel for whether they'd like to read more. Hopefully the answer is yes! And once they know you can satisfy their imaginations through an entire story arc, they won't be as hesitant to spend money on your novel. You're no longer an unknown to them. Some authors will offer the first book of a series for free, then charge for the rest, banking on this same theory that the free book will lead to more sales for the others. If, like me, you aren't writing a series, consider writing a short story or two to offer for free.

Between Books in a Series

YA author Elana Johnson's debut novel, Possession, was published in June of 2011. The sequel, Surrender, was released yesterday. During the year between the two books, Elana released two shorter stories related to the series. The first was an exclusive short story, available as a free download through her website, and the second was what she calls a "bridge story," which is an eBook exclusive. Both of these were her own ideas that she executed with her publisher's support. She explained to me via Twitter

The first one (Insider Information) was my idea. We needed their permission to use butterflies and ice on the cover. They liked what I was doing, and so we (me and agent) pitched the idea of a "bridge story" to them. They ran with that, and produced the second story (REGRET). So one is free (my self-pubbed one) and one is $1.99.

It's hard to tell for sure, but she believes "it seems to have worked a bit" in terms of keeping readers interested in the series and keeping up the excitement prior to the release of the second book. Elana shows that using short stories to renew and sustain interest in a series isn't for self-publishers alone. You can make it work with traditional publishing as well.

Bonus Material

Do you ever watch the deleted scenes or alternate endings from movies when you get the DVD? I do, when it's a movie I really enjoyed. Have you ever read a book and wanted to read more about the character's lives after the book was finished? Maybe you wanted to know more about some of their back story, stuff that wasn't really related to the novel itself. Or maybe you wondered how it would've turned out if a character had made this choice instead of that one.

You've wondered about it with books you've read. So why don't you write it for your own books?

If you've gotten good feedback that readers love your characters and your story, it's not too far-fetched to think they might enjoy some bonus material. Maybe you had to delete some scenes you liked but that didn't suit the novel for whatever reason. Or perhaps you've been dying to write an alternate ending. Or a short story about one of your characters as a child. There are a lot of possibilities there. If you're self-publishing, there's really no limit to what you can do. If you have a contract with a publisher, you'll need to work out what you can and can't do on your own, and what they would or wouldn't be willing to work with you on.

You may be a novelist, but don't discount the value short stories could add to your career. They can help you entice readers if you're relatively unknown, sustain the enthusiasm for your writing and characters between releases, and help you continue to satisfy readers even after they reach THE END.

Have you used short stories to complement your novels in these, or other, ways? Do you have any tips for others looking to use this technique?

J. Lea Lopez is a writer with a penchant for jello and a loathing for writing bios. Find her on Twitter or her blog, Jello World. She has had some short stories published, most recently in the Spring Fevers anthology.
 

Five Things I’ve Learned About Self-Publishing

By Matt Sinclair

As many of you have heard by now, several of us at FTWA were involved in a short story anthology, Spring Fevers, which was e-published in February and is now available via print-on-demand. I’m proud to be the publisher of the work, and we will be doing another later this year.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share some bits of learning I picked up from our publishing venture.

1. Know your goals before you start. Why are you doing this? Is it to see your name listed as an author? There’s nothing wrong with that. Do you expect to sit back and watch a tsunami of e-money flow into your account? Sitting back and watching a tsunami up close is never a good idea, especially when the wave doesn’t arrive. You’ll need to do more than write something excellent. For us, the goal was creating an audience for a band of as yet little-known writers. Oh that reminds me: we priced accordingly.
2. Assemble a strong team. This was by no means a one-person job. With the emergence of electronic publishing tools, it’s relatively easy to publish just about anything your heart desires. But if you’re like most of us, your talents will take you only so far. You’ll need help, whether it’s for the cover, or the design, or the publicity. And before any of those considerations are given much time, secure an editor—someone who will tell you the unvarnished truth. Not to put too fine a point on this, but you need an editor, not a proofreader. You might also need a proofreader, but make sure you have an editor. We were so fortunate to have Robb Grindstaff edit these stories. Excessive typos certainly won’t endear you to readers, but neither will weak characters and plotlines, inconsistencies, and perspectives that hop from head to head.
3. Your cover is absolutely critical. I lost count of how many cover ideas we went through for Spring Fevers. That’s not counting the hundreds of images that I skimmed and knew immediately the answer was no. Plus, I wasn’t the only person looking for images. Our cover designer, the wonderful and talented Calista Taylor, provided sage advice at every step of the journey. She and R.C. Lewis, our book designer, came up with what I think is a very attractive look that captures the overall atmosphere of the stories within the anthology. Keep in mind that covers are different these days as they need to work at the thumbnail size for electronic publishing. As the e-publishing trend continues and expands, look for titles to be shorter and covers to be less busy. I also expect, at least for now, that image details will need to work in both color and black and white.
4. Embrace social media and develop your audience. Sure, you could send press releases out to local papers and talk to your local bookstore about a meet-the-author event and reach out to book clubs. That approach is a wee bit 20^th century, but it still has its place. But being active on tools such as Twitter and Facebook can help you reach people you’d never have reached before. And those are just two of the most obvious. Blog tours are another. Indeed, there’s a lot you can do to reach out to readers. Consider all these ventures part of your audience development. Never stop developing your audience. Don’t quit marketing and pitching your work. There’s an old truism in advertising that people see an ad seven times before it finally registers in their brain. People won’t buy your book if they don’t know you published one. That said, keep things balanced. I wouldn’t recommend flogging your book at Aunt Grace’s funeral, no matter how supportive she was of your creative efforts.
5. Writing more books will sell more books. I’m talking about audience development, but to be honest, I’m saying this on faith, since our team has only produced one book together. I don’t like to spout unverified information, but I know from writers I’ve enjoyed reading that I’m more likely to seek out their previous works when I like the book through which I discover them. Indeed, we’re counting on it.

Matt Sinclair, a New York City-based journalist and fiction writer, recently published a short story anthology called Spring Fevers, which is available through Smashwords, Amazon, and in print via CreateSpace. It includes stories by fellow FTWA writers, including Cat Woods, J. Lea Lopez, Mindy McGinnis, and R.S. Mellette. He also blogs at the Elephant's Bookshelf and is on Twitter @elephantguy68.

You Wrote a Book? Great! Now What?

by Darke Conteur

I recently spent a couple weeks doing book review requests with book bloggers. If there's one thing that brings all writers together, it's the fear of self-promotion. Nothing feels more uncomfortable then knocking on someone's door and asking them to read your book. Yet whether you're SP, Indie, or TP, eventually we all have to suck it up and go forth, but before you wade out into these waters, I want to pass on some knowledge I've acquired. Might save you some embarrassment in the long run.

• Be prepared for the "no-replies." I thought I was done with that when I stopped querying agents. Apparently not. Out of the thirty or so book blogger sites I sent emails to, only eight have replied so far. Mind you, out of that eight only one turned me down. So not that bad of odds.

• Like querying agents, know who you're dealing with first. If you write urban fantasy and they say they review fantasy, check out the books they've read. Fantasy has a very wide range of sub-genres and some reviewers might not care for urban fantasy.

• If you've been through the query process, you already know how confusing sending out multiple emails can be. Who did you send requests to? Who replied? Who didn't? Who's not taking any more subs until later? Mind boggling. Keep yourself organized. I have three folders: one for all the requests sent, one for those who reply, and a folder for the ones who are temporarily shut down. Yes, keep an eye on the ones that are currently closed. I'll discuss more about that below.

• Read over their Review Policy ON THEIR WEBPAGE. While I was looking over the list of sites, some stated they accepted self-published novels, but their Review Policy page stated otherwise. Remember, this is like querying. There are rules and you must follow them. You are not the exception to the rule. Not following their instructions will get your email request deleted.

I did come across one site which required you to sign up to their mailing list in order for your book to be reviewed. I didn't submit to that one.

Now, what to do in case they aren't doing reviews?

As I stated above, I kept a list of those who weren't taking book requests at this time. Doesn't mean they won't be doing so in the future, they're just bogged down and need to catch up. Go back and visit these sites once a month, or even twice a month, but DON'T send them emails asking if they're open to submission. If they are, they'll put it on their website.

Many bloggers offer to let you do a guest blog in place of a review. Sure they're not talking about your book, but it's exposure and in the end, that's what you're looking for. The guest blogs I've done have posted my cover art and links to my books, so no matter what, doing a guest post is a win/win situation.

Most importantly, have fun. Yes, promoting your work is a serious business, but try to have some fun too. The more relaxed you are, the easier it is to promote yourself.

Good luck!

Darke Conteur is the author of stories from the darker side of life. Blogs here, Tweets here & plays Facebook games here.

What a Teething Toy Taught This Author About Branding and What She Can Teach You

by Sophie Perinot

The discovery that my forthcoming historical novel had appeared on Amazon for pre-order was magic—magic with a little “humbling experience” tacked on for good measure.

I was ecstatic when a friend told me that my book was listed. Here was proof indeed that I had not imagined the whole “book deal thing.” Ha, I thought, let’s see my publisher wiggle out of this now. But my enjoyment soon led to a sober realization—you are only as good as your sales and rankings. I may have a book listed on Amazon (and IndieBound and Barnes & Noble...) but I am NOT a household name. I am not even close.

What, you may ask, brought this fact home to me? To paraphrase Pixar’s marvelous Toy Story, “a child’s plaything.” You see, I am NOT the first “Sophie” Amazon suggests when one goes to the search window and begins to type. Doing this (when I should have been writing my next book) I discovered that when I get to “p” (s-o-p) Amazon kindly suggests another Sophie—obviously a sales-super-star—“Sophie the Giraffe.” I was not familiar with Ms. Giraffe before this, or with her body of work. Sophie the Giraffe is a teether, as in infants gum her with vigor, drop her on the floor and then squeal impatiently until she is returned to their grasp.

Coming behind a rubber toy in a “suggested search” list is a humbling experience. But when I looked more closely at Sophie G, I realized I could learn a thing or two. Sophie is NUMBER ONE in the Amazon “Baby” bestseller rankings. She gets an average of 4.5 stars from reviewers. And she is able to command some serious cash for a figure only 7” tall. In fact, a single giraffe teether costs considerably more than a copy of my novel. Wow.

Sophie G is obviously doing something right when it comes marketing and branding. Here’s what I think.

First, Sophie G has a clearly focused target audience. She isn’t trying to be "all things to all people," she is not a "work of commercial fiction with literary prose, a touch of romance, sci-fi overtones and a Jane Austen zombie character." As a writer, knowing your audience is just as important. Getting cute, trying to catch a ride on the newest trend, or counting on a massive cross-over audience is probably a mistake.

Whatever your genre (mine is historical fiction) you need to be able to clearly envision your target audience (e.g. mine is readers who love stories of royal courts, and specifically those who are drawn to the intrigue, the rivalry and the lifelong connection inherent in a relationship between sisters). Then your target audience needs to be clearly reflected in your packaging (cover, online presentation) and promotion efforts (which blogs your publisher ultimately sends ARCs to, where you choose to advertise).

Second, Sophie G excels in branding. She is HIGHLY recognizable. Believe me. I was at Starbucks and there, tucked alongside a baby in an infant-car seat, was Sophie the Giraffe. Boy did I get excited, "that’s Sophie the Giraffe," I babbled to the store’s assistant manager (who luckily has known me for years), "she comes up before I do in an Amazon search." Writing a good book isn’t enough (not these days with over 8 million books available on Amazon). Authors need to work on their branding. They need a distinct, consistent style so that their audience knows what to expect from their novels and anticipates, with pleasure, the release of their next work. There are lots of very excellent writers working in my genre and in fiction generally but most will never achieve the “marquee name” status of Sophie G. To do that takes luck to be sure but also a whole lot of careful branding.

Third, Sophie G has people talking. Over 700 people have reviewed her on Amazon and those reviews are GLOWING. If I could get a few people to use phrases like "don’t let the price deter you" or "absolutely wonderful in every way" I’d be downright delighted. It’s clear that Sophie is exceptional at what she does. Those who buy her are well satisfied and they talk about her (not just on Amazon either ... I bet she’s on parents’ lips at play-dates and at playgrounds in cities nationwide). Buzz, buzz, buzz.

The basis of buzz for an author is, of course, writing the best novel that you can, but buzz requires something more. You need people to be so enthused about your book that they talk about it and recommend it to friends by name. Of course the two things I’ve discussed already—targeting an audience and carefully branding yourself—can help but, in my opinion, generating buzz also requires author interaction with potential readers.

An author seeking buzz must make him/herself a vital part of writing communities and participate in social media in a "value added" way. In other words, to get “buzz” from others we have to give of ourselves; providing content (e.g. blog entries on our research, links to interesting articles on writing, tidbits on characters that readers can’t find between the covers of our books) that people find interesting and valuable. This is the opposite of the “me focused” online activities I frequently see from writers—you know the kind, “Buy my book,” “Another good review for me,” etc. I’ll bet Sophie G never goes around saying, “Aren’t I great?” And I’ll bet she never bad mouths the competition either (“That porcupine chew toy looks like it’s better suited to a dog”). Publishing is a small sandbox; there is no reason not to play nicely.

In the end though, whether you are an author or a teething toy, it is important to recognize that there is something downright unpredictable and serendipitous about buzz, sales and rankings. Do your best but don’t beat yourself up if you run distant second to a Giraffe. And if keeping track of sales numbers makes you crazy, don’t do it.

Me, I am going to leave the field to Sophie G and stop searching for myself on Amazon. I suspect the final weeks before the release of my debut novel would be better spent putting what Sophie G has taught me into practice.

The Blog Ate My Book

by Sophie Perinot

Once upon a time it would have been, “The dog ate my homework.” But today when something goes missing (or misses a deadline) the culprit is more likely sitting on an author’s desk (NO, not the cat) and the only growling it makes is the hum of that little fan inside that keeps it from overheating. The culprit is the computer, or more precisely the many things—facebook, twitter, blogging, games—we can do with it other than write our novels.

In this age of digital distractions it might seem sensible for a writer—especially one working on a draft that really should be further along—to “log out” completely for days or even weeks. Assuming for a moment that a writer had the self-discipline to do that (I am not certain I do), it may not be as prudent as it sounds at first blush.

Long absences from the virtual world are not in an author’s best interest. Being an active member of the on-line world is an enormous part of what generates buzz for books and recognition for their authors these days. It is hard to imagine a book or a writer being successful without being a genuine and active part of several social media and/or on-line writing communities.

So where do we draw the line? How do we stay “connected” but still manage the most important task facing us—producing polished and marketable manuscripts? If there were an easy answer I’d bottle it and sell it. The situation demands a balancing act worthy of a high-wire artist and I am currently perilously close to losing my footing and falling into the net (dear GOD I hope there is a net down there—I don’t see one).

It wasn’t always this way. I’ve long been a member of the AgentQuery community (which is how I met my marvelous co-bloggers her at FTWA). I spent a lot of time there. It began to feel like home. I’d pop over when I needed a break from drafting or editing and critique a couple of query letters, or see if I could answer the question of a fellow writer. Very manageable. Then I got involved with Twitter (perfect because 140 characters is more than enough of me for many people). I treated myself to “Twitter time” before my writing day began, on my lunch, and when I wound things down for the day. Still I was humming along. Heck I wrote, polished, and sold an entire manuscript without feeling (overly) harried (I mean, come on, don’t we always feel harried?).

But lately I am not making the progress that I’d like to on my WIP, and I always feel short of time and vaguely panicky. Part of this doubtless arises from the fact that I am also in the incipient stages of promoting my debut novel, but it’s more than that. I’ve always been great at juggling (another circus image—forgive me) but somewhere along the line I put too many balls in the air and one ball is a lot heavier than the others. When I sat down to work on this post it came to me in a flash. In my case, blogging is that heavy ball.

After I signed my book deal I started blogging here. Next came my personal blog. I like blogging because basically, I am VERY opinionated (something tells me you are NOT surprised). I also love reading dozens of writing-related blogs. They’ve taught me much of what I know about this business so I know blogs serve a valuable purpose. But blogging takes an enormous amount of time compared to most on-line community participation. A tweet is a quip; a facebook post can be a couple of sentences or a useful link. A blog requires topic selection, thoughtful analysis and a couple of hundred solid words in support of your argument.

So if blogging is such a huge time-suck, why do we do it?

I know why I started—conventional wisdom (and some publishers) says that a writer HAS to blog. It’s considered part of self-marketing and builds audience (aka sales).

I am beginning to consider this assertion more critically. Is it possible (*gasp*) that the amount of time writers lose to blogging is not counterbalanced by the number of new readers that our blogs deliver to us?

Some writers clearly think so. At a conference this past summer several well-established authors told me (as part of their very kind “advise the newbie” efforts) that if they had it to do all over again they would NOT start a blog. They insisted, quite earnestly, that a writer could get comparable marketing and publicity benefits while spending far less time by merely guest posting on the blogs of others (particularly around his/her release dates).

What do YOU think? If you are a writer who blogs do you believe it will build significant readership for your non-blog-writing? And if so, do you believe that based on evidence/experience or because that is the conventional wisdom? If you are a reader of novels, do you prefer writers who blog? Have you ever discovered a writer through his/her blog? Would you buy a book just because you read an author’s blog?

Me, I know something’s got to give in the next weeks and months if I want to finish this manuscript on deadline (and I have never missed a deadline in my life). I am not certain that “something” is blogging but I have my priorities—I am not going to let my blog eat my book. The book is my job. The blog may or may not be an effective part of developing an audience for my books. I am not certain. But there is one thing I AM certain of—no new book, no audience needed. So the minute I become convinced that blogging is interfering with my bread and butter it will become something I used to do and don’t do anymore.