THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED. The winner is:

Liliana of Maryland!!!! Your book will be on its way shortly. Thanks to everyone who entered; and a special shout out to Danna at her Cozy Blog for sending people this way!

In celebration of a new book in the series, I’m giving away a brand-spankin’ new copy of Kaye C. Hill’s first in the series, Dead Woman’s Shoes.

Kaye’s latest book, “The Fall Girl” is available for pre-order at Bookdepository. The release date is around August 12. Woot!!!

This contest is open only to US addresses–However–if you live in the UK, you’ve a little luck: Dead Woman’s Shoe’s is on sale at the publisher site: Creme de la Crime for only 2 pounds! Pretty darn good deal for a trade paperback! (You may need to scroll down to find Dead Woman’s Shoes.)

Dead Woman’s Shoes is a cozy/mystery with a lot of suspense and great characters including Kinky the chihuahua, a missing cat, a vet, a policeman, an entire drama club, and of course, an amateur sleuth, Lexy, who must sort it all out even though she is on the run herself! There are twists and turns, capers–-and many a thread woven into a completely captivating tale. Dead Woman’s Shoes made my list of top books for 2008. I fully expect “The Fall Girl” to make my 2009 list.

If you include your mailing address in the email, and you are selected as the winner, I will announce the winner and mail the book right away. If you don’t want to include your mailing address, I will attempt to contact you via email ONCE. You will have a week to reply with your US mailing address. If I don’t receive an email within the week, I will select another winner. Please enter only one time. Multiple entries will be disqualified!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the covers or the books (if you’re read them!) Earlier, I posted some info about the covers and how the publisher designs their covers.

Are you a published author wondering how many libraries carry your book(s)?

This link will tell you which libraries own what books.

If you’re looking for a book and your library doesn’t have it, ask your librarian about getting the book through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Most libraries charge only a small fee (about $2.50) to borrow the book you want from another library. The book will be delivered to your local library where you can check it out and return it.

The ILL program is good for fiction, non-fiction AND audio. Since audio is expensive, the program is particularly appreciated in this area!

Obviously, what with two three books out on Kindle and other formats, I’ve been spending a lot of time learning about the availability, pros/cons of the different readers and so on. I’ve been pretty surprised at how many formats there are and also how many places are selling ebooks. I knew it was a growing industry, but didn’t realize there was a kind of undercover cult following.

At any rate, there are actually some pretty good reader applications for the PC (or laptop in my case.) I didn’t think downloading a reader application was really necessary or helpful for reading online, until I downloaded them and tried them. All three of these readers are free downloads. My favorite is mobipocket.

Mobipocket also sells ebooks. To get the reader, click on the software tab and then download whichever application you need. In my case, I downloaded the PC application. It’s a spiffy little app, with nice buttons, easy to use interface–and the best part–when it loads a book, it has a nice DARK font. (So far as I know, you can change font sizes with all the apps, but with the defaults on mobipocket I didn’t need to.) The format is a nice, book-shaped one. I’ve read a couple of books using the mobipocket software and found it easy to use (just using the page down or page up; you can jump ahead or back using the scroll at the bottom.) I like that the scroll bar tells you how far you are along in the book (page numbers are meaningless because you can change the fonts to a larger or smaller one.)

Another neat feature that sold me on e-readers–it keeps my “place” in a book when I’m reading. Even if I close the application, when I go back in and open that book–bam, takes me right to where I left off. This is an excellent feature.

Next up, I tried the Stanza reader. This is the one known for use with the iPhone and iPod, but they have a desktop version as well (tabs along the top of the link.) This reader presents a narrower “book,” probably because it is optimized for small devices. The default font isn’t as dark. The formatting (which is often due to the conversion software) isn’t always as “neat.” But the Stanza was easy to use. It loads fast and presents an easy to use “book.” No issues, but not quite as “pretty” as mobipocket. Instead of a “library” of books you’ve loaded, you just open a file like you would with a normal application.

Adobe Digital Editions, like most Adobe products, seemed more complicated than it needed to be. This is the one application that had trouble with my converted files. It locked up opening the EPUB files–I have no idea why. I had to strip out formatting, reload the files and keep my fingers crossed. Obviously something in the original file (probably old HTML code) was causing some sort of problem. There was no way to troubleshoot the issue. Once I stripped formatting, and reconverted, the file loaded.

It was nicely readable. The interface was confusing to me, but I eventually figured out how to create my “library” and open the books to read. The Digital Edition automatically downloaded the covers (mobipocket and stanza did not.) This was perhaps the standout feature for Digital Editions because the cover, more often than just a title, reminds you of what the book is about, or at least gives you a clue as to why you downloaded the book.

For now, I’ll probably use the mobipocket reader. Most of the readers read multiple formats. This is helpful since not all ebooks come in the same format. Of course, if there is DRM on the book, it’s possible that none of the apps will work. Some books with DRM end up tied to a specific reader. At the moment, I’ve solved that by only buying non-DRM books. This limits my reading selection somewhat, but it isn’t as though I’ve run out of books to read.

Edit: Barnes and Noble also has a free reader for the PC (and Kindle is going to provide one in November or December!) The Barnes and Noble product was not very intuitive–took me a while to figure out how to load a book! But it isn’t bad once you get going. Probably the easiest way to get the B&N reader is to click on an ebook and download a sample. You have to login, but it then gives you the option of downloading the reader. When I downloaded my copy, B&N offered me 5 free classics! I don’t know how long that offer is good.

Edit #2: Kindle now has a reader for the PC. I took a look at it and can’t complain. I want this reader mainly so that I can test my own books–how they look and formatted, etc. BUT so far, Amazon has some awfully good freebies that publishers give away as promotions. In the past, you had to have a Kindle to access the books. Now, I can download them and read them on my PC. Some of these deals are free, some are a low price. Either way, I win!

1. Miss Snark’s blog Excellent, excellent website to study! Learn about the publishing industry from a real agent–how to get an agent, how to lose any chance of getting an agent, publishing etiquette, biggest mistakes, how to write a query letter and why it is so important, how to write hooks, synopsis’ and other inside industry techniques.Miss Snark no longer offers online, anonymous critiques, but past critiques are available in the archives and they are a gold-mine. You can read other people’s mistakes, and other people’s genius and learn from them.Miss Snark spent an enormous amount of time on this project. My hat is off to her!

 

2. Other agent blogs: Agent Kristin Nelson has a great blog. She sometimes posts cover letters that she likes, offers info on standard contracts and just has great all-around information about the publishing world.

   Janet Reid has one of my favorite blogs–with writer tips, query letter critiques, general ranting and raving, a lot of love for authors and books.

   Brillig Blog Joshua Bilmes doesn’t always talk agenting, but he does talk books and the industry. There’s gems to be found in these pages.

 

3. Hey there’s a dead guy – a blog that includes two or three writers, an editor, a publisher and an odd character or two. Each person does an article once a week. Lots of learning opportunities here. The blog authors are very good about answering questions in the comment trail.Here’s a particularly good post for all writers from the site.

 
 

4. Science Fiction Writers Association Scam Check Good site to check for info on agent backgrounds.
   • Related scam check blog Just a lot of common sense posts and commentary on things going on in the publishing world.

 

5. Fantasy and Paranomal author Holly Lisle: Archives have excellent writing tips and useful info from this published author.

 

6. Thriller and mystery author J.A. Konrath: writer tips; marketing your book tips, very informative author blog. Here’s a link to a download that is basically an e-book of his publishing experiences, tips, advice, etc: Konrath Ebook

 

7. Fantasy author Jim C. Hines has a lot of writer advice, writer angst, news of the industry and every Monday he does a great LOL cover–where he inserts a new title of choice on various covers.

 

8. www.Ralan.com great website that lists most of the short story speculative fiction markets

 

9. Writing tips–bad writing, bad habits, do’s and don’ts

 

10. Kirsch’s Guide to the Book Contract by Jonathan Kirsch.This should be required reading for any author. Even if you have an agent, this book will really help you understand how contracts work, how much you can expect to be paid and how “rights” work. A must read.

 

I did a post a while back on the Kindle and trolled around looking for opinions on it. One of the interesting things I came across was people talking about reading on the iPod touch. What surprised me most was how pleased they were overall with the performance and readability.

So today’s post is from guest blogger and good friend, Max, who recently bought an iPod touch and downloaded a couple of books and did some reading. Here’s what he had to say:

I spent most of my flights on the way home reading Sage using the Kindle Reader app for iPHONE/iPOD Touch. Just a little on the flights up.

For the flight back, I’d turned the brightness setting for the screen down to 1/6 in order to help conserve battery life. The default setting of 1/2 brightness really sucks the battery down fast. While reading, I had music playing in the background the entire time. Contrast and readability on the plane was great with this setting – I’d left “auto brightness” enabled so I’m sure it automatically cut the display further once the sunlight disappeared. BlueTooth and WiFi were both turned off.

Battery life under these circumstances was great. According to the iPOD, I’d used around 1/8 of the capacity after about 5 1/2 hours of use.

If the iPOD reader app supports text-to-speach, I’ve not found it yet.

Finding and downloading “Catch An Honest Thief” was a breeze.

The actual “reading” experience was very good overall. Hard to find much fault with it – so far. The one thing that was a bit frustrating was that the reader doesn’t seem to allow for “copy and paste” functionality.

Thanks for the input! I’m hearing that people are sometimes happier with using the iPod touch–more functionality than just reading. I’ve heard from both Kindle users and iPod that emailing is possible (I don’t know if Kindle users versus iPod users are happier with that particular function.) Interesting little devices.

I’m a big fan of libraries–as a writer and a reader. As a writer, there are things you can do to promote your work within the system–and sell more books not only to the library but to the public.

I’m going to do a series of posts on things to help sell into the library market, but remember the number one place to find out is–the library!

Libraries do have author events–and they will sometimes pay an author a small amount if the author gives an educational talk. The talk can be on writing techniques, submitting to magazines, short story writing, getting published, research or perhaps the subject matter covered in the book. Ask at your local library about opportunities. If they do have a budget to pay authors offer to accept an average of the last three events the library hosted. (This tip comes from author J.A. Konrath.)

Libraries do host book signings/sales, although they generally seem to prefer doing this after an author is established and has several books to sell to the public. Check with your local librarian about setting something up. The library generally puts up notices for you, signs people up (so you know about how many will attend) orders the books ahead of time, and handles the sales part.

Check with your librarian about being chosen for their “bookclub” choice of the month if they run such a program. This may mean the library will buy at least two copies of your book. It also means that those in the bookclub will either get your book from other libraries or will buy it.

Find out if your library has a “new releases” shelf. Most do. This shelf is often near the front of the library. For some patrons, it is the ONLY shelf they visit. They go in, get a few of the latest releases, and check out.

New books stay on the New Release shelf for approximately six months. You want your book there. You want it to get checked out as often as possible in that first six months to generate word-of-mouth. More importantly, if your book is checked out frequently, the library is much more likely to order your next release.

Note: Ask the library to order your book before the release date so that your book arrives as quickly as possible. Most libraries will not put your book on the new release shelf if it is already six months old–ie the New Release shelf is stocked by the publication date, NOT the date the library recieves the book. Some libraries will not put paperbacks on the new release shelf either, but it doesn’t hurt to ask!

Libraries often have “Theme” shelves. This is good once your book is off of the New Release shelf. Like the New Release shelf, it is a special shelf or section. The books are picked from the rest of the library masses and put on display so that they stand out. Libraries do themes such as: crafts, Christmas, fall, spring, winter, science fiction, cozies, thrillers, oldies but loved mysteries, etc. Talk to your librarian about where your book might fit. Come up with themes or reasons that it DOES fit. Books picked for themes see more check-out traffic.

There are many, many activities in the summer for kids. If you have YA or children’s book, talk to your librarian about performing a reading or giving a talk during the summer when kids are available.

In the next post, I’ll talk about some of the promotional items you might want to send to libraries to help them notice your books!

If you are an author hoping to use your local library to promote you book, check with your library before you design and order your promotional material. Each librarian has specific needs and tastes! What’s more, most librarians will be happy to show you samples of other promotional material they have received and this material might give you good ideas.

Here are a few things to consider:

Libraries may or may not want to give out your bookmark. Check with the library before you print 500 extra. Most will be more than happy to give out bookmarks, but some have rules against it. I can tell you for certain that bookmarks that appeal to children get picked up more often than anything too formal that contains only basic book information.

Each purchasing librarian has a preferred way of receiving information about books. Check with your local librarians to find out if they prefer post cards, a letter, colored flyers or envelopes stuffed with all of the above. Here’s the feedback I received when I asked:

• For the best overall cost and most preferred: Send an oversized postcard. Make sure that there is a color picture of the book on the front. Include the Title, author name, ISBN for hardback, soft cover and audio if available. Include the author website! Make sure the words/fonts are easy to read!!! If your postcard is the front cover of your book, leave white space for the basic information about your book. Librarians will look up review information before ordering, but if you have positive reviews, you might include a quick list on the back with quotes from readers.
• If you are going to the expense of a large envelope stuffed with PR materials, the librarians I interviewed said they love “freebies.” This can include: pens, bookmarks, coasters, temporary tattoos or stickers (they might use stickers for kids activities). Overall, the response was: “Make it worth my time to open the envelope. Too much information is a waste of paper. I need the basic information, and I need it in a font that is easy to read. I’m going to look the reviews up, so including the entire review in the package isn’t useful.”
• Most librarians did not like photocopied colored sheets with long book descriptions, althougth this works better for a non-fiction book. I saw some samples–the photocopy was of poor qualilty, no color picture of the book and nothing but text. Keep it interesting and short–lots of pictures, quick lists of reviews, quick list of quotes and sign it personally.

Finally, be aware of when your local library budget is approved. You want to make sure to get your book on the order list when the library still has money allocated for books. Very often, towards the end of the budget year, there may be no new books ordered for two or three months–the money for books is gone for that year. If you know when this happens in your local library, you can work with them to make sure your book gets ordered at the best time possible.

One other note: Libraries prefer hardback books because they last longer. They can rebind paperback books to help them last longer. If you have extra copies of your cover, offer libraries an copy or two (these are often used by authors as PR tools.) The library may rebind your book as a hardcover with the appropriate artwork before it ever sees the shelves. This will ensure that it is read often and well. Be aware that if your book is somehow damaged or destroyed before it has been checked out much, it will not automatically be reordered.

Libraries can be one of the most welcoming places in the world for authors. Take advantage of them!

After you’ve worked with them–here’s a link so that you can find out how many libraries carry your book: www.worldcat.org

Anyone that knows me or that reads my blog now and then may figure out that I don’t make my living from writing. That doesn’t mean I’m not interested in money matters or how much writers make or even money management; in fact quite the opposite. There’s a reason I link to www.BearMountainBull.com, my husband’s investment blog (and where I contribute).

When I started writing, hanging out at the occasional conference and talking to other writers, I noticed pretty quickly that very few writers had a business plan. Money management? Taxes? Not high on the conversation list.

Today I ran across a couple of posts that discuss money and what writers get paid. One such article is on Jim Hines blog–he’s a successful writer–three books published with a major publisher, many published short stories, and more books on the way–but Jim Hines doesn’t make his living writing. Another is John Scalzi–an even more successful writer, at least by writing income standards. And do note that he makes money writing fiction and non-fiction. He’s been freelancing for a lot of years. He has a plan; he’s a professional.

Hines’ article is very interesting because you’ll learn what a lot of authors may make when they have three books out. John Scalzi’s article covers not only basic finance, but has some info that is specific to writers. It should be required reading–and not just for writers.

Here’s a small sample of Scalzi at the top of one rant:

But you want that 42-inch 1080p TV! I understand; I want it too. What you do is save for it. When you save for something, it’s like you’re making a payment on it, except that you don’t have an evil credit card company charging you 19% for the privilege. I realize it’s condescending to put it that way, but, look: If people actually knew this, they wouldn’t have thousands in credit card debt, now, would they? And yes, it’s true that while you’re saving for that HDTV (or whatever), you don’t have it, and we as a nation are no longer used to the idea of not having what we want now now now now now. Well, get used to it, you insolvent jackass. Otherwise some bank owns your ass well into the next life. Really, that’s all I have to say about that.

I posted last year about writers/authors and how little they make (okay, the very successful ones make quite a bit, but most writers have a day job for real income.)   Several published authors are doing the favor again of putting out information on the topic.  Jim Hines started the thread, and he linked to others that are offering info on the subject of how much writers make:

Jim Hines’ Post on Money and Writing

Keep in mind that Jim Hines is a fairly successful writer (4 books out) and you’ll want to see his original post where he talks about some of the previous years.  You’ll also note if you follow some of the other links that some authors spend more of their earnings on websites, cons or other promotion.   It also seems that the more successful an author is, the less promo they have to do themselves.  There appears to be a snowball effect that helps them keep growing with less input from the author.  I found Jennifer Estep’s post interesting–and the comment’s trail has a comment from another author concerning his earnings.  Paul S. Kemp’s original post on the subject last year is also worth reading.

I suppose in fairness, since I had two short stories come out this year, I could post about my “earnings” but until I start making more than 150 dollars a year on my writing, I’m guessing that info doesn’t need to be broken down too much…

So I saw…more than a few complaints from Sony reader users that “Kindle exclusive” authors were shutting themselves out of a rather large opportunity. Apparently Sony is fairly popular in Europe and other countries, especially since the Kindle isn’t yet available over there unless you can provide a US credit card and/or address.

The problem for authors and readers is the lack of a cohesive storefront. There are many sites for ebooks (and the formats range from RTF to Sony, to EPUB to .MOBI). Some of these ebook stores require and use DRM, some accept self-published, some do not. If a reader wants to buy a book at any of these stores, she has to create an account. Remember a password. Browse it occasionally to look for new books. The selection on the sites varies from a few thousand to many thousand. Some of the sites have a lot of public domain books (and not enough newer stuff), some have taken more time with making sure that uploaded formats are clean and formatted nicely.

For authors…same thing. Uploading multiple formats, stores all over the internet, accounts to keep track of, rules to keep track of, forums galore…it’s a distribution nightmare. Which ones to choose? All? None? The royalty paid to authors is different on each site. The price rules are different.

But we’re all about experimenting here at BMBooks. Gulp.

I made Sage: Tales from a Magical Kingdom available on Smashwords in those multiple formats I mentioned (PDF, HTML, Javascript, EPUB, MOBI, LRF, and PDB). Why Smashwords? Other authors gave them high marks. A few of those Sony users mentioned them as well. The process was not all that hard, although there were formatting issues to resolve (and some of those were real bears!) Their royalty contract was good, thoroughly explained and–did not require an exclusive. Some sites (I believe Fictionwise is one) requires exclusive listings. I’m not sure if this exclusivity expires after a time or if if it remains so long as the book is listed. Exclusivity is fine for a brief period, but after that–with all these ebook sites–yikes!

It’s hard to say which of these sites will garner a lot of market share. I was pleased to read that Smashwords signed a distribution agreement with Barnes and Noble. Right now B&N doesn’t seem to have much of a reputation for ebooks at all. So it could be slow going and an uphill battle.

If anyone has a Sony reader and has an opinion or likes/dislikes, where you shop for books–I’m all ears. Or eyeballs in this case!

This weekend I attended a talk by book publicist P.J. Nunn. (Thanks to the local Austin Sisters in Crime chapter for setting it up.) PJ blogs once a week over at Dead Guy where she imparts little gems about what authors need to do to get noticed. You can also find out more about PJ’s company, Breakthrough Promotions, on her website.

Anyway, I brought home a few useful tips and facts. Since I read Dead Guy, not all of the things were a surprise, but I tried to condense a few of the more interesting tidbits here:

1. Once you sign a contract with a book company, you need to start looking for a publicist if you intend to hire one. Actual events won’t be scheduled, but you’ll have time to interview various publicists and once you hire one, she will keep you in the back of her mind–when booksellers or radio people call her looking for a book tie-in, she’ll know if you and your book are a good fit.
   
   P.J. likes to know about a book coming out twelve to eighteen months in advance to work you into the schedule and do the best job. She works with authors with a shorter time-frame all the time, but the longer in advance she knows, the better. You don’t need a publicist BEFORE the contract is signed.
2. Books distributed by other than Ingrim or Baker (as is common with smaller publishers) cannot generally be carried by major book chains without going through an approval process. In other words, if your book won’t be distributed by the big name distributors, you won’t appear in stores. You MAY be able to get one or two local chain store(s) to carry the book if they know you (you shop there, you take the time to introduce yourself, etc). The chains won’t order them unless someone comes in and requests the book. They will order that single copy for the customer, but not carry the book on the shelf (this is actually true of some bookstores even if you are with a major publisher–if the book isn’t on their buy list, they will only order the one copy).
   
   There is an approved list of small publishers/vendors that the chains reference to see if they will carry your book, but this list is not readily obtainable–nor is it easy to get a publisher on the list if it is not already on there. You will have a harder time selling your book through bookstores. For any signings, you may have to supply the books yourself (the bookstores will process them and you’ll get paid for sales, but you have to have the inventory). This is something to take into consideration when you’re signing that contract. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sign–but it does mean you should know your selling job is going to be harder. A few publicists may try to help you/your publisher get on the approved list, but it is difficult and not something the bookstores are particularly interested in doing. PJ didn’t use the word “impossible,” but you could see it on her forehead.
3. Print announcements (newspapers, magazines) are the hardest advertising/announcements to obtain these days. You must schedule three to six months in advance. You generally must have a personal angle/hook to get a write-up–not just being a local writer, but a tie-in with some event. For example, if you write cooking cozies, you have a better chance of a local radio or paper spot if you use that book angle during a large summertime cook-off.
4. Kirkus and Library Journal require two copies of your book in order to even consider doing a review. Publisher’s Weekly requires one (I think–better plan on two just in case). In these times of cutbacks, consider that your author copies (the number of free copies you get from your publisher varies by contract) are going to be used for publicity. You might want to try and get more copies in your contract so you have more to use for publicity.
5. If you don’t get ARCs (Advance User Copies) from the publisher, consider doing your own semi-professional bound copies at Kinkos/Office Max to send to some review places. It must look nice!!! Do not make a hack job of it or your book will likely be set aside and ignored. (Ten to twenty ARCS is a common number of ARCS done today, but that number is dwindling. That number is also generally a smaller number with small presses.)
6. If you write a Christmas book (as is quite common with cozies) you have a limited shelf life. Be aware of this when/if you’re asked to do a specialty/holiday book of any sort.
7. Take something eye-catching to your book signing. Examples: Lego displays that depict a scene in the book. Mini-crime scene. Framed objects or a poster board with clippings/objects that apply to your book. Do not dress as a vampire or get too cute…do not go naked with a sign board of your book cover covering…parts of your body!
8. What can a first time author expect from a publicist? As an unknown, a publicist should be able to get you:
    
   • reviews on the internet
   • Local paper announcement (sometimes these are very difficult.)
   • Book signings
   • Library Appearance
   • Radio Appearance (local, smaller markets)
   • Maybe local tv

How much would something like the above package cost? Anywhere from $500 to $25,000, depending on the publicist. If you hire a publicist, ASK what you will get for your money–how many interviews, print appearances, signings, etc. Keep in mind the publicist may not get every single one that you talk about–but you should have some sort of meter in mind for your money. PJ works with “packages,” trying to set up “x” number of things for a certain price and more for a higher price. This may seem obvious, but it is not–many publicists will take your money with no particular plan in place.

I’ll talk more tomorrow or later in the week about my impressions of the discussions at the meeting–my own personal take-away. If you have questions, throw them in the comments–or visit Dead Guys and post comments for PJ there. She’s very approachable and helpful.

In yesterday’s post I covered points and tips that book publicist PJ Nunn shared at a recent Sister’s in Crime meeting in Austin, Texas. Today I’m going to talk about some of my thoughts. For now, I’ll mainly cover: Internet promotion versus Everything Else

PJ talked about a promotion pyramid (she didn’t have the graphic, but described it and I may have gotten some of the details…let’s just say there’s room for error). At the bottom of the pyramid (most important) was print/library, then radio, signings and last, at the top, internet.

I thought it an interesting pyramid and probably the exact opposite of how I would prioritize. I don’t know if it is a generation thing (I think I’m the same age as she is) or just a usage thing. I have never subscribed to a newspaper. Ever. I don’t listen to talk radio. When a commercial comes on, I switch stations (almost compulsively, I kid you not.) I rarely hear ads. For one to stay with me…probably isn’t going to happen.

PJ mentioned that the internet can become the worst time-sink of all the activities. I agree. Just like anything else, you have to prioritize your time. But…the internet is where I get *all* my book recommendations these days. Maybe I’m a minority. And I’m not saying I want to miss out on other opportunities. I’d prioritize the library pretty high on the list as well.

PJ didn’t mention that she blogged on Dead Guy until I raised my hand and asked about it. Yet–as an advertising tool, it must have worked because I attended the talk after learning about it from reading…the Dead Guy post. There were about fifteen of us in attendance, and I was the only one that heard about it via the internet that I know of. So yeah, the hit rate wasn’t high. But I don’t participate in Sister’s in Crime (I don’t have a book published so there’s not a lot of incentive.) I also don’t go out much so even had the bookstore had a notice I never would have seen it.

I order most of my books online (seriously–99 percent.) My book club is online. I read reviews online. I get a number of books from the library, and if I am likely to attend an event–it will be at the library. I’ll hear about the event by chance or because the library posts it on their internet page (which I see frequently when I’m out browsing to see if they have a title.)

Now, granted, I’m just one book buyer/reader. BUT after listening to PJ talk, I felt that yes, I’d have to give more consideration to some of the other things on the pyramid. I still left feeling that the internet was probably the most important tool I could use. Why? Because of all the things that she talked about, the internet was the most cost-effective. It won’t reach everyone. But neither do any of the other mediums. A book signing is going to eat up an entire day and possibly have travel costs as well as smaller costs (a candy dish, a display, etc.) And there is no guarantee you’ll sell any books at all. In fact, if I were to be published by a small publisher, book signings would fall lower on the list because the chance of being carried by stores would be even smaller.

Libraries are my second pick because I’ve seen how well they work. Not just talks either. A visit to a library to talk to the librarian about your book can mean the book gets displayed or promoted during its release–or during a special promotion on certain topics.

Newspaper and other print? If I had to pay for it, I’d skip. Like anyone, I’d love to be reviewed anywhere, but there are long lines to get reviewed. I’d have to study each market carefully before “spending” an ARC or print copy. I’m a reviewer. It is impossible to review every book I am sent.

I think you have to pick a few markets and try really hard to get coverage. The topic of review markets has been discussed on Dead Guy before and I think most people felt that a professional review beat blog reviews hands-down. I…tended to disagree with that. Any review is good. Reviews on sites with lots of traffic are obviously better than an individual blog (such as my own.) But competition is fierce. I think you gotta try to get the mentions where you can and not be snobby about it. We’d all love to be on Oprah, but it isn’t going to happen.

Then too, I spend time reading book blogs. Professional ones and hobby ones. Some people will probably only read the “pro” ones. Some people are just looking to talk books.

Radio: I’m ambivalent about radio simply because I don’t listen. I wouldn’t turn down a radio spot. I’ve been on the radio before (it’s a little nerve-wracking). The key is: If someone is listening to the radio, are they going to stop and take the time to write down the book title? Maybe. But it’s not an impulse buy.

I’ll talk a little more about radio and podcasts–it came up during the Q&A and again, I found it pretty interesting.

And keep in mind that PJ wasn’t against the internet — but the internet is something you can do for yourself. Some of the other venues might be harder and that’s where an author can benefit from her network and knowledge.

I’d also like to think we are on the cusp of change. The internet has opened entire venues that were closed before–including researching and accessing information such as this. It’s a wonderful tool that can provide an author with exposure, interaction and discussions.

Sage: Tales from a Magical Kingdom – Now available for download to your Kindle, iPhone or iPod-touch via Amazon.

EDIT: Sage: Tales from a Magical Kingdom is now available in multiple formats, including Sony formats, HTML, PDF and EPUB over at www.Smashwords.com. Here is a link to Sage. The price is still the same: $1.00

Also available via Barnes and Noble.

Sword and Sorcery meets Agatha Christie. Three novellas introduce the Kingdom of Sage and those who protect its boundaries. Join Demetria and her husband Ward in their adventures as they protect Sage from evil: Rats, Snakes and perpetrators from within.

Sometimes it takes a more experienced hand to save an entire Kingdom.

The first of these stories, Toil, Trouble and Rot, was published in Coyote Wild Magazine; the other two are all new, original stories. In Dungeons and Decay find out just how far a mother will go when her child is in danger–and how much magic it takes to keep him safe. In Call to Arms, its a family affair; every hand is needed when a ghost invades the kingdom demanding old wrongs be righted.

Kindle has just released Catch an Honest Thief (A Haven Mystery) for download to Kindles, iPhone or iPOD touch.

If you enjoy cozy mysteries, check it out:

An Indiana Jones-style caper across the desert of New Mexico; high-tech gadgets, a mystery and a romance.

Alexia is trying to protect the crystals that power the city of Haven. Going undercover and stealing the crystals seemed like a great idea–until a real thief showed up.

Bait and switch is suddenly cat and mouse–but who is the real thief? And why is the new security chief spending so much time looking into her background?

Confessing her secret plans to protect the crystals might help the security chief narrow in on the real culprit, but it would cost Alexia her job, her freedom, and her status. Of course, if she keeps standing in the way of the real thief, it will cost her a whole lot more.

Young adults may also enjoy this cozy mystery with a romantic subplot.

Pages: ~260 or 3900 locations (Kindle terminology).
Price: $1.99.

Edit: Catch an Honest Thief is now available in multiple online formats, including HTML, Sony Reader and .mobi over at Smashwords.

Also available via Barnes and Noble.

This appears to be the week where all the publishing tips come in at once! I have found a plethora of gems from the editor(s) over at Mundania Press.

In my posts on publicity, it was probably pretty obvious that going with a smaller press (i.e. not one of the huge houses) may mean the author has to work harder at publicity or in getting books in bookstores. Turns out, there are a few advantages:

First, when working with a big house, an author usually has NO say in the cover. If you have a good editor and a good agent, you might be able to wheedle a few changes to the cover art. When working with a smaller press, Niki Browning (aka Skye), the Art Director for Mundania Press, wrote a great blog post for authors on the subject of cover art. Here’s a couple of samples:

Let’s face it; unless you are Stephen King or Mary Higgins Clark, your cover is what will sell your book so it better be a good one.

So how do you, the author, help to make sure your cover is the best it could possibly be? Well let’s go over some basics.

Wiggle room
Give the artist breathing room; don’t be too set on your vision…

…

Lack of focus
It’s ok to be vague. Give your artist several pieces of imagery you’d like to see on the cover and we can work with that.

…

Remember, we want the books with our covers to sell just as much as you do.

Go read the whole thing. It’s a very informative post. No matter who you are working with, Skye has some great tips.

Skyla Dawn (acquisitions editor for Mundania Press) also did a fabulous blog post–giving up the keys to the Kingdom, she talks about the submission process at Mundania. She includes all the important details and links to other posts that are related:

Stats from the Slush Pile
Why they can’t publish previously published (re: self-published) work.
Acquisition Tips
How to Inquire About a Submission
Why Rejections Don’t Include Feedback
What Made a Book a “yes!”
Perspective on Rejections
Publishing is like Dating
Don’t Burn that Bridge!

It may seem like an exhausting list, but trust me–those tips are GOLD. Sure, some of them seem obvious (and just what kind of dating life did the editor have anyway???) but every single one is worth reading. Mundania Press also has a nice little submission stats update on the right sidebar–telling authors that check in, just how far along the editors have read. I’d have to say it’s one of the more friendly sites I’ve visited.

DJ over at her blog tagged me with a bunch of writing questions. So here are the answers:

What’s the last thing you wrote? Working on my WIP–the second book in the “Under Witch Moon” series. Here’s a brief description of the first book.

Was it any good? Nah, the stuff I’m writing now is just draft level. I throw out paragraphs–maybe some dialogue, description, etc, but it is far from finished prose and will need editing several times. As the book takes form, it may get moved and lots will change as I fit it into other events and the overall timeline.

What’s the first thing you ever wrote that you still have? Wow. I probably have some old starts to novels on my hard drive…no, I think they are actually on diskette. I think one of them is actually in txt format, pre-Word days!

Write poetry? Never. Wrote a few greeting cards for friends that might have had some loosely-related poetry form.

Angsty poetry? Nope. Angst, whiny writing for sure, but not poetry.

Favourite genre of writing? This is tough. I’d say cross-genre; mystery/fantasy, but I write cozies that have no paranormal elements, and I have written fantasy that has no relation to the real world.

Most fun character you ever created? Another tough question. I really like Sedona (link to excerpt) but I also like Max Killian (star of the short story over at www.TheTownDrunk.org –has moved to www.towndrunkmag.com ). Then there’s Adriel, the star of “Under Witch Moon.” She’s a really great kick-ass character. I guess I love them all!

Best plot you ever created? I’m hoping that is yet to come, just an ever-improving cleverness…

How often do you get writer’s block? Never, really. I get writer’s laziness, I get stuck on plot details, but ideas aren’t usually the bottleneck in my writing.

Write fan fiction? Nope.

Do you type or write by hand? All computer, although when I started, I wrote by hand and typed it in. I liked sitting outside and writing or writing curled up in a chair (this was eons ago). I’m slightly more disiplined these days.

Do you save everything you write? No. I delete entire paragraphs and have been known to delete a few very early versions of a novel. But keep in mind that as I get close to “finishing” the novel, I’m usually on about version 19 or so. The earlier versions don’t contain all the chapters. I don’t houseclean often either, so most of what I write is on the hard drive.

Do you ever go back to an old idea long after you abandoned it? Yes. Especially short stories. I’ll get an idea, jot it into the computer, maybe even write a few paragraphs–a scene or two. For various reasons, I may put it down for months. I may end up using the idea with different characters or sometimes, I just don’t know where I want that particular character to go with the idea, so I let it sit.

Do you ever show people your work? Yes, but I’d probably rather not. Showing my work is work also. I’m also impatient. Sometimes it takes weeks for a friend to finally get around to reading and letting me know what they think.

Did you ever write a novel? Sure. Six or so.

What’s your favourite setting for your characters? Move them around. But I do tend to set things in the mountains.

How many writing projects are you working on right now? Really only one novel. During the coming months I may take a break from it and write a short story or two.

Have you ever won an award for your writing? “Secrets in the Sand” was fourth place in a Writer’s Digest contest in 2003, and “Soul of the Desert” placed in the Crime Writer’s Associate Dagger Debut also in 2003. My Palo Duro story received honorable mention in the Writer’s Work Contest.

Ever written something in script or play format? Nope.

What are your five favourite words? I’m not sure I have favorite words, but if I had to pick, I’d probably say, hope, love and faith.

Do you ever write based on yourself? I’m not quite sure what this means…of course my experiences color my writing, so in that sense, yes, but the characters are obviously not me. As I write, their personalities take on a life of their own, growing and changing. I’ve written male characters, animal characters, and female characters.

What character have you created that most resembles yourself? Probably Sedona (Executive Lunch) and Adriel (Under Witch Moon). But then there’s the little old lady in “Toil, Trouble and Rot” coming out at www.CoyoteWildMag.com this year…she’s a wizard and a gardener…and I’m definitely a gardener!!!

Where do you get ideas for your other characters? Out of the blue.

Do you ever write based on your dreams? Nope. My dreams are like wisps of smoke. Even if I wake up thinking I have an idea from a vaguely remembered dream…I can’t ever really pull it together into a story. In the daylight, it loses its power and turns into the mist of remembered emotions.

Do you favour happy endings, sad endings, or cliff-hangers? I completely favor happy endings, although I have written a cliff-hanger or two.

Have you ever written based on an artwork you’ve seen? No. I’m not a visual person that way. I can and do write based on places I’ve been, especially if I’ve hiked an area and breathed it, lived it, and heard the sounds–experienced it. I love art for the emotions it brings, but that doesn’t translate to an idea for me.

Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write? Yes. I didn’t use to be, but I’ve found it saves me time if I just try to do it correctly the first time.

Ever write something entirely in chatspeak? Nope.

Does music help you write? I love music and it helps me with ideas. I like to ride in the car with loud music on a country road, just thinking and letting thoughts pop about. But when I write, silence is my best friend.

Quote something you’ve written. From my short story, Around the Bend, over at www.CoyoteWildMag.com:

I hadn’t driven the road after dark, because it was so small. The first night I tried it, I realized that maybe it still wasn’t all that safe. In a spot about halfway to the new intersection, a milky-pale presence flashed across my rear-view mirror.

I hit the brakes.

I’ve been waiting to write this post for at least a month. When I started out publishing on the Kindle, one of my goals was to sell well enough to publish a second book. That didn’t take me long. Sage: Tales from a Magical Kingdom is a set of novellas–and short stories don’t sell as well as novels, but from the get-go, I was pleased with sales.

From research, I used these two statistics to set my goals:

1. Self-published authors rarely sell more than 75 copies and most of those copies are to friends and relatives.
2. Small publishers sell 20 to 30 copies of each title per month.

Given those two points, I figured selling 10 to 20 copies of Sage per month was a good goal. I’ve only published a few pieces in online zines, so my name is completely unknown. Since I was selling into the Kindle market, I didn’t have to worry that relatives or friends would be buying significant copies–no one I knew had a Kindle!

Sage made the 10 copies per month pretty easily and hit twenty plus–in fact, it averages twenty copies per month. It took me less than six months to reach 75 copies. So from that standpoint, I think we could say I reached the bottom tier of self-publishing pretty easily.

Sage will never be a blockbuster, nor will it generate significant income–it’s priced at $1.00. What it does do is generate interest and serve as a cheap way for readers to sample my writing style. It did well enough that I decided to publish a novel, Catch an Honest Thief.

My goals for Thief were to sell 20 to 30 copies a month or get close enough to figure out if the market was receptive to my work.

Thief had a rocky start. It made the twenty and then sagged for a couple of months. The reviews and feedback on both Thief and Sage were good, however. By November 2009, I still didn’t know whether the model made sense. Sage was meeting expectations, reviews were meeting expectations but sales were under expectations with Thief.

I decided to go ahead with Executive Lunch. My goals were the same as for Thief: twenty to thirty sales per month. If sales for either of them didn’t get there, Lunch would probably have been my last Kindle edition. (Keep in mind that while all of this was going on, I did have a completely different series subbed to regular publishers.) I’m a big believer in attacking from different angles to reach my goals.

Executive Lunch was what I will term my Kindle “break-out” novel. It averages over 100 copies per month. It helps sales of the other two books as well, pushing them into the 20 per month since it went live. Some of its success is probably due to the good reviews on the other two, plus some good early reviews for Lunch. Some of the success is probably due to the fact that it came out in November, very near the big Christmas shopping season.

I used the success of Lunch to tweak the book description of Thief and also to improve the cover.

The bottom line: My goal was to sell 500 minimum within 18 months to declare any kind of success. With Executive Lunch, I reached that number today, after four months. My audience has been kind–maybe because I don’t charge much for my novels, maybe just because they are kind people. At any rate, the second in the Executive series will be out this year. My goals are a little higher now that I have some numbers. Realizing the whole thing could fall apart due to the economy or fate or alien zombies, I’m hoping to sell a thousand copies of Executive Lunch by the end of this year–and five hundred of Executive Retention, which I expect out in July, priced at $2.99.

It’s been a lot of fun, a lot of work, but I’m enjoying myself. Watch the blog–I’ll be having a cover contest to choose the covers for my next two books!

Normally, I’d save this for my monthly column over at BSCreview, but I’ve got something else planned for that column (which if it works out will be super cool.  Hint:  It might be some artwork from a guy that does cozy artwork and children’s artwork!)

There’s a really great interview conducted by Jeremy L. C. Jones in the latest Clarkesworld magazine. Jeremy interviewed the editors of probably the top ten fiction magazines (spec fic) out there.   While a lot of the ground covered shouldn’t be new to anyone who has been submitting for a while–there are some gems to be had.

This line by Nielsen Hayden (Tor) was great:

Read something other than SF. Do something with your life other than struggling to sell SF stories.

So true. When you consider how little writing pays and the competition? If you put all your eggs in that basket, all you’re going to end up with is smelly eggs! To point: On the BlackGate Forum a couple of weeks ago, John O’Neill (editor of BlackGate) mentioned that BlackGate had been open for submissions for about three weeks. They had over 300 subs come in…so far…and counting.

BlackGate publishes probably 12 to maybe 15 stories per issue. They do about 3 issues a year. You do the math on the chances of having a story accepted.

O’Neill had this very interesting tidbit:

I once got an angry letter from a reader asking why I didn’t publish more medieval fantasy, with castles, princesses and dragons and the like. I thought it was a bit ridiculous at first. Isn’t everyone as tired of that as I am? How many dragon—slaying stories do we need? But now I think I understand what she meant. Like most editors I respond best to genuine innovation in fiction — the original, truly well-crafted setting, the character with a fresh voice — but there’s a very real hunger for the familiar among readers, especially the trappings of the fantasy of our youth. I think we ignore that at our peril.

I am that reader. I’m not tired of medieval fantasy with castles and dragons. Some of the “innovative” stuff just…isn’t my cup of tea. I’m often looking for comfort food when I read, not the newest, exotic snail sauce.

There’s some really great stuff out there in the interview–every single editor has something interesting to say. Check it out.

In my trolling, I came across this valuable advice from a slush reader (otherwise and often known as editors.)

Clarkesworld Editor

Most of it is pretty obvious. I laughed at the one about changing the file name because I am always careful to make sure and not send my file names with version numbers. In my case, it is because I don’t want the editor to know that, yes, I really have made 26 major changes to versions of this story…and you should see how high the version number gets for a novel! Yikes!

One of the things that makes it difficult to follow guidelines to the last nitty-gritty detail is that every single e-zine and print magazine has different guidelines. Yes, there is a “standard manuscript format” but that usually only includes one inch margins and double spacing. After that, it gets a little hairy–some want no author name on the manuscript. Some want author name, title of manuscript and page numbers. Where they want this info can be split between top and bottom of the page–or all in one place. Some really do specify that they want the page number in the top right only. Not just put a page number somewhere, but top right, please.

Yes, these things can be done. And one change isn’t a big deal. But it’s always more than just one thing–because there’s the font that must be checked and changed, there’s some that want the first page of the story on a fresh page…and so on. I kid you not, I’ve seen at least two guidelines that had a requirement of, “Do not put two spaces after a period. Use only one.” Maybe it’s only old-farts like me that understand why a lot of people put two spaces, but I find it strange that an editor actually cares so much about submissions at the early stage to request extra spaces be taken out.

I can think of one e-zine that has a list of guidelines and then a sample submission–that doesn’t follow said guidelines!

The hardest requirements are those that want “Standard” EXCEPT they want it in the body of an email, single-spaced with double between paragraphs…

It’s a mine field, I tell you, a mine field. It can be a harrowing journey just to submit the thing…

The best news is that most e-zines and print now accept email subs. When I started this journey about 7 or 8 years ago–very few, if any, took email subs. Now, all but the top circulated take them so even with all the “non-standard” requests, submitting is a lot easier than it used to be!

Some of you may know that I review for BSCreviews (formerly known as Prince. No, I mean, formerly BookSpotCentral). I also do a few reviews or book mentions on my own site. Most of the books I review come to me from BSCreview via a highly secret selection process. Others come to me direct from the author, a publicist or the publisher. Some of them are library books or books I buy. I don’t review all the books I receive. BUT when I do, for the love of all that is holy, why in the world do authors not have pictures of their book covers easily accessible on their website? WHY???

Here’s the problem. For BSCreviews, it is difficult, if not impossible, to use Amazon pictures. We have to edit the pictures to get rid of the white space or the “look inside” feature that is sprayed all over the cover. This causes much cursing and flat out isn’t worth the time because the cover ends up looking like someone took a hatchet to them.

If I start looking for the cover shot before I write the review and the book was good, but not fall-down good…I may decide to just scrap the review (if it isn’t one that I’ve signed up to do–say it’s a library book). Yes, I am that lazy. But here’s the deal. Doing book reviews takes time. Usually a minimum of an hour. There’s links, there’s getting the required info that each review site specifies, there’s special *%#% formatting that each review site wants. There’s logging in to a site, getting the review typed in, approvals if required, and then there’s the cover:

Covers sell books.
Covers grab the eye.
Covers have color and make the review more than just a string of words.

And with most review sites, the cover is required and it’s required in a specific format/size. No one can have the cover in all sizes, but a decently sized photo, with no white space around it, can easily be resized down a few notches. Covers cannot easily be resized LARGER.

There are many, many, MANY authors that do not have cover shots on their websites. Of those that do, they usually offer one size. It is almost always HUGE. It often runs the length of the sidebar or parts of it are across the top or there’s just one giant picture that you link to from a “cover shot” link. Sometimes it is embedded into the website design and can’t be copied or saved as a picture. Too many times it has artwork added around the outside or is a special link, making it hard to copy.

ARGH. Most reviews need a nice, medium cover shot (about the size of the one Amazon puts out, but without the white, without any extra words). It should be resizable and CLEAR–this means that authors can’t have taken a very small shot and resized it bigger because by the time us reviewers use the shot, it looks like my aunt Mildred took the picture using manual focus without her glasses.

Ideally? A bio page or a “cover shots” page with every published book cover available, especially books that just came out or that will come out soon. If I am doing an interview or a larger article about an author, I want previous books, I want covers from various series–I want covers!

A medium sized cover shot is imperative (somewhere in the 150 to 200 pixel size). I personally use 150 and/or 200 quite frequently. A larger size (250- 300) might be nice to have, especially for short mentions where the cover is given a prominent spot. Smaller thumbnails are pretty easy to create when putting them in a post so they aren’t necessary.

And while I’m on the topic–authors should almost always use a cover shot as their avatar (those little pictures beside their name when posting or commenting.) I’ve bought many a book because I see that little tiny cover and I go check it out. No matter how pretty a person, I have yet to follow a link that has an author photo rather than a cover shot. Maybe it’s just me.