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.

Amazon UK
(It’s available at all the Amazon country retailer stores, including Germany, Spain, Italy and France).
Barnes and Noble
Sony
Kobobooks

If you have an e-reader that supports ePUB, I will be uploading the ePub files for sale from my own website soon. In the meantime, try here:

Smashwords

Sword and Sorcery meets Agatha Christie. Three novellas introduce the Kingdom of Sage and those who protect its boundaries.
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.

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.