A Writer's Insights - Interview with Jean Booth

Don't forget the huge competition celebrating the release of DOGNAPPED? 
is still running. It closes 7th July. For details and entry, visit:  
WIN A KINDLE FIRE AND AMAZON GIFT CARD

Today I have a special treat for you. Author of the popular Zombie War series, Jean Booth, answers questions on her approach to writing.

Thanks for joining us Jean, first of all, which team do you belong to: Plotter or Pantser?

I'd have to say, I'm more of a pantser. There are a few things I plot out, however I typically leave it up to the characters on how they want to get there and solve the issues. I like to give my characters the freedom to tell their story the way it needs to be told, while sticking to a few plot lines that can't be changed because of the flow of the series.  

I see you write in two different genres, romance and horror. Do you think elements compliment each other? Can we expect a touch of romance in Zombie War: Zombiefied!?

I actually write in more genres than just romance and horror, those are just what I've gotten finished and published so far! :) I was thinking of this question just the other day! I believe romance and horror do compliment each other in quite a basic way. I believe fear, hate, loathing, love, lust, and desire are all such intense emotions, just a slight push one way or the other can completely transform desire into loathing and vise versa. My good friend Candy has been begging me to do a zombie romance. We giggle about it, picturing skin and body parts sloughing off while in the act of mating. I wasn't sure how I'd pull that off while still keeping this series relatively ok for younger audiences. While there's a touch of romance, it's no where as intense as in my Origins series. 

* Do it! I'd love to read a comedy/zombie/romance!

What lessons did you learn while writing a series? How do you keep all your plot lines linked?

I never intended for Zombie War to become a series. I had a crazy dream that eventually became The Beginning, and I thought I was just going to leave it at that. I thought it'd be fun to just have a short zombie story that would give people a chance to see how I write and broaden my audience. I never expected it to be this popular. I had people begging me for more, and finally my brother in law came up with such an amazing title that I had to write a sequel. I guess one of the things I learned about writing this series was how to bring it all together and wrap it up. That was a lot more complicated than I thought it'd be. I keep my plot lines linked by reading and re-reading my previous books, and I also have an outline and glossary of characters and events that I continuously check to make sure things are consistent. 

What sort of writing schedule do you keep... if any?

I wish I had a schedule! I typically write when the muse inspires, which has typically been 2-5am Sometimes I force her to sit down with me and get words out, and those days are 50-50. Sometimes I have to trash everything I've written, sometimes it's gold. The muse prefers to have pencil and paper to write ideas on rather than the computer which can be both good and bad. 

* OMG - I would BE a zombie at 2-5am!

And what's your favourite marketing tip for new authors?

Haha! I SUCK at marketing! This is my absolute, hands-down, WORST ability. I guess I would say, blog, tweet, fb, post on social media everywhere. Get your name out there and be nice to people. We're all in this together, if you find a secret that helps sell books, share it! I'm an open book. I share everything with my fellow authors. I had to hire a publicist because I'm horrible at sales. It's never been my strong suit. 

* '...be nice to people.' This is actually great advice and the thing that will probably most help writers network sucessfully.

And please, tell us a little more about Zombie War: Zombified! to wet our appetites.

Here's a little sneak peek of Zombified!:

Prolog

One Month Prior to Outbreak

"You don't have to do this, you know. There's still time. They caught it early, you still have options." Jessica pleaded with Caleb, her voice scratching unintentionally with how scared she was for her twin brother. He'd only recently been diagnosed with AIDS and she knew there was still time. There were still things they could do to help him. He didn't have to risk his life on this untested, unapproved treatment.

"They said this was proven to not only stop the progression, but to eliminate it completely, Jess. I'd rather try it now, while I'm still healthy enough to fight. I don't want to wait for this to not be an option." He explained, as rationally as he could again to his twin sister, hiding his nerves and fear from her. He wanted to be brave. He didn't want her to know how terrified he was at contracting AIDS.

"It's been proven on primates, Caleb. Not humans." She said with irritation. She wanted him to understand the risk he was taking. They didn't know how this vaccine, this cure, would react with the human genes.

"You wanna go with me?" He asked, ignoring her implication and trying to sound like he was doing her a favor, when in reality, he wanted to break down, weep, grovel and beg for her to hold his hand. He couldn't do that anymore. They were adults and he was supposed to be a man, not a scared little boy who still needed his sister's support.

"Of course! What a silly question. I love you." She pulled him close to her, hugging him fiercely and wishing to whatever higher power was listening, that they weren't having this conversation - that this was all a very bad dream.

If you'd like to connect with Jean or learn more about her books, here's some useful links:

Website

Blog

Facebook

Twitter

Amazon

B&N

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Insecure about Indie Publishing?

Insecure Writer's Support Group is hosted by Alex Cavanaugh. It's a great idea, once a month we post about things that make writers insecure and offer advice and tips for overcoming those issues. 

Here's my insecurity. Sometimes I still feel awkward saying I'm an indie author. Not online, because here, we rock! But around the book shop circles and when I'm in writing workshops. At one seminar a speaker said don't bother self-publishing or no one will ever hear of your book. When you chat to people at workshops they almost always ask who you got to publish your book. There also seems to be an attitude that you only produce your own work if you can't land a publisher.

I didn't go lightly into indie publishing, I registered my business (Hot Doggy Digital Press), got my ABN and an EIN to avoid any tax problems (you need an EIN to get paid from Amazon if you're a non-US author here's a site with all the instructions). I put a lot of effort into my cover, studying popular releases, then I hired a professional to help pull it all together (Book Cover Cafe helped me produce the book). Read DIY Book Covers for some hints and tips. I accepted a lot of feedback on my story and worked on it until it felt right.

I'm fighting these feelings of insecurity. I'm proud of my debut novel, My Zombie Dog, and I'll be proud of the next few I publish too. One thing I've learned is readers don't care about the publisher, mostly it's just other writers who care.

There are steps I'm taking to lift the stigma of indie or self-published books. Let's face it, the standard needs to be lifted before the public's expectations will be lifted. I need to improve. I've made mistakes, but I'll be darned if I repeat those mistakes.

When I first uploaded my book to Kindle I was in too much of a hurry. The work had many errors. Lot of tense errors, typos. Took another three goes and a professional editor (again, Book Cover Cafe) to get it into the shape it's in now. 

I aim to be a darn good indie published author. 2013 will see me spending a lot more time reading and promoting other indie published writers as well. 

To start, here are some new releases from awesome blogger authors. I'll post some reviews soon, for now, just click on the cover to visit the Amazon site:

Fun kids book for Christmas

Amazing fantasy novel

Anthology of stories by awesome writers including Lynda Young

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Future of Books and Emerging Authors

The future of books... but first:

This week Australian Women Online feature an article on Emerging Australian Women Writers, by journalist Belladonna Took. I am very humbled and excited to be included in this article with talented emerging authors, Kymberley Gaal, Emma Gibson and Karen Tyrrell. If you'd like to read the article, click here.

I signed up for 'Book Camp unconference' a little uncertain of what to expect. I mean, what's an UNconference? The theme of the day was to question and discuss the future of books and emerging authors and technologies. I like to question and discuss, so I was up for it.

The day was hosted by author Simon Groth from if:book and we were asked to volunteer to lead sessions. I love this upside down module. 

Looking at the model of the traditional book, what it has now emerged into and where it could go was something most participants were curious about. The traditional pathway of author to publisher to reader or even author to reader may change. The reader is not necessarily the best client for your product. One scenario raised was with choose-your-own-adventures that are locality-based. This method was trialled at an Adelaide festival with posters and QR codes. This storytelling involved the 'reader' to walk the streets of the story while finding the codes for the next part. In this example only about ten people finished the story. If your goal is to do something different, experimental then there's no problem, but if you're wishing to earn an income from your skills... well, you can see the problem with only ten potential customers, but it's important to acknowledge many authors require an income from their skills. This requires rethinking the author to reader model. You could consider a commercial or government client, such as the Department of Tourism. They would have the capacity to market this type of activity to readers/visitors. Or, you could make location-based stories containing QR codes that provide information on the localities, you wouldn't have to be present in the location (I see this being a good alternative for famous locations like the Eiffel Tower, The Great Barrier Reef, etc).

Craig Mod led a discussion about the affect of digital on our sense of living. The point was raised that if we do not post our experiences on social media in many ways they don't count as real, they become disconnected with our understanding of experience. We live in the instagram era, as soon as we see, do or taste it, we upload a pic.

The issue of quality from self-published authors and service providers was enthusiastically discussed. The days of appreciating free crap is over. Readers want product that lives up to the promises.

And the thing that stuck with me most was on the necessity of social media for authors to reach readers. There are many examples of great authors that sell millions of books with no online presence. It was generally agreed that if you are an amazingly talented author, you don't need to interact with the public. Lucky for me I actually like social media!

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Indie Publishing - what you need to know

Make sure you have a critical eye review your work before you self-publish

The Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) put on a lot of great workshops and seminars, and today I attended 'Going Indie' hosted by a panel of experienced authors on the industry of self-pubblishing.

This was a great talk and there were a lot of tips, opportunities and concerns about the indie publishing industry raised. The speaker panel was made up with Sally Collings, author/editor/publisher, Graham Nunn, poet & blogger and Alan Baxter, author & karate instructor. There was a lot covered, but here's a short overview of the main points I picked up:

• Indie publishing, generally means independent of big business.
• The term self-publishing is not representative of the output professional writers produce. There is nothing 'self' about this process, the title suggests going it solo. I have to agree here. I fumbled through producing my own e-book, when I published the Australian edition of the paperback of My Zombie Dog, I utilised professional editors, graphic artists and printers. I consider Book Cover Cafe to be my go to team for the production of my books.
• Indie publishing can offer a faster turn around time from manuscript to printed book. This does not mean the author should rush the process. It's tempting to get your work out there quickly, but quality is more important than speed.
• Quality also costs. Think of your book as a start up business, you'll need capital. This is why some authors will persist with the traditional route, it is a relief to have someone else fund your idea, but then they will own a big chunk of your asset. The alternative is paying a professional team to assist you putting together your product and you pay for the printing. This does mean your share of the return will be higher.
• Choose an editor you can trust and believe in. 
• You are your own gatekeeper now. Just because you don't have a publishing house rejecting your work, doesn't mean you shouldn't reject it if it's not quite ready. Put out the best quality you can.
• Becoming an indie author does not mean turning your back on traditional publishing, different projects may call for different avenues, you might self-publish one project and accept a contract on another. Readers care about the product and the author, not the publisher.
• Having specific goals is important. Do you want to share samples of your poetry for free? Then maybe ebooks or photocopied pamphlets are the easiest, cheapest ways to do that. Set yourself goals to achieve, whether it's to produce a certain number of finished manuscripts in a year, or to build your connections in the industry or to learn more about publishing.
• Don't be shy. Writing communities are extremely welcoming and supportive. Start connecting with other bloggers and writers, you'll learn a lot about the industry. Join a writers group or start one up yourself, and attend industry seminars and workshops at your local writers centre.
• Contribute to the community you want to belong to. Buy and read in your genre, support other indie authors, read the publications that host the competitions you want to enter.
• Devote time to your craft every day.
• Get plenty of critical feedback.
• Build a visible presence online. You need a good solid website as a landing place for readers to find you.
• Once online, don't hard sell. If all you do is shout 'buy my book', you'll soon turn away your online buddies. Have something to offer back, even if it's just support for other authors.
• Don't limit your format. Graham Nunn has had his Haikus published on cans of lemonade in Japan and on Chinese fortune cookie inserts.

The main problem raised for Australian indie authors was distribution. It's extremely difficult to get your book into book stores. But as the industry of indie publishing grows, so may the reception from retailers. Exciting times.

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Marketing your ebook and links

Today you'll find a post by me over at Romantic Friday Writers. The post is all about marketing your novel once you've published, and has some helpful tips for self-publishers. Please head over and say hello!

So that my blog is not completely empty this week, here are some fantastic links on story structure and finding a formula for your plot:

1. The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot
2. Structure by Screenplay Mastery
3. Get a Little Conflict in Your Scene
4. Writing Novels - Formulas and Structures
5. How to Write Your Novel Using a Formula
6. Story Structure and Plot - Novel Writing Tips
7. Plot and Pacing Part One, Plot and Pacing Part Two and Plot and Pacing Part Three
8. Story Elements Checklist for Brainstorming Index Cards
9. Writing Lessons by Richard Setlowe
10. Novel Endings 

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How to Font your Cover

I've blogged before about creating your own book covers in DIY Book Covers, today I want to get more detailed on one major part of covers - fonts. 

Most self-publishing or Indie publishing authors spend a lot of time looking for, or creating, the perfect image for their book cover, but sadly, many fail when it comes to font choice or application. Here are some points to remember:

Choose a style that suits your genre, but is easy to read. I see many swirly, formal script fonts that may give a luxurious feel, but are often hard to decipher. Simplify, and then... simplify more. For example, if you have a grungy urban novel, whether it's fantasy or a boy's adventure read, this font could look good:

The above is also a good example of understanding shade and tone. The light/white-ish font contrasts nicely with the green background. It helps to understand your basic colour wheel, colours that sit opposite on the colour wheel are complimentary colours. The picture below takes you to a good site that explains colour:

But having light font against dark or vice versa is simple, what if your background image is not one tone and varies from light to dark or has different colours, right where you want your title? Well, you could choose a different background, you really don't want anything too busy (a lot of amateur covers seem to have lots of floating heads or items that will appear in the story, remember this is a visual representation, it doesn't have to be literal). No? Ok, here's a little trick:

If you use a professional design program, such as InDesign (my choice), you'll have the option to outline your lettering, this line is called the 'stroke'. You can have a thin stroke, like in the image above. This is just enough to make the text stand out against the background. I like how the above cover mixes a white stroke and black stroke (black stroke on a black font does not work for this effect, it just makes the font look thicker). Or, you can make the stroke thick, so it becomes an important element in your cover. I took this font from KC Fonts:

And added a stroke to create this effect:

I wanted an old horror movie style, so I added a shadow to the text. Here's a tip, with shadowing, you can also change the strength of opacity, that is, how solid it looks. I wanted a soft, smokey shadow, so I don't have 100% opacity.

Also, use your space wisely. Don't have your title run right up to the edge of the page. Make it look like it's comfortable there. Of course you can break all these rules if you're artistic enough to make it work.

My last point is on license. There are many sites that offer free fonts, but did you realise that they're only free for your personal use? If your kids have an assignment or you want to decorate a non-profitable blogsite, sure. But, if you are using a font for a commercial purpose, such as a book cover for an ebook you plan to sell, then you need to pay for a license. This works the same as purchasing a license for your cover image (if you purchase from sites such as Shutterstock). Don't panic, you can find very reasonably priced fonts. Check out KC Fonts guidelines on Personal and Commercial use. Kevin from KC Fonts gave me a very good price on the use of my font (I'm sure font designers understand the reality of ebook revenue).

Images and fonts are people's creations and art, the creators deserve acknowledgement and remuneration for their services.

Here's some more covers I think do a great job with font:

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DIY Book Covers

MY ZOMBIE DOG is nearly here!

Confession: I got it wrong. I thought I should format my ebook before the cover. You can learn from my mistake. The ebook needs to be formatted when it's ready to go live, BUT, you can use your cover for promotions and marketing leading up to the release of your book. I think you should finishing writing your novel first, but then get an image to place on your blog or on other peoples blogs. Get people familiar with your book before it's released. That's why I'm posting on covers before formatting:

Book Covers for the Indie Author

I've come to see there are two effective ways to produce your book cover, the first will usually generate a more professional effect and is a lot easier.


1. Pay a professional graphic artist to do it for you.
I know, it costs money and that worries you. This is an investment in your art. It doesn't matter how good your story is, if you do not market it to your target audience in an effective manner, they will never read it. I have been interested in the blurb of books, only to dismiss them because the cover looks crappy. I know I'm not unique, there's a whole cliche supporting my view. If the cover is crappy, it stands to reason that the formatting might be crud, which probably means the writing sucks - this is the train of though of your potential customer. Give them 100% on the WHOLE package. And if you do it yourself and you struggle, isn't that a week you'll be behind in your writing? Shouldn't you be getting the next book out there too? Budgets for book covers seem to range online from $50 to $200. I have a talented graphic artist working on my covers and my website. The end result will scream 'professional'.

2. Create your own book cover.

Despite telling you my first choice is to pay a professional, I did create a book cover for MY ZOMBIE DOG. This is for the same reason I formatted the book myself. This is my first book release and I wanted to understand and experience every step of the process. In future, I'll be able to have informed meetings with my graphic designers and digital publishers. It was also curiosity - I have a philosophy in life: how hard can it be? I then proceed to discover... quite hard.

If you are going to create your own book cover and you feel you have some talent in design, composition and colour, you'll need the following:

• An up-to-date computer with reasonable speed.
• Background image
• Fonts for text
• Tagline, Title and Author Name sorted (back blurb, review quotes, ISBN and barcode for back cover if you're producing a print book)
• Program for editing pictures, such as Photoshop
• Program for producing quality print media such as InDesign
• Pool of honest people to give feedback and advice

Background image

I love Shutterstock for photos, illustrations and vectors. It does have a subscription system where you can pay to download unlimited pics for a month etc, but I just buy a bundle of 5 pics at a time. This works out to about $10 per picture and you can download it in any size from small to extra large. There are plenty of other sites, just Google 'stock photos'. When you purchase a picture you are purchasing the license to use that picture for a particular use, such as book covers, t-shirts etc. You can manipulate the picture in Photoshop and I recommend you do, if it resembles the original too much, there is nothing stopping another author using the same pic for their book. I do see a lot of book covers duplicated on Amazon.

Fonts

Surprisingly, I think this element is the most important and even more important than your cover picture. The easiest way to spot a DIY cover seems to be in the typeface. Too many authors are just throwing any old text as their title on the cover and thinking 'that will do'.

Clarissa Draper did a great series on book cover design and this is her post on fonts.

The text type will depend partly on your book's style and genre, but titles should be big and easy to read (unless you're as well known as Stephen King don't put your name as big or bigger than your title).

To read more about why fonts should be big and clear go to Joel Friedlander's:

5 Great Fonts for Book Covers

One important thing to know about those 'free font' sites, is that some of them only give you license to use the font for private use. You need to find a site that offers commercial use, a good one that still has free fonts is Font Squirrel. I think it's also polite to acknowledge the font designer somewhere in your front pages (or back pages) where you would put credits for the graphic artist who designed your cover. By receiving recognition, artists can continue to find value in offering free products.

Play with your fonts, make your title pop. You can do this in InDesign by adding a 'stroke' (an outline to each letter), outer glow (light shines from behind each letter) or a drop shadow (kind of obvious what that is). I suggest making shadows anywhere from 30% to 75% opacity, solid 100% looks a little clunky and draws attention away from the letters.

Make sure your text contrasts nicely against your background, which means you need to make sure the colours stand out against each other but also that the tones and shades are different. If your blue text is the same shade as your green background, when Kindle converts your cover to greyscale (black and white) it will not be easy to read.

Text content

Of course your title has to be decided by this stage. Make it short and snappy. There are a few examples of successful long titles, but when appearing as a thumbnail amongst many other book covers on Amazon, a snappy title will stand out. I like big titles, I like to be able to read what they say even as a tiny thumbnail. Author's names can be small, even smaller should be your tagline, which can be read when the cover is opened. Check out the size of covers on Amazon and make sure you can read your text at that size. 

Pool of honest people.

I have you. My bloggers. For my cover art for MY ZOMBIE DOG I also used twitter (you can attach pictures) and asked people to please critique the cover. Google+ was great too. I mostly use my circle of writers in Google+, but I have another circle called 'iFriends', these are all the computer, techie and graphic people I follow. I rarely post to them (they're not so interested in hearing about my writing adventures) but I did post my cover to them and got some great suggestions for changes (my name was originally thicker and stark white, but it stood out too much). People like to be helpful, but I've noticed friends (including blogger friends) are reluctant to say anything negative incase they upset you. You need to give people permission to be honest in their feedback, and when you get negative feedback you need to be genuinely appreciative of it. This is the feedback that will help you improve.

This is also where you can get review quotes for your book. I'll be asking blog reviewers soon if they would consider reviewing MY ZOMBIE DOG or hosting me on their blog to talk about the book or about writing/publishing the book.

Want to know exactly what dimensions and size file your book cover should be? This is a detailed post by Webbish Books that will explain why you need two different sized images for your book cover:

Kindle Book Cover Size

You can also see:

4 Rules for Book Covers

Ugh - I have rules about blog lengths, but today I really needed to share all this information with you, hoping that some of it will help you out in your journey to publishing your book. And feel free to add honest criticism for the MY ZOMBIE DOG book cover! It's still a work in progress (my daughter wants to add a chomp mark out of one of the letters and I love that idea).

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Platform Building for Writers

Part of my business plan includes promotion, for writers today one of the most effective ways to promote is to build a platform. Quite simply, this is just the space where you market yourself. If your platform is effective it can help guide readers to your books and generate sales.

If you've read any writers' blogs you'll already know that there is a huge supportive community out there. Other writers will not only cheer you on, give you great tips and ideas, but sometimes they'll even buy a copy of your book (I know I LOVE buying a book that I find on a blogger-friend's site). 

Let writers help you with building your author platform - a good start? Check out Rach Writes. Rachel runs the Writers' Platform Building Campaign and you can sign up! It's a great way to meet new followers for your blog. I've joined up - will you?

Want more on building your platform? Try my previous posts:

Writers Platform - is it worth the hassle?

Build your author marketing plan

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The Writing Business - My Plan

In my last post I spoke about the need for a writer to have a plan. This could be as elaborate as a detailed business plan or as simple as a list of steps you need to take to become published (and then don't forget the steps to market what you publish).

Today I thought I'd share with you my list - this is not complete, there are previous steps I've already completed (write an author bio, get a blog or website, get a good author pic... oh yeah, write a novel...). Maybe you'll find some helpful ideas on there, or maybe you can suggest some things I've forgotten! As I tick off each step I'll share my experience and you can learn by my (hopefully rare) mistakes. I'll be sharing my experiences organising book covers next.

From Manuscript to Book:

Edit book

• Check out professional editing organisations
• Circulate amongst Beta readers

Cover design

• Search contacts for artists, graphic artists and professionals at book cover design.
• Check Shutterstock or other photo sites for good stock photos.
• Check online resources.

Format e-book and Print On Demand book

• Check with State writers groups for contacts for digital publishers.
• Look at CreateSpace
• Kindle
• iBooks
• All others: Smashwords, Dymocks, Fishpond etc.

Advertising material:

• Bookmarks
• Postcards 
• Book Trailer - speak to Luke or Rhonda
• Slogans ('cause I have too much time on my hands):
• Zombie Dog hates your guts... loves your brains.
• Tell Zombie Dog to heel, and it’ll bring you a nice fresh one.
• Zombie Dog’s best trick: ‘play dead’ (Zombie Dog is not playing).
• Zombie Dog thinks you look nom nom.
• Zombie Dog, nom nom nomming her way into your heart (cross out, replace with brain).
• Brrrraaaains means I love you.
• (picture of two mafia guys tossing a body rolled in a rug to the doghouse) Sometimes Zombie Dog comes in handy.

Read Amazon guidelines

Decide on release date - promote book leading up to release

PROMOTE

• Check out books on promoting your novel.
• Read the John Locke guide
• Check out guides to ebook publishing
• Giveaway - Kindle?
• Organise blog hop
• Look up other promotional ideas
• T-shirts (overkill???)
• Talk to contacts in programming about creating a game app to pair with the ebook.

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Writing Business - Step 1

MY ZOMBIE DOG is ready for production and I've been looking into the business of writing. There's so much involved in getting your manuscript from story to book (or ebook), so I started by making a list of everything I could possibly think of that would need to be covered. Now it's time to start tackling that list.

Making progress through lists is so satisfying, I think I could be a professional list-ticker. I've now accomplished the first step to becoming professional at this writing gig (other than actually writing something). I've set up my ABN (Australian Business Number), this registers myself as a business and can be done (in Australia) by contacting the ATO (be ready to be on hold for over half an hour) or going to their website:

http://www.abr.business.gov.au/

You can be a writer without an ABN, but this way I can set up my business of writing and keep it separate from all other expenses/incomes. It also allows me to set up a business name or trading name for digital publishing. Here's hoping I have lots of tax to pay next financial year due to the overwhelming success of my ebooks!

My next steps include sourcing an illustrator for the cover art and organising to have the manuscript file formatted into an ebook.

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Dusty Manuscripts

While I'm working on the production, placement and promotion of MY ZOMBIE DOG (I promise to share the steps and any insightful tips I pick up along the way), I'm making some time for more writing. I've a couple of manuscripts that need editing but a few more that are only partially done. I've decided to revisit THE PIRATE GIRL, it's been years since I wrote anything towards that novel. Emily, my 13 year old writer and critic, suggested I spend some time reading through my notes and what I have so far.

"Nah, I remember it," I informed her, "that's the one about that girl... what's-her-name and it had that guy too, you know... the guy."

Okay, maybe I'll invest in a little reading time first.

Do you have any under-the-bed half-finished manuscripts you'd like to rework one day? Or maybe something you'll never let see the light of day?

Zombie Dog will be nom nom nomming her way into your hearts (or brains) soon.

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Writer Reading

I'm in the middle of reading Be The Monkey which is a conversation on the future of publishing and ebooks between J A Konrath and Barry Eilser. I've seen this book raised online often, so I may be the last writer to read it.

The text explores the growing popularity for digital books vs traditional publishing and they certainly put forward a good argument for self-publishing. It's definitely worth reading if you are uncertain of which path to take or just want to support your decision to produce an ebook rather than paper copy of your novel.

The speakers are well informed on the subject, J A Konrath running the popular blog:

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing

And Barry Eilser hosts:

The Heart of the Matter

There is a lot of talk about the future of books, will paper eventually die out? I doubt it, I love books as do most writers, but I love ebooks too. Probably like most of you, I worry for the popularity of the traditional book, and most definitely for those cute little boutique bookstores I love to frequent, and I've found some new ones up here in Brisbane. But what about the traditional publishers? Does anyone worry for them?There are some that I love and look for in bookstores. One of my favourites was Black Dog Books - why? Because they had a little dog as their logo. Now they've merged into Walker Books (which are still a great children's book publisher). I'd be sad to see some of these publishing houses go. I guess they can turn to publishing digital books, but once again, what about the bookstores? What will they sell?

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Online Marketing for Offline Readers

How do you manage online marketing to those unlikely to be online?

I've been turning the cogs over in mind this week (they're a bit rusty and need a crank every now and then) about finding your customers when you self-publish. It occurred to me some markets are easier to find than others.

The first step is to work out who your average reader is. I don't mean vaguely like 'romance readers', but specifically have a stereotype in mind (in this example perhaps your particular romance appeals to women 30-40 with children). Do you know? You really need to work this out if your novel is finished and ready to go. Try visiting sites like Goodreads and Amazon for similar style novels to see who their market is.

I know not every reader will be the same, but you want to work out who your majority of readers are. For instance violent thrillers written by men are most likely to have a male readership. The more I think about this market, the more I think it's the hardest to reach if you are not a previously published author.

Some men do circulate online, but many for this market don't. They don't browse Amazon for unknown writers and don't spend a lot of time 'browsing' in bookstores. They buy a book because it won an award, because it was recommended on a reliable source, like their favourite newspaper or ABC radio-programme. Problem is, if you are a new writer, it's unlikely you'll be mentioned in these sources. But I thought long and hard. There is a way to get your book in this reluctant hand. Through a more reliable market. Women. 

Many times books my dad has loved have been novels I've purchased for him, or gifts from his female friends or my sister. He would never have gone looking for this novel, but once given it, he reads it. This market doesn't like to waste a gift. A couple of times he's enjoyed a book so much he's asked me where he can find more in the series.

My dad will never visit a blog, spend time on Facebook or even know that Goodreads exists, but people who buy books for him do. So if you have a difficult market to reach online, try reaching them through their networks instead. Market your book to those people as the perfect gift idea.

Although not talking about novels, this marketing blog, LEADSexplorers, refers to this sales approach as targeting your customer's 'trusted parties'.

I'll blog more on this topic soon, about ways to find those buyers who do circulate online. Together we might be able to find a plan :)

But first I'll be going offline. Just for a couple of days. I'm taking on a challenge to write 30,000 words in  only 3 days. I'm doubtful, but I hope to at least finish the first draft of MY ZOMBIE DOG. Wish me luck!

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7 Things Publishers Want

Does your story have what publishers want? At the recent YA workshop I attended hosted by Jeni Mawter, we discussed what publishers look for in a novel. This was the consensus (for YA fiction):

1. YA appeal - but what appeals to young adults? They want a story they can relate to, but also different enough from the everyday that they can be swept away. Paranormal fiction is so popular because it's dangerous, but the magic element means that the reader is safe - this doesn't happen in real life (unlike thrillers).
2. Morally acceptable - What? I hear you say - sounds boring? No. There can be unethical characters, but the essence of the story will support the societal concept that this is wrong. For example, you can have racist characters, but it will be made obvious in the story that this is not the way to live among each other. 
3. Innovative - Vampirebots? Time-travelling monkeys that can tell the future? Every now and then a novelist hits on something fresh. The irony of this is that the market will then demand a stream of the same type of novels.
4. Characters you can't forget - Who can forget Rue from Hunger Games? (sniff). Write characters that haunt our memories long after we close the last page.
5. Original Voice - The best way to do this (I think) is to write true to your own voice, don't try to imitate someone else's style. The world does not need another Steinbeck, we already have his novels, write your own.
6. Fresh use of language - language evolves radically, in fact 'radically' is not a buzz word anymore, nor is 'buzz word'. Although I see it in a lot of novels, none of the teens at my high school spell out OMG when they're speaking. It's not hard to see how teens and YAs speak, just check out their Facebook pages and blogs (but not in a stalky way).
7. Story that moves the reader - does your story evoke emotion? It doesn't have to be sadness or joy, perhaps fear or anger?

Can you think of anything else to add to this list? I think if I was to ever self-publish I'd still use a list like this to make sure my work measured up.

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The Post-Rapture Post

Glad to see everyone got through the Rapture (surely that close call will have been enough of a warning to put a stop to my writing procrastinations?).

Yesterday I spent the proposed last day at a YA Workshop hosted by Jeni Mawter (check out her website for her books and writing tips). I'll blog more about that and my trip to Sydney later, but one thing I wanted to raise was this continuous conversation amongst writers about the role of traditional publishing, the gatekeepers and the self-publising options. Perhaps it was just Rapture for those gatekeepers? 

Until yesterday, my position on traditional publishing vs self-publishing for my own situation was that:

It is possible to produce a quality ebook and publish it on Amazon and like sites, you can even have paperback copies produced. The big if, is if you are prepared to put in a LOT of work. Once your book is written, it needs to be edited professionally or at least screened by many readers, until it is as good as you could possibly get it. Then you need great cover art, this is where I find a lot of self-publishers let their book down. You need an online presence and you need your ebook formatted. And of course you have to promote your book with your target market in mind. At least there are no query letters or synopsis' needed.

BUT. Being accepted by a publishing house will lift your status as a writer. There are still many people who are wary of self-publishing. As Jeni Mawter said in her workshop, the problem is there is too much white noise on Amazon, there needs to be a way to sort through the masses to find quality self-published books. This is starting to sort itself out with reviews and blogs to recommend books. The consumer may become the new gatekeeper and you'll have to work even harder to win them over. A publisher will do all the work to produce your product, and it will be available in Bookstores. That was my biggie. I was leaning towards traditional publishing because I loved the idea of seeing my book in a bookstore.

Now my stand is a little shaky. Jeni pointed out that bookstores are in serious trouble. We already knew about the Borders situation (or you can read my blog on Books without Borders). With the ebook outselling paper books, and the introduction of the book apps on iTunes, bookstores may not be the best location for selling books (this hurts), especially for debut writers. I LOVE bookstores, I know most of you LOVE bookstores, but eventually, we might not be enough to keep them :(

So now I'm immersing myself into research and opinions on the traditional publishing vs self-publishing options. Here's what I've found so far - what are your thoughts, or are you as uncertain as me?

The New York Times:

The Case for Self Publishing?

Nathan Bransford:

Self Publishing vs Traditional Publishing: Which way will make you more money?

The Literary Analyst:

Self Publishing vs Traditional Publishing (the pros and cons)

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Cinders

Cinders by Michelle Davidson Argyle

Most of my followers would know of Michelle Davidson Argyle, a writer who's been prominent in the blosasphere. Perhaps you've seen her columns on The Literary Lab hosted by a team of talented writers offering advice. Michelle also has her own blog at The Innocent Flower and now has her own Author Website Michelle Davidson Argyle.

Michelle has been blogging, twittering and Facebooking about her experience writing and editing her new novella, and finally the time came to release it to the public. I've found Michelle's experiences quite motivating and appreciate her dedication and the hard work she has given to her writing passion. I couldn't wait to read this story because I'd seen it develop through her blogposts and because I'm a big fan of 'bring back the novella'.

Making the novella available on Kindle immediately upon release was a brilliant idea. Lately I've tried to purchase many new release novels that are published through traditional publishers, only to find their Kindle release is held off for too long. I want to read a story when it's new, when there is lots of buzz about it (I'm a dedicated consumer and am happily influenced by hype). So within minutes, Cinders was mine to read!

This is quite an unexpected development on the original fairytale - if you like the Disney version with birds tweeting and happily-ever-afters, then you might be in for a shock. This story is much more inline with the style of the Brothers Grimm with dark twists and tragic consequences for many characters. What was beautiful was the imagery provided of the harsh reality of living like a princess and the increadible development of this almost Hamlet-ish protagonist into maturity.

Definitately worth a read, and you can knock it over in two bedtime sittings easily (if you get page hungry, like me).

So Hooray! for Michelle, taking the responsibility of her career in her own hands and setting such a great example for writers like myself. If you'd like to give her novella a whirl, go to Michelle's author website:

Michelle Davidson Argyle

(I just wanted to add that I know some bloggers have reviewed the book in return for a free copy, but I was more than happy to purchase mine, I love supporting fellow writers and feeding my consumer addiction at the same time!)

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D.I.Y Publishing

I'll self-publish and market my book in the off-leash park

Would you self-publish your fiction?

I'm still focusing on the writing/editing part of my manuscript, but many writers do publish, market and sell their own books. One of the main benefits is a speedier book-in-hand time, you don't have to wait to find a publisher and then wait for them to produce your book. The biggest drawback is you have to do a LOT of work to push your book and get a market for it, even if the narrative is great, if you flop because of your lack of marketing skills (or horror - publish before it's been proofread properly), you give yourself a bad reputation as a writer.

If you want to see more on the debate of self-publishing pros and cons, visit my previous post:

Self-publishing is it for you?

I'm still intrigued by self-publishing and I've been checking out a few different sites of P.O.D. publishers, so if it's for you, check these out:

• http://www.youwriteon.com/
• http://www.lulu.com/
• Self-publishing on the iPad
• http://www.yorkshirepublishing.com/
• www.createspace.com for publishing on Kindle

Have you had any experience with self-publishing? Know a link I've forgotten? Let us know!

And while I'm migrating to the warmer climate of Queensland, visiting my Dad in Brisbane, I'm thinking of going retro and reposting some of my favourite posts. That way I can focus on my writing, editing and generally doing a lot of this:

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Self-publishing - is it for you?

I'm fascinated with the fast growing industry of self-publishing. Mind you, it doesn't take much to impress me, I'm still in awe that there is 'Internet'. This week I upgraded my phone to an iPhone and I've been over the moon with this amazing technology, although I'm yet to work out why it's so much more exciting than my iPod touch.
Self-publishing has been available even before internet, but it was quite expensive to have books printed, bound and distributed in small numbers. Even if you could afford that, the big issue with self-published books was marketing. Promoting a small-run unknown author was difficult.
But whiz forward to the future... now (yes my retro mind keeps believing that we are living in the future, these are the Buck Rogers years) and anyone can self-publish and the costs begin at...NOTHING.
This new ease of becoming published is met with mixed responses.

Negatives:

• There seems to be an assumption from many consumers, bloggers and Podcast hosts that open self-publishing produces poor quality products. Litopia After Dark have often likened self-publishing to vanity publishing. To go this route you will be pushing against these opinions.
• It's hard work. Unless you are prepared to pay premiums to have someone else do the work for you, then you will need to be able to not just write a great book, but edit it perfectly, layout your pages (which is more difficult if you have a nonfiction book as you may want break-out boxes and diagrams) and convert the file to be read online. Then you'll need to work out how to get your book to readers and more importantly, how to get readers to your book.
• There is a lot of unpolished work on the net, your book will be buried amongst those and people may not be patient enough to keep downloading if they've already sifted through files and files of rubbish books.
• Podcasting book chapters has worked well for some but if you have a decent sized novel, then you are relying on keeping listeners attention for a long time. Admittedly I have started downloading several Podcast books, but usually loose interest by halfway through.

Positives:

• Trail-blazing heroes like Seth Harwood (Jack Wakes Up) have provided great examples of the right way to push your novels via Podcast. 
• There are a number of locations to place your e-book online now, one of my favourites is Scribd, this is an online community where you can download content (a lot is free) and upload your own work.
• By providing samples or first works free for download, you can build up an audience. I recently downloaded How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey from Scribd, and although I haven't read very much of it yet, I was inspired enough to purchase Frey's book How to Write a Damn Good Mystery from Amazon.
• Marketing is achievable with social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. There are many gurus providing information and training on how to give yourself a good online platform, one of my favourite resources is The Creative Penn which has helpful hints, free downloads, e-books on marketing for authors and Podcasts to follow. I recommend this site often.
• Your market is growing rapidly. I was one of the many who whinged that I could never read a book online. Even as little as 12months ago, I would find papers I needed for my studies and print them out to read. Now I am a hungry consumer of paper books, e-books, kindle books and audio books. I dipped my toe in the water with some free e-books and quickly moved on to happily purchase books to read on my iPhone (hurry up iPad!). My kids have also downloaded several audio books and comic book apps to their iPods, this market is not just for adults. Below you'll see our excited Miss 8yrs getting her mini-laptop for Christmas.

Digital time is a bit like dog years, 1yr =7, so if you're looking for texts on self-publishing I recommend that you check publication dates. I found books on Amazon from 2000, a lot's happened in the last ten years! Check that the blogs you read are recent posts too.

Which way would I hope to go with Dog Show Detective? I'd always imagined it as a paperback series when I started writing (optimistic, but it helps to have an end goal pictured in your mind) but now I love the idea of kids downloading my book or listening to it on their mp3 players during a long drive. There's still a lot for me to learn about online marketing and production of e-books, so for now I guess I should just get back to finishing the book.
What are your thoughts on self-publishing?

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