Recommend
|
![Recommend [frogenyozurt]](http://s3.amazonaws.com/arkayne-media/img/badge/logo-recommend-badge-medium.png){kind=icon}
|
What’s a non-bookstore event? Well, obviously it’s anything outside of a bookstore but more than that, it’s a unique location, likely in your city or town. We’ve done events at video stores, electronics stores, grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, even Hallmark stores. When you start to dig into this market, the possibilities are really endless. It’s just a matter of finding a place that will make sense to host your event.
Reprinted from “The Book Marketing Expert newsletter,” a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com
If you’re tired of hearing “no” every time you try and secure a book signing, take heart. Signings have become a lot more challenging since more books than ever are being published each year and stores are cutting back on events. What’s an author to do? If you’re hungry for an event and not willing to wade through the endless submission process of a bookstore, consider doing events in non-bookstore markets.
What’s a non-bookstore event? Well, obviously it’s anything outside of a bookstore but more than that, it’s a unique location, likely in your city or town. We’ve done events at video stores, electronics stores, grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, even Hallmark stores. When you start to dig into this market, the possibilities are really endless. It’s just a matter of finding a place that will make sense to host your event.
Picking the Right Venue
The first piece of this is picking the right venue. The venue can depend on a few things; first, you might look at the topic of your book to help generate some ideas. We once had an author who wrote a book on wine/movie pairings – pairing the right wine with a movie. I placed this author in a Blockbuster Video and the results were tremendous. I had another author with a computer book and I placed him at a computer store on a busy Saturday afternoon. He sold out of some 65 copies of his book in one afternoon. Another great venue is a Hallmark or some other gift shop. Why? Because people are going to a gift shop or Hallmark for one thing: a gift. Autographed books make great gifts.
Selling the Idea to the Venue
This will take a bit of work because it’s likely that the venue has never even entertained the idea of doing an event, let alone an author signing. You’ll need to make sure they are clear on the WIIFM (what’s in it for me): tell them you’ll be promoting the event, marketing it to the media (which we’ll cover further on in this article). Make sure they know that you’ll handle the book orders (meaning getting the books to the store) if need be.
Yes, there is a lot more legwork involved for these events, but the payoff is huge. You may have to sell the books to them on consignment; what that means is that they take the books and can return to you whatever they don’t sell. Encourage the venue, however, to keep a stock in their store after the event in case people come by when you’re gone. I’ve done this before, and nine times out of ten the books never get returned to the author and are sold instead. Also, in many cases the store will often reorder and before you know it, you’re part of their inventory.
The other piece to this is to try, whenever you can, not to go through their corporate offices. Much like doing an event at Starbucks (which I’ve also done) and Hallmark, a pitch to corporate could take weeks and even months to approve. Most stores have the ability to approve from 3-5 events per year, meaning that they can have events at their store without having to go through the corporate offices. Most major corporations do this so that the stores can provide community support without getting bogged down in tedious paperwork for event approval. If you can avoid the red-tape of a corporate approval, do that whenever you can.
Selling the Books
As I mentioned, you will likely have to do a consignment. The inventory part for most major stores gets tricky, and if the books have to be approved for inventory, you’ll end up going through corporate again. More red tape. Try to work with the venue as much as you can so you don’t have to create an inventory of your books. The upside, however, is that if the inventory process is easy, you will be on their reorder list for the future!
Marketing the Event
This is the easy part, believe it or not. Local media loves local authors and while that’s a good foot in the door – the unique venue location will virtually seal the deal. Market yourself to media well in advance of the event and then again the event day. Also, if you’re doing an event in a mall, see if you can get the other stores to participate by doing bookmarks or bag stuffers. Bag stuffers, by the way, are a great way to help the store market your event. You could also do a custom bookmark. With printing so cheap these days, it might be easier to have event-specific bookmarks made up that you can give to the store to help them push the event to their patrons.
Make sure you get the store OK first, before you hand them bag stuffers and bookmarks. Also ask if you can create a poster that includes your book cover and the event information. See if you can get a placement on the venue website and perhaps a notification sent to their mailing list. Unlike bookstores that crank out author events all the time, a unique venue that doesn’t see author events all that much will be much more receptive to promotional ideas.
More Venue Ideas
Once you take your eye off of the bookstore focus, the opportunities for book events are endless. Consider the following: street fairs, farmers markets, gyms, yoga studios, wineries, art stores, Starbucks, coffee shops, restaurants, grocery stores, airports. Yes, I said airports. I’ve traveled a great deal and almost every time I go through the San Diego airport, Dallas Fort Worth or San Francisco, I see an author signing their books. Look out for this: if you’re not paying attention you could miss it while rushing to catch your flight.
Other Benefits to Doing Non-Bookstore Events
The benefits of these types of events are pretty significant, especially if speaking and events are part of your marketing tool kit. Book events held in these exclusive markets will not only take you off the track of competing for space in a bookstore, but because they are unique they will draw much more attention both from the media and readers.
Having a traditional book signing is always great. It will help you get into the bookstore market and might even get your book on their shelf. But if bookstores aren’t open to an event, don’t let that discourage you from planning one. Being unique will not only help you gain more attention, but it will help to keep you out of the rejection funnel that often comes from competing in a high-traffic market. Also, venue events outside of bookstores are a fun way to build an audience, get your feet wet doing events and speaking and grow your career as an author!
A writing tool is not a guarantee for error-free writing or good style. The spell-checker cannot help you when you have trouble distinguishing between there, they’re, and their. In the same sense, the grammar checker is only a supporting tool, a first initial step toward correct and good writing. In the end, it takes a human being to create the final result.
I did mention it in previous posts; there are a myriad of programs available – mostly for PCs – to support the novel writing process. I will not go into details and list them here, because my experience is that most of these writing tools have their specific insufficiencies, predominantly represented by lack of word processing power.
A standard word processor will be sufficient for most authors. In addition to putting your thoughts on screen and paper it provides vital functions such as spelling and grammar check. My personal preference is Microsoft Office (Word and Excel), but OpenOffice as well as Apple’s iWork are just as good. If you follow the rules of our little writing project you don’t need a special program.
Note: Don’t be fooled! A writing tool is not a guarantee for error-free writing or good style. The spell-checker cannot help you when you have trouble distinguishing between there, they’re, and their. In the same sense, the grammar checker is only a supporting tool, a first initial step toward correct and good writing. In the end, it takes a human being to create the final result.
Thesaurus – Every good word processor comes with a Thesaurus, but my absolute favorite is Thesaurus.com because it presents more choices, not only in terms of quantity, but also in quality. Use the thesaurus frequently! If you are in doubt, the thesaurus will help to find a better choice or even get your thoughts in a different, but better direction.
Dictionary – Same scenario: Every good word processor includes some spell checking power. Dictionary.com, however, presents more, and is some cases, better results.
Daily Writing Tips – Whether you are an author, attorney, manager or student, writing skills are essential to your success. The rise of the information age – with the proliferation of e-mails, blogs and social networks – makes the ability to write clear, correct English more important than ever. Daily Writing Tips is about that.
Editing Tools
In addition, there are a few websites available to support editing your work. As I wrote before, an author should not engage into extensive editing until the work is finished. Frequent editing will slow down the writing process. Nevertheless, brief relapses are allowed.
Polish My Writing – PolishMyWriting.Com is a free Internet service for spelling error, grammar suggestion, or style suggestion. It is a nice tool, but the results are very close to those of a standard word processor. It is worth, however, to use it in addition to your word processor. Two opinions are better than just one.
AuroCrit – AutoCrit.Com provides some free reports to check for overused words, repeated phrases, and sentence length variations. These reports are limited to 5 per user per day, unless you sign up for their service. Higher-priced service levels check for redundancy, readability, etc. If you are serious about the editing process, I recommend the Platinum level ($77 per year), or the Professional level ($117 per year). I personally liked the “overused words” report, a feature I haven’t seen in any other program, even though sometimes the program complains about 2 occurrences of the same word, which I found a little too picky.
White Smoke – No hyperlink here, because I really don’t care for this product and the business practices. When you google for writing tools you will end up finding White Smoke one way or the other; they’re everywhere. I admit, it has been a while since I used their software, but it was a huge pain to install, and the results were acceptable, but not great.
And the winner is…
Grammarly.com – Formerly known as EssayRater.Com, Grammarly.com is primarily focussed on essays, but it is nevertheless a great help when you write a novel. Their website states “Grammarly is an automated proofreader and your personal grammar coach. Check your writing for grammar, punctuation, style and instantly enhance your texts.” Grammarly.com is by far my favorite editing tool! Grammarly.com checks for proper punctuation, wordiness, spelling, writing style, vocabulary use, and synonyms. Synonyms is my favorite tool, because their recommendations are fabulous! The downside is the price tag, and they don’t reveal the pricing until you signed for a free trail. If I remember correctly, I paid $77 for the annual subscription.
Note: Any editing tool will help to improve your text. Nevertheless, if you plan to approach an agent or publisher, it is mandatory to hire a professional editing service, otherwise your chances to be accepted are extremely slim. The price for a 60,000 word work should be in the neighborhood of $800.
Last, But Not Least
I know there are many more aspects on this topic, and I am not the source of all wisdom. If you want to contribute helpful information, please do so by any means. Any comment, whether you agree with me or not, is appreciated.
Many aspiring authors shy away from character development, but it is a simple fact that every good story hinges on character. Maybe you have a good feel for your characters, and it is absolutely acceptable to develop them while you write. However, you want your story to be consistent.
Many aspiring authors shy away from character development, but it is a simple fact that every good story hinges on character. Maybe you have a good feel for the personalities in your novel, and it is absolutely acceptable to develop them while you write. However, you want your story to be consistent. Just think of the myriad of movie blunders where, for instance, the ten-year-old version of the main character is left-handed, while as an adult he is right-handed (that happened in Braveheart). On the other hand, Igor is allowed have a back hump that moves from right to left, if it fits the story line (See Young Frankenstein).
Character development does not necessarily mean a fully detailed psychological profile, and you don’t need to reveal all the details in your novel and possibly take a hit at readability. In other words, don’t bore the reader with too many details, but maintain consistency, and, after all, keep a list of all participants. It doesn’t make sense to scan through your writing to verify the correct spelling of a person, or if he/she had dark or light hair, etc. Character development can be as simple as keeping a database.
Note: There are programs available in which you fill certain characteristics such as gender, age, etc., and the program will even provide you information how the individual would respond to certain scenarios. I personally prefer to apply common sense, and if I feel unsure about a character I engage into further research, yet again emphasizing the importance of research – See my post Researching the Topic.
Developing a character, just like the story line, is a very creative process, and you will be surprised by the features they gain while you define them. Again, you don’t need to apply too many details, but make sure your main character is attractive to the intended readership by adding certain features.
In the following I am posting a few characters from The Monty Python Code.
The Monty Python Code
For those who happened to stumble upon this article per search engine, this particular post is part of an article series Let’s Write A Novel. In our little project we are going with mainstream taste, and we are going with Dan Brown. The title of our work will be The Monty Python Code. Any resemblance to The Da Vinci Code is, of course, purely coincidental.
To follow our writing project go to Let’s Write A Novel – The Monty Python Code.
Characters
Professor Hubert Ringtone
Main character. America’s top specialist on religious sects. Age: In the thirties. Tall, slender, but not athletic. Introvert. Tends to mumble when in female company. Hates the New York Yankees. Prefers green jackets. Always wears a mickey mouse tie.
Margaret Hatcher
One of Ringtone’s students. Brunette. Blue eyes. Wears glasses. Slightly aggressive attitude. Parents died when she was six. Grew up with grandmother. Only survivor of five students who blackmailed the leader of the Thetan Society.
Igor Feldman
The creepy character. Ugly, short creature with huge nose and hump on his back. Prefers dark clothing. Acts only at night. Was abused as a child. Loves the New York Yankees. Enjoys killing. Serves the “master,” whose identity is unknown.
Holly Darton
Supermodel. Huge “assets.” Blonde.
Don ‘Potatoe’ Quayle
Leader of the Knights of the Thetan Society. Age: Around 50. Wears eye-patch. Loves white, furry cats. Desires to be president of Thetan Society. Has problems with spelling. His sentences are limited to five words. Unhappy character. Never married, and never had sexual relationships.
Last, But Not Least
I know there are many more aspects on this topic, and I am not the source of all wisdom. If you want to contribute helpful information, please do so by any means. Any comment, whether you agree with me or not, is appreciated.
The simple reason that many aspiring authors never make it beyond the first few chapters lies usually in a lack of organization. Let’s face it, writing a 60,000+ words work is a major project, and it should be handled as such. A rough outlining of the story does not only help to keep organized; it also gives you an overview of the work ahead of you. For instance, writing the outlining might tell you that the structure of your novel calls for 20 chapters. In this case you know that you need an average of 3,000 words per chapter.
The Monty Python Code
For those who happened to stumble upon this article per search engine, this particular post is part of an article series Let’s Write A Novel. My intention is to challenge those authors who write about writing a novel. About 99% of these books are filled with inspirational blubbering. Their strongest feature is a strong, but misleading title. The rest is pure fraud.
In our little project we are going with mainstream taste, and we are going with Dan Brown. The title of our work will be The Monty Python Code. Any resemblance to The Da Vinci Code is, of course, purely coincidental.
To follow our writing project go to Let’s Write A Novel – The Monty Python Code.
Outlining the Story
The simple reason that many aspiring authors never make it beyond the first few chapters lies usually in a lack of organization. Let’s face it, writing a 60,000+ words work is a major project, and it should be handled as such. A rough outlining of the story does not only help to keep organized; it also gives you an overview of the work ahead of you. For instance, writing the outlining might tell you that the structure of your novel calls for 20 chapters. In this case you know that you need an average of 3,000 words per chapter.
Note: There is a multitude of programs available in the marketplace helping you to organize your writing. I tried a few of them, and they are indeed very helpful. Nevertheless, while they do help with organizing your writing project, most of them provide less-than-standard word processing capabilities. I personally prefer working with Microsoft Word, especially due to the automatic spell and style checker. In addition, I use Microsoft Excel to keep track of my research references – See my post Let’s Write A Novel – Researching the Topic.
Step #1 – The Synopsis
Try to summarize your novel in less than 200 words. Of course, 200 words is not enough to describe the story line, but think of it as a movie ad on TV. You don’t need to reveal the details of your novel; that is not the purpose of a synopsis. If you want to attract the attention of an agent or publisher, you need to act like a sales person.
In the case of our writing project The Monty Python Code I have come up with the following:
Professor Hubert Ringtone, America’s top specialist on religous sects, becomes an unwilling conspirator in a plot to reveal the deepest secrets of the Thetan Society, the fastest growing religious movement in the history of the world. Four of his students have been tortured and murdered after discovering the health records of the Thetan Society’s founder, Ron Bruiser. These records could prove devastating for the movement’s message of abstinence, or might even destroy its very foundation. Ringtone, with the help of another student, Margaret Hatcher, engages in a roller-coaster quest to find the location of the secret documents, followed closely by his nemesis, Don ‘Potatoe’ Quayle, the grandmaster of the Knights of the Thetan Society, the movement’s military side-arm.
I am sure there is still some room for improvement for this particular synopsis, but for now we’ll leave it as is – you get the idea.
Above synopsis already includes another step in our writing project, the character development. The synopsis includes four people, Professor Ringtone (apparently the main character), Ron Bruiser, Margaret Hatcher, and Don ‘Potatoe’ Quayle. We will come to the character development in a different chapter of the project, but let me make an important point: There is no forced chronological order in which you need to accomplish the steps of the writing project. You can start with writing the story, and while you write you encounter new characters, or you realize you need to add, remove, or move chapters. And even while you write the outlining you might discover characters you haven’t thought about before. Outlining is a dynamic process. It helps you to keep a focus on the story line, but it will most definitely change while you write.
Step #2 – The Outlining
As I wrote before, an outlining goes hand-in-hand with the character development. So, while you write the outlining, keep records of the characters you create and try to describe them. The first draft of the outlining will most probably result in only a few chapters, but over time you will add more, and you will rearrange them. As a result, do not number your chapters, but give them a brief description.
Okay… We now approach my second-most favorite work – writing the outlining. The most favorite work is the actual writing. The outline, though, is the first step into an adventure. Honestly, in the case of The Monty Python Code I don’t have a glimmer of a story line, but that only adds to the excitement. I will write it while I go with this post.
The Monty Python Code
Chapter – Igor Feldman kills student Hillary Pinton
Scene in a basement. Hillary is tied to a chair, blind-folded. Igor uses 20-inch knife to pierce her heart.Chapter – Professor Ringtone arrested for murder
Ringtone, in front of his students, explains the history of the Thetan Society. Police shows up and arrests him.Chapter – Ron Bruiser having sex in hotel room
Flashback – two years earlier. Scene: A hotel room in Monte Carlo with view to the Mediterranean Sea. Ron Bruiser, very drunk, has sex with supermodel Holly Darton, also very drunk. Hidden cameras film the scene.Chapter – Interrogation
Professor Ringtone interrogated by FBI Special Agent Jethro Tibbs. Turns out, Hillary Pinton’s murder took place in Ringtone’s basement. Ringtone can prove he was at the university at the time of the murder, but Tibbs suspects Ringtone hired somebody to do the kill. Ringtone is released due to lack of evidence.Chapter – Quayle’s Outrage
Scene: A meeting room at the Thetan Society’s headquarter in Salem, Massachusetts. Don Quayle is outraged. Ron Bruiser just told him he is being blackmailed. Bruiser orders Quayle to find and kill the blackmailer. Everything points to Professor Ringtone.Chapter – Meeting at Ringtone’s house
Scene: Ringtone’s house around midnight. Margaret Hatcher, one of Ringtones students, is at the door and demands to talk to Ringtone. Confesses that she and four other students – who are now all dead – tried to blackmail Ron Bruiser.Chapter – Igor at the house
Igor Feldmann watches Ringtone and Hatcher through a window. Good opportunity to write about his childhood – of course, he was abused – and his fantasies. Also mention “the master” who promised Igor the fulfillment of all his fantasies.Chapter – Ron Bruiser orders another killing
Another flashback – one year earlier. Bruiser is on the phone in his office, ordering the killing of supermodel Holly Darton. She attempted to blackmail him, asking for $894,000 as a fund to further her acting career. Refer to the electronic bugs in his phone, and the person, two blocks away, overhearing the conversation.Chapter – Ringtone meets Quayle
Late afternoon at the university. Ringtone wants to enter his car, but two dangerous looking guys with walk-in-closet-size chests push him into a large pink limousine. Inside he meets Don Quayle. Ringtone convinces Quayle he is not responsible for the blackmailing, but admits he has some vital information. Makes a deal to spare Margaret Hatcher’s life in exchange of the documents implicating Ron Bruiser. Quayle gives him 10 days to produce the evidence.Chapter – Quayle background
Scene: Quayle inside the limousine on the way back to headquarters. Good opportunity to explain Quayle’s background and the military side-arm of the Thetan Society.Skipping a few chapters – may add more later…
Final Chapter – The End
Ringtone and his new-found love, Hannah von Tana – a German exchange student, stand next to Margaret Hatcher’s dead body, kissing.
In the next post I will write a few words about character development, but the most exciting part is filling the chapters with real words. Stay tuned…
Mark Twain once said, Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please, and this is all what writing a novel is about. As a novelist you have the liberty of distorting facts to fit them into your story line. At the same time, though, you’d like your novel to be believable. You don’t want to lose credit by taking too much liberty.
Mark Twain once said, Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please, and this is all what writing a novel is about. As a novelist you have the liberty of distorting facts to fit them into your story line. At the same time, though, you’d like your novel to be believable. You don’t want to lose credit by taking too much liberty.
Tom Clancy once wrote about a nuclear explosion that destroyed Denver, Colorado, and that is absolutely acceptable. After all, it’s called fiction writing. His story would be unbelievable if had described Denver’s harbor located at the Gulf of Mexico. That would be part of insufficient research.
Little details like the location of the MI5 headquarters in London, the types of Chinese military uniforms, the history of the Hopi tribe, the behavioral patterns of wolves, etc. can be easily researched through the vast Internet resources, namely search engines. Reading books on the topic helps, of course, too. Traveling to the location of your novel would help to get a better look & feel of the life and culture there, but let’s face it, unless you have the travel budget of a Dan Brown you won’t make it to Jerusalem or to Lhasa in Tibet. So, in a nut-shell, good research should be an important part of writing your novel. The foundation, still, is your story line.
The “problem” I found with extensive research, though, is the cataloging of references. You may have located some interesting information, but it applies to a chapter that you haven’t written yet, and it may take weeks before you get there. As a result, all of my research literature is filled with little paper bookmarks with notes written on them. Sometimes I write down notes on my computer and save the file as “research.doc”. All in all, I use many .doc files in a folder, dedicated to the current novel, on my computer. They all contain information contributing to the story line.
The best tool to keep track of Internet references (i.e. websites) is Microsoft’s Excel (or the Mac or OpenOffice equivalent). I will not go into further detail about search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. I’m assuming you are familiar with search engines.
The following screen-shot shows an excerpt from an Excel file I used for my first novel, The Bleeding Hills.
I use the tabs on the bottom to describe the topic, in this case Bloody Sunday, Irish History, Town of Derry, etc. The first column in a sheet contains a short description of the resource (i.e. hyperlink), and the next includes the actual hyperlink. Maintaining an Excel file proved to be an invaluable tool for my research.
As I mentioned in another post, Let’s Write A Novel – Are You Prepared?, I deem it absolutely necessary that each author, published or not, maintains a blog. Not only will it provide a startup boost in terms of people getting to know you, but it is also a perfect tool to store and publish your research. Have a look at my article series The Panchen Lama Controversy which represents part of my research for my third novel, The Eleventh Incarnation.
I hope I could provide some hints, and, since I am not the ultimate source of wisdom, please leave a comment below. I am sure there are more ways of researching, and I would like to read about it.
The Monty Python Code
For those who happened to stumble upon this article per search engine, this particular post is part of an article series Let’s Write A Novel. My intention is to challenge those authors who write about writing a novel. About 99% of these books are filled with inspirational blubbering. Their strongest feature is a strong, but misleading title. The rest is pure fraud.
In our little project we are going with mainstream taste, and we are going with Dan Brown. The title of our work will be The Monty Python Code. Any resemblance to The Da Vinci Code is, of course, purely coincidental.
To follow our writing project go to Let’s Write A Novel – The Monty Python Code.
So, you had an idea. You want to write a novel. The story line is already in your head, and you are itching to get your hands on that keyboard. In your mind you have already sold thousands of copies, and you are thinking about who will play the lead role in the movie version. Been there, done that, and still like it…
So, you had an idea. You want to write a novel. The story line is already in your head, and you are itching to get your hands on that keyboard. In your mind you have already sold thousands of copies, and you are thinking about who will play the lead role in the movie version. Been there, done that, and still like it…
The harsh reality is that most aspiring authors never finish the first draft of their novel and some start a second before the first one is not even close to completion. I personally managed to finish my first novel and publish it, but I also started writing my third novel after the second was only half finished. The major problem is that we all have too many good ideas, and it is hard to focus on one story, especially when writing it turns out to take more time than we estimated. I once calculated that, due to abundance of ideas, I could (theoretically) write four novels per year… if only I could write eight hours per day. In reality, I do have a daytime job and a family. The thought of quitting my job and leaving my wife and son didn’t appeal.
Before I explain a solution to the problem, let me add more obstacles to this Mission Impossible. First, a good novel should have at least 60,000 words, and that will take time. When your work is finished you need to hire an editing service to review and improve your work. Otherwise you won’t have the hint of a chance to be accepted by agents or publishers. Editing will cost you $800+. I have written several posts on this blog about the daunting task of finding an agent or publisher, or, in case you self-publish, market and sell your first novel. I will not go into further details; again, I wrote several posts about it. Promoting and selling your first novel is the most difficult task in the business world. Even traditional publishers won’t help you there, unless you have a Dan-Brown-Potential. So, writing should not be your only talent.
The solution to the problem is first of all perseverance, focus, and a major investment of time, blood, sweat, and tears. You may notice that I did not add talent to the formula. Talent does definitely help, but all aspiring writers believe they have it, and I won’t judge who has and who does not.
From my personal experience I can say that writing my first novel was nothing short of exciting. It was a trip into a different dimension, a different life and time. I had a good outline of my story, but it also took some surprising turns that I did not expect. A story develops while you write it, and that simple fact is absolutely fascinating. For that experience alone it was worth writing it.
So, here, based on my personal experience, are some tips:
- Don’t expect your first novel to be a bestseller. I always say that the best marketing tool for your first novel is the release of the second.
- Write for yourself, not for commercial success. Have fun!
- Write plenty! The more you write the better your style will be in the end. You don’t necessarily need to write on your novel all the time. Watch people or events and write a story about it. Post it on your blog.
- That being said, run a blog! This very website is my personal blog…
- Read plenty! Read online versions of the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. Read from Hemingway to Sarah Palin (Yikes!). Reading will help improving your style.
- Pace yourself to 3,000 to 5,000 words a week (some do better, some do worse).
- Don’t edit your own writing over and over. You’re losing too much time. Keep the editing for the time after your first draft is done.
- Find a place and time to do your writing on a regular basis.
The Monty Python Code
For those who happened to stumble upon this article per search engine, this particular post is part of an article series Let’s Write A Novel. My intention is to challenge those authors who write about writing a novel. About 99% of these books are filled with inspirational blubbering. Their strongest feature is a strong, but misleading title. The rest is pure fraud.
To follow our little writing project go to Let’s Write A Novel – The Monty Python Code.
Last, But Not Least
I know there are many more aspects on this topic, and I am not the source of all wisdom. If you want to contribute helpful information, please do so by any means. Any comment, whether you agree with me or not, is appreciated. The only request I have is to, please, keep a professional tone.
Don’t underestimate the importance of your novel’s title. Designing the title is the first step toward effective marketing, and I am sure that some publishing companies employ people in their marketing department to analyze the strength of each title they publish – yet another reason why traditional publishers work so slowly.
Don’t underestimate the importance of your novel’s title. Designing the title is the first step toward effective marketing, and I am sure that some publishing companies employ people in their marketing department to analyze the strength of each title they publish – yet another reason why traditional publishers work so slowly.
A title like “The Mouse” may be interesting, because short, but doesn’t have a lot of value to it. If you make it “The Mouse That Roared,” you might attract more attention (Note: That particular title is already published; it’s an absolutely lovely novel by Leonard Wibberly and was made into a movie starring Peter Sellers).
On a side note: Book titles can not be copyrighted! You can write a novel and call it “Gone With The Wind,” not a smart marketing move, nevertheless absolutely within the law. The easiest way to verify that your title is unique, go to Amazon.com and search for it.
Naturally, there are several ways of designing the title. Let me refer to my first novel The Bleeding Hills. Of course, this may not be the strongest title ever, and in some readers’ eyes it may even be misleading. No, it is not a Stephen-King-style horror novel, if that is what you were thinking. I did add a sub-title, though, to point a bit more into the right direction, which, in turn, indicates the importance of a sub-title.
In this particular case, namely my first novel, the inspiration to write came from an Irish song, The Boys of Barr Na Sraide, which is based on a poem by Sigerson Clifford. One of the verses starts “And when the hills were bleeding and rifles were aflame…” You get the picture…
With my second (still unfinished) novel I tried to be a bit more provocative. I titled it American Male Prostitute, sub-titled How I Promoted My First Novel With Sex, Lies, And Deceit. Don’t get excited; the content is a product of my vivid imagination. Promoting your first novel is the most difficult marketing task you can imagine, and I was wondering what it would take to attract the ultimate attention. Again, I didn’t follow the marketing activities as explained in the novel. First, I don’t have the looks, and, secondly, my wife would kill me for sure.
There is nothing wrong about being provocative. I call it “aggressive marketing.” Think of Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern, one of the current bestsellers..
One of the guest writers on this blog, Annabelle R. Charbit, is in the process of writing a novel based on her experience with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). For more information on Annabelle Charbit and her work, please visit her website at http://www.ocdridiculouslife.com. Her working title is A Life Lived Ridiculously. A more provocative version could be Diary Of An Obsessive Compulsive Bitch (I haven’t researched whether or not the title is already taken). For the record, that’s not how I think of her, but the title would definitely get some attention.
Okay, in case provocation is not your cup of tea, there are other ways of finding the right title for your work. Pablo Picasso once said, “A good artist copies; an extraordinary artist steals,” meaning we’re now coming to the copy & steal section…
Honestly, I found some very good titles in the bible. Think Power And The Glory by Graham Greene, a line take from the Lord’s Prayer – …for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory… If you are in the business of writing a lawyer’s novel, how about “Those Who Trespass Against Us” ? Sorry, that title has already been used several times…
Another good example comes from Psalm 30:5 – For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may endure for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning. If you look at Amazon.com you will find, yet again, several titles using Weeping May Endure For The Night.
In the same sense I am reminded of the German writer Johannes Mario Simmel, who wrote works like Nobody Is An Island (Niemand Ist Eine Insel), a line borrowed from Shakespeare – if I’m not mistaken. Other works’ titles are The Answer Is Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan), And Jimmy Went To The Rainbow’s Foot (Rudyard Kipiling), and more.
In the same sense, another way to look for titles is reading CD labels, i.e. song titles. My personal favorite is Tom Waits, who wrote titles like The Piano Been Drinking – Not Me, Pasties And A G-String (At The Two O’Clock Club), Warm Beer And Cold Women, and my personal favorite Bad Liver And A Broken Heart.
Even if copying and stealing is not your choice, you may have learned that the title of your novel needs to attract attention. Another important feature is, of course, the book cover, but the importance of covers will diminish with the increased use of electronic reading devices such as the Kindle.
I hope I could provide some hints, and, since I am not the ultimate source of wisdom, please leave a comment below. I am sure there are more ways of designing a catchy book title, and I would like to read about it.
The Monty Python Code
For those who happened to stumble upon this article per search engine, this particular post is part of an article series Let’s Write A Novel. My intention is to challenge those authors who write about writing a novel. About 99% of these books are filled with inspirational blubbering. Their strongest feature is a strong, but misleading title. The rest is pure fraud.
That being said, let’s decide the title for our writing project. Well, the decision is already here. We are going with mainstream taste, and we are going with Dan Brown. The title of our work will be The Monty Python Code. Any resemblance to The Da Vinci Code is, of course, purely coincidental.
To follow our little writing project go to Let’s Write A Novel – The Monty Python Code.
Who needs publishers? Author Ray Connolly explains why he is ‘doing a Dickens’ – publishing his latest novel chapter by chapter, online.
Well, I knew the idea was not new, and it is only a matter of time that more authors will start publishing their own works online. My personal project is American Male Prostitute, a work in 18 chapters of which 9 are published on this website, indicating the current progress.
Author Ray Connolly decided to put his newest work, The Sandman, online. It has been serialized chapter by chapter on his website where, over the next ten weeks, it will build like a part-work. The Sandman‘s progress can be read free-of-charge, but if readers want to find out how The Sandman ends they can download the whole book for less than the costs of a paperback.
Let me quote from the article I found at guardian.co.uk:
With one digital bound, I’ve become an entrepreneur. There’ll be an iPod version later, for those who want to listen to it being read, and of course there will be Facebook and Twitter links. Having begun this new career as an ePublisher, I feel empowered. As a one man band, I have nothing to lose.
Apart from the time spent writing The Sandman, the other costs have been relatively small. And for the first time in my writing career – and I’ve written movies, TV series, radio plays, short stories and several novels – I’m in total control. It’s an experiment, obviously, but I’m enjoying it. And, as it happens, the subject of the novel might be prescient.
When I was writing The Sandman, a thriller that links rock music with cults, and involves a television reporter who investigates a series of deaths she suspects may have occurred because of grooming on social internet sites, I thought it might be slightly ahead of its time. I was wrong. With the furore over the recent events on Facebook, it’s absolutely topical.
And now I’m going to market it, using exactly the same tools that are central to the story – namely those of the computer and social online sites. In other words, a novel about manipulation through the web is being made available for readers in serial form . . . through the web.
Read the whole article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/12/publishing-book-online-ray-connolly
Ironically, many of the rules of good blogging apply to this article and the first is: Blog often. If you’re a serious blogger you are likely posting daily, if you’re not, then you probably don’t have much to say. If you want to get your blog noticed, you need to be blogging daily. Why? Because it’ll not only help you look massively articulate, but it’ll really help with your traffic and search ranking, and let’s face it: If no one is finding you, how do you expect a publisher to discover your work?
The following is an excerpt from Penny C. Sansevieri’s e-mail newsletter. Penny also writes for the Huffington Post, and while her focus is primarily on book promotion, she provides a great number of valuable insights that are interesting for each blogger, may they be authors or not. You can sign up for her newsletter at http://www.amarketingexpert.com.
Featured Article: From Blog to Book
In the past few months, I’ve come in contact with numerous bloggers who are ready to take their work from blog to book. Maybe it’s the influence of movies like Julie and Julia, it’s hard to tell, but suffice it to say the idea of selling your blog to a publisher is very appealing to a good many bloggers. But what does it really take to get your blog noticed? Here are some tips if you’re trying to raise the bar on your blog and get it noticed by a publisher:
Ironically, many of the rules of good blogging apply to this article and the first is: Blog often. If you’re a serious blogger you are likely posting daily, if you’re not, then you probably don’t have much to say. If you want to get your blog noticed, you need to be blogging daily. Why? Because it’ll not only help you look massively articulate, but it’ll really help with your traffic and search ranking, and let’s face it: If no one is finding you, how do you expect a publisher to discover your work?
Write great blog posts: OK, I know this is probably another “duh” tip, but here’s the deal: if you’re blogging every day you need to keep your writing strong. Not all your blog posts will be worthy of front page news, but your writing must remain consistently good and your blog posts should be unique, helpful, enlightening, or whatever your goal for the blog is.
Be consistent in your message: in other words, don’t change horses mid-race. If you start a blog on, let’s say, dogs, don’t start talking about guinea pigs three posts into it. You’ll have a boatload of dog people going “huh?” Keep it topical and on message always.
Educate yourself in publishing: if you’re going to compete in this market (meaning publishing) you’re going to want to get to know the industry. Go to (writers) conferences, read some of the trade publications (like Publishers Weekly) and dig into this market. If you find that what you’re blogging on is super-hot, you might want to ramp up the promotion of your blog.
See who’s buying what: there’s a site I highly recommend called publishersmarketplace.com. You can register there for either their free or paid Publishers Lunch newsletter, and with that you’ll also get Lunch Weekly, which shows you who is signing and what they’re buying. If you get a membership on the site you can also dig in and find Editors and Agents that might be interested in your topic.
Tell people you have a blog: do you have a signature file on your email? If you don’t you should, this is the first and one of the best places to promote a blog. Second, get business cards and make sure your blog address is listed there.
Get a unique URL: if you’re going to be a serious blogger get a serious domain name. Yes, you can get sallyauthor.blogspot.com but that’s not your own property. Meaning that Google still owns this. If you’re going to be a real blogger, do you really want someone else owning your blog? I don’t think so. Buy a domain name and make sure your blog is hosted there.
Brand yourself: when you’re ready and you have the budget, find someone who can turn your blog into a custom site. They’re great and super easy to do (read: not that expensive) and make a fantastic first impression.
Do some social networking on blogs: get to know your space, meaning get to know who else is doing what you’re doing and make friends. Unless you’re sitting on the most original idea on the planet, I don’t believe in competition. Get to know who else is out there and start commenting on their blog posts so they know you. There’s a great way to discover the top people in your market. Go to a blog search site like Google blog search, type in your keyword and start following the top five bloggers in your market. See what they do, learn from the pros and then thank them for their knowledge by posting helpful comments on their blog (bloggers love comments, by the way). I have a whole article on social networking on blogs that you can read here: http://amarketingexpert.com/ameblog/marketing/social-networking-on-blogs/. Many of the tips will be helpful to you as you continue to cyber-schmooze online.
Market your blog: now that you have a unique URL and branding, you’re going to want to start marketing it. You can do this by getting a Twitter page and feeding your blog through your account (you can use Twitterfeed.com to do this). You should also consider getting a Facebook Fanpage (again branded to your blog) and feed your blog through that as well. Why do you want to do this? Well, it’s important to get as many access points as possible, right? Social networking sites are feeder sites. Use the content on these sites to help you dig deeper into your markets and gather new readers for your blog.
Make your blog shareable: Make sure that folks can share your blog posts to sites like Twitter, Facebook, and all the social bookmarking sites. It’s an easy widget to add and most blogs come with this pre-installed.
Social bookmarking: it’s good to social bookmark all your posts. Yes, and I do mean all of them. You should bookmark on the major sites like Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and Social Poster. You can add more to this list but those are the majors.
Keep good track of your stats: this is another reason why you want to have your own site: so you can keep track of your traffic, which you can’t do if someone else owns your domain. You’ll want to keep a close eye on your blog traffic and learn how to read the site analytics (which is a lot easier than it sounds).
Reprinted from “The Book Marketing Expert newsletter,” a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com
Imagine an overpriced product with no obvious value to the consumer and a brand name with zero reputation in the market. Add to this situation a mere hundred-thousand-plus competitors of whom most damage the product’s reputation with their amateurish marketing campaigns. And by the way, your annual marketing budget cannot exceed a few hundred Dollars.
Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.
- William Ellery Channing
Imagine an overpriced product with no obvious value to the consumer and a brand name with zero reputation in the market. Add to this situation a mere hundred-thousand-plus competitors of whom most damage the product’s reputation with their amateurish marketing campaigns. And by the way, your annual marketing budget cannot exceed a few hundred Dollars.
What a formidable challenge, you might think. I can imagine a great number of experts in the market rubbing their hands in excitement, eager to get their hands on that project. After all, if you master this Mission Impossible you will have gained an impressive arsenal of marketing weaponry enabling you to sell any product ranging from Coca-Cola to Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI) devices.
Here are the simple parameters for the project: You write your first novel (Don’t worry; that takes only a few years), and then you self-publish it.
Been there, done that, and I’m having a ball! Honestly, I wrote my first novel without the expectation of becoming the next Dan Brown, John Grisham, or Stephen King. My mere intention was to get a look and feel of the current writing and publishing industry. Selling a few hundred-thousand copies of the book would have been the icing on the cake, but that didn’t happen. Nevertheless, I still have a great time doing what I do when I don’t have to attend my 40+-hours-per-week job, and in my mind that is sufficient payment.
As a background information, I run my own publishing business on the side. Since 2005 I have written and published four technical books on dry topics such as Controller Area Network, Servo Motor Sizing, etc. My books are distributed through Ingram, the largest distributor in the United States, with listings on all major Online bookstores including Amazon.Com and Barnes & Noble. Non-fiction literature is easy to sell, and profit margins are reasonably higher than for fictional works. The steady income through book sales is sufficient to keep the business going.
Back in 2008 I decided to write and publish my first novel. At the same time, thrown between self-publishing and finding a traditional publisher, I engaged into some serious research of the fiction publishing industry, and the result was nothing short of bizarre. I have summarized my findings in another document titled Writology, the Silent Religion, subtitled And How Corporate America Makes It A Billion Dollar Business.
Without repeating all the details, let me just say, the document’s chapters are numbered by the seizures I had during my research. Yes, I did number my seizures. When, according to established industry standards, you are diagnosed as an aspiring, but most likely untalented writer, you either have seizures, or, due to absence of effective medication, you fall back into religion. I, personally, chose seizures, because my God told me not to have other gods besides him. The other god would have been myself (see Seizure #366).
Needless to say, my initial instinct told me that self-publishing was the better choice of two evils, and that feeling was confirmed through my research. All in all, my business sense is not compatible with the ineffectiveness of literary agents and traditional publishers and their profound lack of business sense. I freely admit that their track record outshines mine by several dimensions, but I do contribute that primarily to the difference in marketing budgets.
Another self-inflicted obstacle came with the choice of product. As a business man you’d like to create a strong product because, obviously, it sells better. In terms of a novel there is the choice of topic and, not to underestimate, the title. A strong title, I learned, is essential for good sales numbers, and it can, to a certain extend, compensate for poor quality of the product.
In regards to sales success it would have made sense to go with the current mainstream taste. One idea was a novel titled Dead of Night, the story of Isabella Mayer who moved to Conway, Massachusetts where she is the only regular person interacting with vampires and werewolves. Another promising project would have been The Monty Python Code, describing the adventures of Professor Hubert Ringtone, America’s top specialist on religous sects, who becomes an unwilling conspirator in a plot to reveal the deepest secrets of the Thetan Society, which could prove devastating for the movement’s message of abstinence, or might even destroy its very foundation. You get the picture…
Maybe the great number of seizures had some impact on my neural system, but I chose another topic, completely off the mainstream taste. The title of my first novel is The Bleeding Hills, and it is (inspired by a passion of my Irish-American green-eyed red-haired wife) about the Irish Troubles, past and present. Writing the novel was an exciting adventure. I am a history buff, and the topic required extensive research. Benjamin Disraeli once said, “The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a book about it,” and I can vouch for that statement.
As I mentioned previously, the vast success is still to come. The Irish Troubles are not a great seller, even though the story line of my novel bares striking resemblances with recent terrorist activities in Northern Ireland that occurred after the writing. Eight months after the release I am still excited about every copy I sell, but I can also look back on experiences made and lessons learned. I am looking forward to the release of my third novel (I haven’t skipped the second one; see remarks below) which, I am sure, will be a great success.
The following represents my conclusions on how to promote an unattractive product such as the first novel of an unknown writer. The list does not take into account the quality of the product.
- The most important rule of all: Don’t expect success. See the marketing of your novel as a challenge, even a sport!
- As a general rule, business success comes only with blood, sweat, tears, and time. Well, a ton of time when it comes to writing novels. Working 25 hours per day helps. You get there by skipping your lunch hour.
- The best marketing tool for your first novel is the release of your second. The more products you release the better is the chance of brand recognition. The investment for writing and publishing a novel are minor (if you do it the right way). All it really takes is time. Well, talent helps, too.
- The saying is that most authors and their publishers start making profit with the release of the fifth novel. I am running a small, thus more effective business, so I think I can get there with my third novel. In consequence, rather than losing money on my second novel American Male Prostitute, I have posted it as a free read on this website. American Male Prostitute is the story of an author who promotes his first novel with sex, lies, and deceit, which represents another business plan that came to mind, but I realized I am lacking the good looks.
- There are some traditional marketing tools that simply don’t work for promoting a novel. Forget about Google Ads; you spend easily thousands of Dollars, which are not covered by the annual marketing budget, and their success is questionable to put it diplomatically. Forget posters, flyers, and bookmarks; nobody wants them. Traveling through the neighborhood between Boston and San Francisco to promote your book at local bookstores and libraries (officially called event marketing) can be effective if you have the time. I myself have a regular job, and on top of that I am an introvert.
- The best marketing tool is still an author’s blog. To put it in a nut-shell, the most important attributes for a blog are content, content and … content. A blog needs to be updated frequently in order to create web traffic and to attract search engines. Use it to build a reputation. My personal blog FrogenYozurt.Com, for instance, receives growing attention (220,000 web site hits in May of 2010 with a current growth rate of roughly 50% per month), and I will use that attention to promote my third novel.
- Amazon.com is the best sales channel for every author (I personally do like B&N, but their business model is not quite as aggressive). For paperbacks, make sure your book supports the “Have A Look Inside” feature. The best sales channel within Amazon.com is the Kindle store. It frees you from the most pressing handicap, the printing price. To date I sell more eBook versions of my novel than paperbacks.
- For your first novels don’t plan to use more than 60,000 words which is the recommended minimum in the industry. In the self-publishing world you go with Print-On-Demand (POD), and the printing price of your book depends primarily on the number of pages. Play with book and font sizes, and try to stay under 300 pages, otherwise you will be unable to compete with the pricing of traditional publishers (They use high-volume offset printing).
- Make sure your blog posts are posted on websites like digg.com, reddit.com, Google Buzz, Yahoo Buzz, and others.
- Get a Facebook and a Twitter account and promote your blog posts.
- Do not sign up or participate in online writers’ forums. Writing about writing and being read by other writers won’t do anything for your success. Focus your energy on your own website.
- Don’t subscribe to writers’ magazines, especially not Writer’s Digest. Their content is usually about motivational efforts, and if you need motivation, maybe you shouldn’t be writing. Again, focus your energy on business measures that matter.
- Familiarize yourself with online press releases, but don’t hire a service to write them for you. After all, you are a writer. Press releases, paid or free, are the most effective tool to create traffic to your website.
- There are further, costly marketing actions such as multi-media (video trailers), paid interviews, and paid reviews that I haven’t tested at this time, but I have the feeling that their impact is minimal.
- E-Mail marketing, even though promoted by some marketing “experts”, does not work at all when it comes to novels. We all get enough spam mail as it is, and you don’t want to annoy potential customers.
- Another marketing tool is a subscription newsletter, but it only works when you have something to write about on a regular basis without boring your readers. I personally believe that my Facebook account is better than any newsletter. On top I have a Twitter account (which I don’t take seriously at all) and an RSS feature on my website. If someone wants to stay up-to-date with my blabbering there are enough methods to do so.
