Recently I got a chance to visit my folks in Dallas. One of our favorite activities is sitting around the kitchen table, stuffing our faces and swapping lies. My brother, who inherited the oral storytelling gene from my dad, somehow got off on a tangent and said, "Hey, let me tell you my monkey story". We are close in age as well as filial affection. We share similar temperaments, senses of humor, human frailties, musical tastes, and a love of Tex Mex. I have known him since the day he was born, but I had never heard his 'monkey story'.
It seems he was out at some snooty Dallas eatery in the 80s, where all the men's collars were popped and the ladies' hair was big. One couple brought their pet spider monkey with them for lunch out on the patio. Apparently the monkey found a wad of gum stuck underneath their table, amused himself with it for a while, then rinsed his tiny monkey paws in everyone's iced tea. They were so busy looking cool, they didn't notice, and enjoyed their tea just like everyone else.
This story got a few laughs around our table. And as often happens, one story leads to another. Turns out my brother had another monkey story, about the time he visited the local zoo on a field trip for a high school photography class and was selected to hold an orangutan while everyone else took photos.
Huh. Another monkey story I had never heard. And what I wouldn't give to have a copy of one of those photos!
But wait - there's more. There was that time he and his husband Peter were on vacay in Africa (well, ONE of the times 😉), and a monkey jumped down onto their table and snatched Peter's toast right off his plate, quicker than you can say 'capuchin'. That one, I had heard.
Which reminded my mom of the time one of their neighbors had a pet monkey that jumped onto my grandmother's back and scared the everlovin' bejeezus out of her. Granny Winona never much liked monkeys after that.
By this time, I was feeling very inadequate that I didn't have a monkey story of my own. So I shared one I had heard on NPR about how some folks in India are sick and tired of the rampaging monkeys raiding their village. Sure, it was second-hand, but it was all I had.
All this monkey business got me thinking about why some people have monkey stories, and some don't. Monkey stories represent getting out there and living life. I don't mean you have to actually get yourself a pet monkey or afford pricey vacations. Just interact. Go places. Do things. Observe and remember. Document and share. Sitting at home in front of a glass screen is not going to get you any monkey stories. It's the first-person monkey story that people want, not some regurgitated thing you heard on the radio or read online.
I still don't have any first-person monkey stories. But I bagged a good bat story, a peacock story, and an airplane-vs-flock of birds story recently. Next time I have dinner with my brother, let's see if he can top that.
A recent blog post revealed I had 19 bookmarks in my Character bookmark folder. Not to be outdone, my Plot folder boasts 24 links. This does not surprise me as I find plotting much more fun than character development. To me, plotting is the excitement of designing the house, getting the foundation poured, watching the walls go up. Character development is hanging sheetrock, laying tile, and painting - gratifying when done well, but dangerously close to drudgery. So here's a few highlights from the fun part - PLOT.
One of my favorite resources is this video from one of the Toy Story 3 collaborators. It's all about a strong beginning. Works for any genre.
9 Ways To Undermine Your Character's Best Laid Plans by Lisa Cron at Writer Unboxed. "Do make sure everything that can go wrong, does. The only time things come easily is when they are the opposite of what is actually best."
Six of my links in the Plot folder are from Fiction University, including The Key to Creating Suspense Is . . . by Janice Hardy. In addition to that perfect title, Hardy also shares this nugget: "A reader who doesn't care what happens next won't read on to find out. It's our job as writers to create a situation that's so tempting, so exciting, so emotional, that readers can't put down our books."
So many articles on plot recall or re-frame Joseph Campbell's work. But the different interpretations can be worthwhile. As Janice Hardy says, sometimes you just have to roll the dice.
Please note: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
Drum roll, please: on July 17, 2015, I achieved a personal goal by a) completing my first fiction manuscript, and b) successfully navigating the self-publishing process.
Both are goals I have been working toward for some time. Now that I see how the process works, I have several more works in progress that can hit the e-shelves as soon as I finish them off. As a self-publishing newbie, I thought I would share my experience with the nuts and bolts of it for those of you who are considering doing the same.
Composition
I have been working on this book for a shamefully long time. Originally I began composition using Word 97. I transitioned to OpenOffice, which also worked great. I had a short-lived experience with Google Docs which I don't recommend for longer documents. Let's call that a learning experience aka FAIL. No harm done, thank goodness - I kept the .doc file somewhere safe and was easily able to go back to using it.
Toward the end of the Dala project, I saw some references to the Scrivener word processing product. Specifically I was interested in what several users had to say about the ease of converting your manuscript to a format used by the major e-book publishers. I also liked some of its organizational features. Long story short, I bought it and used it and love it. I run it on a PC, so it's not even running full bore (apparently it works best on Mac products) and I really enjoy using it. Although - full disclosure: I am a computer nerd and enjoy the inevitable little puzzles and problems that come up from time to time. The compilation process was no exception. If you don't enjoy troubleshooting computer programs, you may find a few bumps in the road when it comes time to publish. But I think you might experience that regardless of whether you have Scrivener compile your file or let the e-pub sites do it for you.
Editing
I have seen all the advice out there to hire out the editing. I was very tempted to do so, and may do so in future if budget allows. But as luck would have it, Janice Hardy's Fiction University was running her 30-day editing series around the time I was ready to edit. As a devout DIY-er, I jumped on board. If only I could have completed the job in 30 days! It was a very grueling couple of months, not gonna lie. I have much to learn on the grand concepts of writing such as plot development and story arc. If I ever hire an editor, that's what I will be looking for help with. But I have a decent grasp of grammar and spelling. Couple that with spell checking technology and St. Janice, and I felt confident my manuscript was in pretty good shape when I pushed the Publish button - as good or better than many I have seen.
The Cover
I have also seen some wonderful advice regarding cover design. I will definitely be applying it to my next project which at present has absolutely no concept for a cover. I especially like this site for DIY designs. But some time ago I happened upon the most adorable piece of art on Etsy that I thought perfectly evoked the tone of The Dala Horse. I contacted the artist, bought the piece, and secured her gracious permission to use it on the cover. I am very happy with the look and really never considered using anything else. I do need to improve my photo editing skills as the image looks a little grainy depending on what I am using to view it.
UPDATE: I could've edited the above paragraph to reflect subsequent changes to my viewpoint on the subject of covers. But I left it here as a stark reminder of what a doofus I was early in my self-pub journey. This post gives the humbling details of the rest of the story about my book's cover.
Publishing
At last the finish line came into view and I started investigating the various self-publishing outlets. I found this article to be particularly helpful, and chose to go with Kindle Direct. It costs nothing up front, it pays well, and the publishing process was fairly straightforward. Initially, Dala was only available as an e-book. Eventually I added a paperback version via Createspace as well as an audio book via ACX.
Marketing
Part of the reason it has taken me so long to get this project completed is that I allowed myself to use 'building a platform' as an excuse not to work on my manuscript. I wouldn't say a platform is a waste of time, exactly, until I read this eye-opening article by C. S. Lakin about genre vs. platform. I did purchase KDSpy and you better believe I have already used it to confirm my next project will be in a little better position to market itself when it comes out later this year. Yes, you read that correctly: market itself.
I haven't completely abandoned my so-called platform. This website + blog, obvs. I am a Twitterholic. I love the advice on how to use Pinterest to complement your book with lots of fun visuals. After much back-and-forth, I set up a separate author Page on Facebook and am actually enjoying working with it as a marketing tool. I also enjoy Instagram.
Ephemera
I had a really hard time deciding when to stop the editing and just publish the damn thing. I still have days when something occurs to me that I would like to change or check on. The nice thing about e-publishing is that if it were a glaring error, I could fix it and upload a new version. But I am resisting tinkering with anything now unless it is something ridiculously embarrassing. It's sort of like the writer's version of empty nest - it feels weird when that part of your life is over, but also very satisfying.
Now that The Dala Horse is live on Kindle, that's by no means the end of the project. As a self-published author, I am also responsible for marketing, marketing, and more marketing. I spend mornings on straight-up marketing (via social networking, mostly) and brainstorming ideas for more marketing. Afternoons are devoted to the new project and the occasional blog post. The two main takeaways from Dala that I am applying to the new project are story structuring/scene maintenance on the front end, which I learned in Janice Hardy's editing program, and the importance of genre positioning (on Kindle, anyway) learned from C. S. Lakin's article above. These two elements combined should make for a smoother and more successful outcome on my next self-pub.
Note: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
Someone's clever idea for recycling tattered hardcovers into unique bookmarks
Lord knows I love me some Internet. But torrents of information contained on web pages stretching into infinity make me feel a little anxious, like when I walk into an overcrowded flea market and have a compelling urge to turn around and walk back out again. The only way I can survive such a shopping excursion is to have a plan. If I go in without a plan, after 90 seconds my eyeballs start doing that cartoon black-and-white spinning spiral thing, possibly with sparks shooting out. At least if I have a plan, the blinders are on (Frankoma Aztec Desert Gold, Frankoma Aztec Desert Gold), and I have a chance of surviving the outing.
I employ a similar strategy in overcoming information overload anxiety (IOA) while surfing the 'net. But instead of a rhythmic chant, I impose order using bookmarking technology. Between the basic technology of Google Chrome's bookmark feature and apps like Evernote, my stuff will be there ready and waiting for me to use it whenever called upon.
And therein lies the rub. Bookmarking is too easy. Click, click, click, and before I know it, I'm featured on a technology version of Hoarders. That stupendous mound of info lies there like Smaug's treasure, serving not to enrich my writing career as intended, but as a glorified prop for my writing tuchus. I can loll about on my info pile, pointing to it and saying 'Look! See what I did? I bookmarked all this stuff!' But guess what: it's not worth anything if I never use it!
At last I have reached a point in my current writing project where I am going to try something new: I'm going to spend some of my information hoard. I'm going to dig through my writing bookmarks in the Character and also the Plot folders, and apply that glorious info to my current manuscript as part of the editing process. I've already gone through and checked the copyediting stuff - spelling, grammar, moving scenes around, and so forth. Now it's time for some polishing. Using these bookmarked articles as my guide, I'm going to go through them one by one and use them to improve my story.
As of today, I have nineteen articles bookmarked in my Character folder. Here's the cream of the crop:
Creating Stunning Character Arcs from K.M Weiland. This is a multi-part series, including this one on wants (the lie) vs. needs (the truth). "The lie your character believes is the reason for all character arcs."
Crafting Interesting Characters by Karen Woodward. "First impressions count. When your character comes onto the page for the first time take the opportunity to do something characteristic, unique and memorable."
Secondary Characters With Their Own Needs by C. S. Lakin. "Every character needs a core need, a deep fear, and a lie they believe about themselves and their world."
My bookmark collection is evolving constantly. What have I overlooked? Send more, please!
A recent combination of computer problems and writerly procrastination resulted in my focusing my attention on a long-overdue project: cleaning out the spare bedroom that had become a de facto storage locker. I girded my loins and made a run at the two plastic storage bins containing my 'writing' files. These are neatly labeled folders containing printouts and magazine clippings on a variety of writing topics that I once considered potentially useful for future writing endeavors. I sat down with a pile of folders and started going through them bit by bit, the old Keep Or Toss game in full bloom. It quickly turned into a game of WTF???
Ninety seconds in, I felt like I had entered a time machine and was back in the pre-Internet, pre-cell phone era when a personal computer cost $10,000 and took up more desktop space than a microwave oven. Thank goodness for bookmarks, Evernote, Diigolet, Scoop.it, etc. I mean, who clips newspaper or magazine articles anymore? (for you youngsters out there, I am using the verb 'clip' here in a historical sense: physically cutting out paper articles with scissors). The articles I had clipped were yellowing. Some were missing pages. Most were stained (probably tea). The most amusing moment: discovering an article called "How to Write a Poem" by Lawrence Jay Dessner. It was printed on fanfold paper via dot matrix printer. I am tempted to keep it for historical value as the paper, the printer, and my interest in writing poetry are all nearing extinction.
The Keep Or Toss game was astonishingly simple for some topics. Anything on finding an agent, cover letters, query letters, etc. went directly into the circular file. With the evolution of the self-publishing industry, who cares about that stuff anymore? Not me!
Jeffery Zbar's article on marketing (written in 2000) encouraged writers to maintain their Rolodex, whether the original or the newfangled 'contact management software'. Other suggestions included top quality stationery for sending invoices, cover letters, query letters, etc. He also suggested we be aware of the least expensive times to make phone calls (it used to be Friday).
One article by J. A. Konrath dated 2007 mentioned MySpace in the same breath as YouTube and Wikipedia as the up-and-coming web presence. No mention of Facebook or Twitter. Another marketing article emphasized the '100-mile circle' as key for making grass-roots marketing efforts. That sounds laughably provincial, doesn't it? 1000 contacts on Facebook or Twitter, maybe. 100 miles? I've driven farther than that to get shoes on sale.
I was doubly amused to see how many resources I kept on such a wide variety of writing genres. It was obvious I had not quite settled on one yet. So the articles on children's picture books and the aforementioned poetry got the heave-ho. A woman's gotta know her limitations.
On the flip side, some things are eerily unchanged more than ten years on, like the article on having a good 'elevator speech' to pitch your story. Ditto on
an article on clips, although they are delivered electronically rather than on 24 lb. bond paper via US Mail. Youngsters, this definition of 'clips' refers to samples of your work.
Robert Bly's article on setting financial goals for freelancing is still sensibly on target.
Writer's Digest's '5 Hot Markets' in 2000: Baby Boomers, health, entertainment and travel, money and retirement, family matters, and essays and humor. No mention of vampires or zombies, however.
The article on 'marketing savvy' by Marcia Yudkin is sound in theory, but is fatally handicapped by the omission of the role of social networking, which of course did not exist when she wrote this in 2002.
John Borchardt's article on making a good first impression (in person, at a writing conference) still works for the purists who still insist on making first impressions in person.
I only made a small dent in the writing file archive. But this first session has made me eternally thankful. I am thankful for cell phones, so I don't have to research when is the cheapest time to make calls (or ever call anyone again as long as I live, thanks to texts and email). I'm thrilled I no longer have to fret over agents and publishers and query letters. I'm thankful I no longer have to physically clip articles and store them away in desiccated file folders, never to be seen again - I can ignore my electronic bookmarks just as easily. I am ever so glad for the Internet, even though it sometimes tempts me away from writing priorities. All I have to do now, is write.
April is coming to a close, which means the annual A to Z Blog Challenge is doing the same. I participated in this challenge in 2016. It was my first time participating in the A to Z Challenge, though not my first blog challenge and definitely not my first writing challenge. I’m familiar with deadline pressure - what writer isn’t? - but the A to Z presented a couple of different types of pressure, for different reasons. As I progressed through the challenge, and even afterward, my opinions on some blog-related issues swung back and forth like a West Texas weather vane.
To Theme Or Not To Theme
When I started the challenge, I didn’t realize what was going on with the ‘theme’. I thought ‘A to Z’ was the theme. Just write one post per day, each with some connection to a letter of the alphabet. April 1 = A, April 2 = B, and so forth. Turns out that's the broadest (one might say laziest) interpretation of the challenge. Experienced participants take it to the next level. They select a theme, then within that theme, create posts related to the alphabet.
Once I figured that out, I thought, Whew! So glad theme is optional. Themes are stupid. Themes tie me down and restrict my writing. I’ll write whatever the heck I feel like. And of course after the hundredth random theme-less blog I visited, I was so thankful to stumble across blogs that had such narrowly focused themes I marveled in their ability to find 6 topics to write about, much less 26. I became a believer. Themes are the bomb. Themes are like fences. They may seem restrictive and unsightly, but in addition to keeping good things in, they also keep bad things out.
Themes weren't the end of my education. In my blog challenge naivete, I didn't realize we were expected not only to publish a blog post 26 days out of 30; we were also expected to visit other blogs and leave comments. In fact, many would argue the comment component is the main focus of the event. Don't be fooled by the word 'challenge' - it's a blog hop.
Categories and Comments
After the challenge concluded, we were encouraged to post a recap of our experience. Of 1300+ bloggers who completed most of the challenge in 2016, less than a third shared a recap. Still, that’s over 300 opinions, and I worked my way through nearly half.
Two areas were mentioned repeatedly: requests for tweaks to the blog category codes; and hand-wringing over the low percentage of participants who visited and commented at other blogs. My flip-flop on these two issues is intertwined.
First, to the categories: When we registered for the challenge, we were asked to describe our blogs choosing from a list of two-letter codes provided by the admins. The idea was to give other bloggers some idea of what your blog was about before they clicked. Many participants thought there should be more categories added. Some also suggested they should describe the challenge theme chose by the blogger, rather than the blog, since the two could vary wildly.
My initial reaction to the category idea was, Categories? I don’t need no stinking categories! I assigned myself one. But I basically ignored other people’s blog categories because I wanted to visit ALL of them, regardless of topic.I will also admit my initial reaction to blogs being categorized is that it had the potential to hurt some blogs that might be at a disadvantage if ghetto-ized into a category within a very narrow niche.
Secondly, the comments: Some participants said they didn’t leave comments because they couldn’t think of anything to say. And I’m like, What? Most bloggers are writers, for crying out loud. Surely you can come up with 10 words on the fly, like that old Toastmasters improv exercise. If you can’t come up with a few words for a token comment, blog comments are the least of your worries.
That’s how I felt about categories and comments - until I had my light bulb moment.
At around that time, I'd been listening to several writing podcasts. One in particular really solved a problem I’ve been having with a WIP. I couldn’t wait to get to the keyboard and type up a comment on the podcast. And that’s when I realized: If I’m not that excited about every comment I leave, I shouldn’t be leaving it. I shouldn’t be wasting my time on meaningless ‘hey, just dropping by from the A to Z’ comments in a likely fruitless attempt to increase my own blog's page rank.
After my light bulb moment, I now understand why people want the categories to be clear, unambiguous, and definitive of both blog and theme if possible. The bloggers who are asking for this have already had the light bulb moment. They know what they are interested in and where they will have the best chance of finding blogs they will want to comment on organically.
I like to think I have an open mind. I’m willing to change my opinion when I’m wrong, especially when learning through personal experience. The A to Z Challenge was full of those experiences for me. Here's hoping your next writing challenge has some light bulb moments for you as well.
Images via Unsplash. A version of this article first appeared on the A to Z Blog Challenge website as a recap after the 2016 event.
I am a self-help junkie, especially when it comes to improving my writing skills. I enjoy articles that focus on technique. But what I really need is to improve is my work habits. Believe it or not, I need look no further than one of my favorite animals: elephants. It's not for nothing they have one of the largest brains in the animal kingdom (and that includes humans).
Most elephants are active at dawn and dusk (oh and by the way, my new thing I learned today is the term for this: 'crepuscular'). As most elephants in the wild live in some pretty demanding weather environments, this tells me they are focusing their activities in the parts of the day that will allow them to be the most productive with the least effort. They're working smarter, not harder. Only the dumb elephants are out rampaging around the African savannah at high noon. So why is it I waste so much time scrolling through a meaningless Facebook feed, when I could have spent the time finishing up my current book project??? If elephants had Facebook, they would only check no more often than once a day, right before bed, no longer than 15 minutes. Wait - what am I saying? If elephants wanted FB, they would be on it by now. Clearly, they are too smart for FB. Don't be a dumb elephant!
Elephants often work together. The females form herds or family groups. They help each other with child care and grocery gathering. In captivity their goals sometimes shift more toward elephant hijinks such as hatching escape plans, but they still work together like the gang from Oceans Eleven - plans are devised, tasks are assigned, diversions are orchestrated. We writers often tend to be introverts. We are attracted to the solitary lifestyle of a writing career. But we may overlook the benefits of support from our fellow writers. Whether it is in person in the form of a critique group or writer's conference, or online via discussion groups, blogs, or Twitter feeds, embrace the communal support available. We're all better for it.
Elephants are able to accomplish said elephant hijinks because they have, to quote Ghostbusters, 'the tools and the talent'. Other animals may be smart, but lack an amazingly useful tool such as a trunk. Vice versa, sometimes the animals with the cooler tools like web spinning or running fast are maybe not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Elephants have that great combination of intelligence and physical tools. They can come up with a plan, and also execute it. And here's where I struggle - I can plan with the best of them, but like the Oklahoma Department of Correction, am very poor at executing. I have seen enough writing articles on topic generation to know some folks go the other way - they have trouble coming up with ideas. Can't have one without the other. We need to be great at both.
Elephants rarely lie down because their straight legs are perfectly designed to support their standing weight. I have a hard enough time getting up and down at five-foot-nine and a hundred-and-something pounds. If I weighed 5000 pounds, I'd never lie down, either! As a writer, what are you perfectly designed for? Blogs or books? Traditional publishing or self? Fiction or non? Whatever it is, find it. Do it. Don't force yourself into something that you're not built for.
Elephants don't sleep much. They need to spend 20+ hours a day eating because they are so big. The elephants who choose to sleep a lot aren't the skinny elephants - they're the dead ones. As writers, we need to be keenly aware of how much of our time should be devoted to our top priorities, and what will happen if we don't follow through.
Taking a page from our elephant friends, seeing as it is mid-day I will just put things on hold and wait for dusk. At which time I will be working on that manuscript like a boss. Or an elephant.
I had my first experience with self-publishing with my book The Dala Horse in July of 2015. I've learned so much and am still learning, which is the reason for this blog post.
The new cover redesign by ebooklaunch.com
ICYMI, I have experience with traditional publishing. Some years ago I published several non-fiction books for kids. You might find my name on a spine somewhere in your local elementary school library. I enjoyed the work, but itched to kick over the traces of that very structured niche. I had lots of ideas for fiction projects for readers of all ages.
Fast forward a few years: by the time I was ready to get back into writing full-time, technology had revolutionized the publishing industry. Self-publishing had lost its stigma. Authors could publish their work at will with the simple push of a button, for little or no cost. This was the perfect setup for me. I'm moderately tech savvy. I envisioned a scenario where all my unfinished manuscripts could be up and ready for sale online in no time flat (assuming I actually finished them first, of course).
Needless to say, this was wildly optimistic. I did manage to get one book (The Dala Horse) published in 2015. I had a pretty steep learning curve, which I've discussed in previous posts. But I got 'er done.
One of the many things I didn't anticipate is the topic of this post (and at long last we have arrived at the topic!). While researching my book, I found an image I was dying to incorporate into the cover of The Dala Horse. It was an adorable painting of a little wooden dala horse. I felt it perfectly captured the rustic charm of the toy as well as the tone of the book and the personality of my 10-year-old main character. I was determined to use it somehow. I purchased the artwork from the artist on Etsy and secured her permission to use its likeness. There was only one problem: I have zero artistic skills. I have some tech skills, but as far as composition and design, forget it.
That little horse is so cute, amirite??
Now here's where I made one of many mistakes: I told myself the art was so adorable, it would stand on its own. Why do I need to spend the money on a cover designer? I have a computer. I have some tech skills. So I just dropped the image into a Word doc or a Paint doc, I forget which, threw some font at it for the title and author name, and let 'er rip.
I can hear your groans and see your heads shaking all the way from the Carolinas.
I turned a blind eye to this glaring rookie mistake for the first six months The Dala Horse was out there. When you've just self-published your first book, that achievement tends to overshadow other little imperfections that gradually but inevitably present themselves as time passes, like mildew stains through a cheap coat of paint. I marketed my buns off, at least as far off as DIY marketing will take you - more on that in a future blog post. As you can probably guess, sales were dismal. Reviews were positive (thanks, everyone!), for the handful of people who managed to find the book. But sales could be counted on one set of fingers and toes.
In the meantime, information junkie that I am, I continued to devour endless articles on self-publishing (among other things). Many of them remonstrated with new authors against doing their own covers. One, in particular, really hit home with me with the phrase 'cover crush'. I definitely had a crush on my cover. It was time for a proper cover, one that did the story justice.
I felt very sad about this as I really, really loved the dala horse artwork by Ellen Haasen. But after reading an article about researching what sells in your genre, and the components of a compelling cover, I decided it was time to 'murder my darling' and retire my little dala horse in favor of something more polished.
I was all set to hire it out, pay the money, and work hard on marketing to at least earn the cost of the cover back. Until. I found a page on Joanna Penn's marvelously helpful website about book covers. And tucked away on that page was a link to Derek Murphy's website. Mr. Murphy has designed many attractive book covers. He has also published several free videos that take you through the DIY cover design process step by step. He has even developed a free cover design program for those of us who cannot afford to purchase their own copy of Photoshop.
As I mentioned twice already, I have some tech skills and am pretty coachable, so I thought I would give this DIY thing one more go before I paid good cash money for someone else to do the cover. In my mind, all I was lacking was a robust photo editing program. I had done my research on the competition's covers in my genre. Thanks to Mr. Murphy and others, I learned about colors and fonts and composition and all that stuff. I knew where to get good stock photos with the proper licenses and permissions. I felt I was ready to give it a go. I spent about a day, all told, watching Mr. Murphy's videos, including all his bloopers and goofs mixed in with the quality content.
(BTW Some might consider these mistakes charming. Others may wonder, why not take the time to edit all that stuff out? Who am I to judge?)
I spent another day playing with his photo editor. I say playing. It was actually pretty hard work. It took me probably half a day to track down some images that I felt were right for the story that might potentially be available to me. It took me another
My DIY draft using Mr. Murphy's graphics editor. Still needed some tweaking, but not half bad. Too bad it was so buggy.
half day editing said images, erasing backgrounds, and playing with all the cool filters. But I finally got the hang of it, had a couple of new covers drafted, and was feeling cautiously optimistic about being able to create a cover that was, if not the best cover in my genre, def not the worst (not by a long shot - apparently I'm not alone in my DIY bullheadedness). So the next morning I get up, rarin' to go, envisioning a new cover for my book by the end of the day, and . . . couldn't get the photo editor program to open my saved files. The same files that will only work in that specific editor. I could open new files and start over to my heart's content. But re-open an existing file? Sorry, no can do. There went three full days of my time, time I should've spent on my current three book series. Was I mad? You betcha.
It was at this point (finally!) I decided to stop goofing around and just hire the dang thing out. Back to Penn's site, clicked on several of her recommendations, and decided to try one called ebooklaunch. In less than half the time I wasted with the Murphy product, I had a great-looking cover, using images I didn't have to worry about violating privacy, licensing or other copyrights. The staff was great. They were prompt and helpful and friendly, and I am thrilled with the outcome.
If I had a fancy computer and owned a copy of Photoshop or something similarly robust, as well as an account at Shutterstock or other similar photo resources, and wanted to devote the time, I could probably come up with some covers on my own that are about equal to many you see on Amazon. But I just don't want to do that at this point in my writing life. I'm already spending enough time on social media and marketing and blogging. The cover is too valuable a piece of my marketing puzzle to leave to chance.
Even though I wasted about six months of valuable marketing time on a sad little DIY cover, all is not lost. This experience does leave me feeling a little more knowledgeable design-wise. Although his photo editor needs work, Mr. Murphy's advice at his website regarding the components of an effective book cover design is sound. It allowed me to streamline the process with ebooklaunch by giving them specific input on the colors, background, setting, and other components of the cover based on other covers in my genre and the various story elements I wanted to portray. Prior to deciding to use ebooklaunch, I had set up a private Pinterest board and stashed all images there, both of images I either wanted to use or was inspired by, as well as images of other covers I admired either in tone or genre or some other intangibles. I feel like this small step was useful in the getting-to-know-you process with the cover designer and contributed to the quick and satisfactory result.
It's too soon to know who I will use to design my next book cover. As I mentioned, it's a three book series. It's in a different genre, so I need to do some more research on that genre to get a feel for what appeals. I've already set up a private Pinterest board for this project and have started accumulating images. I have no hesitation using ebooklaunch again. One thing I know for sure: I would no more design the cover myself than I would give myself a tattoo. That's something best left to the professionals.
So I'm minding my own business, happy to be through with at least one of my writing projects and moving forward with the next. As per my usual, every evening before I go to sleep, I read. Lately I've been reading more e-books by self-published authors. I'm doing this to improve networking, write some reviews, and hope my fellow authors return the favor.
And this is how I stumbled upon some previously overlooked features of the e-book format itself. I realized I had omitted an important part of the book. It wasn't one of Campbell's famous 12 stages of the Hero's Journey. No, I had those covered. It was something one could argue was equally important to the success of my book: the end matter. It was a little skimpy. I had some end matter, just not enough and not the right kind.
My book is a middle grade reader, a chapter book for older elementary students. I included a glossary of the Norwegian words that turn up in the book. I also included a discussion guide for teachers or parents. I had the requisite title page, and a throwback from my grad school days, a bibliography. So far, so good. But as I read Susan May's Deadly Messengers, and later, this post by Joel Friedlander on the Book Designer blog, I realized I had overlooked some equally important end matter.
It's all about the format, you see. A traditionally published book, a paper book, could easily still contain this information I initially omitted. But in an e-book, the links are live, just sitting there waiting to be clicked upon, thus making the process of connecting reader with author, of promoting and reviewing said book, ever so much easier. You can thank the reader and ask them to 'click here' to review your book. You can invite them to visit your website and subscribe to your email list. You can meet on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest or whatever else floats your social networking boat.
Insert large sigh and groan here. I wasn't looking forward to going through Scrivener's Compile process again. I hated the idea that some books had already been purchased and the buyers may never notice the update. But I knew in my heart it must be done.
That screen shot up there is a little small, so let me 'splain to you what I added to the end matter. It wasn't a whole lot. Took me part of an afternoon.
One page giving some details about how I came to write the book. Ms. May and many other authors included this. I think it gives a nice personal touch.
One page thanking the reader for their purchase and outlining all the various ways they can connect with me. In my case, I gave them my website as well as email address. I reminded them to subscribe to my blog if they liked. I included a link to my Facebook and Twitter pages. Last but certainly not least, I included direct links to Amazon and Goodreads for both my author page as well as where to leave a review.
Most of these links I grabbed by visiting my home page at my website/Facebook/Twitter account, then copying and pasting the URL from the URL bar in my browser. The review links at Amazon took a little more doing. If you have trouble getting this right after you read the Friedlander article, hit me up and I will see if I can help. One thing I did differently from the article: they had some pretty sweet icons for the various social networks that they used for the link, rather than a hyperlink associated with some plain text. I fooled around with that for a while, but I had a hard time finding the size and look of the icons I wanted to use. Plus, I didn't want to overload my project with graphics and as a consequence possibly earn less money per sale.
Now, I know many e-books will take you directly to a review page as soon as you finish them. But I personally have never taken the time to write the review immediately upon completion of the book. I like to ponder on it for a while first. So I think it's nice to have these links available in the end matter for convenience if a reader wants to leave a review in future. Handy tip from Mark Dawson: make sure your review link URL takes them right to the review page, not just your book sales page. Sometimes readers aren't clear on exactly what to click on to leave a review.
I've set up these extra documents as templates in Scrivener so that I won't make the same mistake in my future projects. It's impossible to know if they'll actually result in additional clicks. But I feel better knowing they're included.
I'm sitting here in March enjoying a string of delightfully warm spring days before
A handy little app
the heat and humidity of summer smacks us cross-eyed. Despite the fabulous weather, I'm feeling a little peeved today. One of my writing goals is to try out listening to podcasts as a means of absorbing knowledge about the craft. I have the podcast app on my phone. Now when I go for my walk, instead of the same 14 songs in the rotation on Pandora, I listen to podcasts. Multitasking!
In the process of learning how best to fit podcasts into my schedule, I've subscribed to a dozen or so of them. I found them either in online articles or a simple search in iTunes. As a result, I have a couple that I really like; one or two more that I'll listen to if I'm all caught up on my favorites; and a few others that are not making the grade.
One of my favorites is Joanna Penn's The Creative Penn. She's been doing regular podcasts since 2008, and it shows. She's an experienced and successful self-published author. Her voice is pleasant. Her topics and guests are interesting. Her interviews are professional and entertaining. The paid promotions are brief. The show notes are thorough and easy to track down if I want more information on something mentioned during the show. This show is the gold standard for writing-related podcasts IMO. I also am a faithful follower of The Story Grid philosophy of story structure and editing. It has a pretty good concept: an experienced editor is paired with a newbie author and guides him through the writing and editing process for one of his books in real time.
On the other end of the scale, let me describe in very generously anonymous detail why I'm writing this post today. I believe there was some study that said podcasts were the up and coming thing. So everybody with a microphone and two working vocal chords is jumping on the bandwagon. It's similar to the growth of the self-publishing industry, I suppose. People hear of a possible shortcut to making some quick cash and figure, why not? The result also is similar - very uneven quality. You have to kiss a lot of frogs, as they say. If you're thinking of joining the podcast revolution, go right ahead. But please avoid annoying people like me who have social media accounts and (sort of) know how to use them.
How To Avoid Feeling Like I'm Writing This Post About Your Podcast
The #1 thing is prepare-prepare-prepare. As you can probably tell from the Get Off My Lawn tone of this post, I'm of a certain generation. Terry Gross's Fresh Air is the best audio interview program that ever was or ever will be. No one out-prepares Terry Gross. Great topics. Great conversations. Great editors. It's obvious that she reads her guests' books and watches their TV shows and movies and probably eats the same food and drives the same car and uses the same deodorant as her guests, for all I know. I am astonished at how prepared she is. I mean, there are only 24 hours in a day. She must have learned how to manipulate time from one of her guests. It helps to have lots of underlings, I suppose. And of course a professional studio. Speaking of which . . .
Quality equipment - none of us are super pumped about listening to your voice echo off the bare walls and hard metal surfaces of your laundry room for an hour. I'm not saying you have to invest thousands in studio time or construction. I found out by accident that closets are a decent place to record if you have no other options. The clothes make for excellent sound absorption. All I'm saying is, give it some thought and actually listen to some test recordings of yourself before you go live.
Anyway - here's what happens when you slack off on the preparation. All of the following are actual situations I have heard during a podcast. I am not making this up.
You freely admit to your author guest that you didn't plan properly and weren't able to finish their book before the show. Or in fact have not read any of it at all. All you know about it is whatever showed up on the screen shot from their Amazon page.
You freely admit, on air with them, that you have no idea how to pronounce their name. Which is perfectly fine, because you doubt you'll even remember their name by tomorrow. Yes, the host actually said this second sentence to the guest during the show. WTF? Apparently it's too much trouble to connect with the guest ninety seconds before air time if you're not 100% sure how to pronounce their name.
You freely admit that you have little knowledge of, or interest in, their genre. Your tone indicates no apology or remorse. In fact, you seem to think this is a positive in that there must be millions more people out there who have little interest in this niche and
Don't be the Cousin Eddie of podcasters
therefore are all potential new readers. Okay, maybe. But if it were me, as host, I don't think I'd mention. There are plenty of ways to have a meaningful conversation with someone on a topic you're not familiar with other than keep circling back to the point that you're not familiar with the topic. Maybe you think it makes you look curious and adventuresome. It might, if you were browsing the bookstore looking for a good weekend read. But as a podcast host, it just makes you look lazy and unprepared.
You freely admit you have no idea what the guest's website is. This is no problem, you say, because it'll be in the show notes. See if you can guess how confident I am in your ability to cobble together a quality set of show notes.
You have the same set of ten or so lackluster questions that you ask every guest, more or less in the same order. You never stray from this set of questions, even when intriguing conversational opportunities present themselves. This strategy has been known to work in print media (as long as the questions aren't lackluster). It may also be a good guide for audio interviews, so that you don't get too excited during the interview and overlook any important questions. But a well-prepared host needs to be aware of - heck, needs to be praying for - opportunities to explore a compelling line of questioning. Just reading off a list of questions, waiting for the answer, and moving to the next question is a bore.
It comes up partway through the interview that the guest had a book promotion that ended two days before the interview was to air. Oh well, says the host, it's a good thing for you we just barely missed your promotion deadline, because now everyone will have to pay more for your book. WTF??
You craft a title for your episode for the best possible SEO and social media click bait. It works beautifully, and many listeners tune in. And are subsequently frustrated by having to listen to 47 minutes of blather before getting to the 2:38 of content that actually relates to the topic you advertised. And will unsubscribe from your podcast before you've finished your closing comments. And wish they had that 49:38 minutes of their life back.
You ask your guest for ideas on other guests they think your listeners might enjoy, or other podcasts you could guest on to promote your podcast. You ask this during their interview, not privately before or after. Rude much?
I already feel guilty enough about carping on these podcast upstarts, so I'm not gonna name names here. The good ones are worthwhile, especially if you have some time to kill during a daily walk or commute. I've gotten some great info listening to The Creative Penn and a few others. But I'm not Terry Gross. I don't have a magical 5 extra hours in every solar day. So I'm pulling the plug on the the Cousin Eddies. Maybe I'll check back with them in a few years when they're better prepared.
What are some of your favorite podcasts? Drop them in the comments. I'm always looking for a new listen.
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fery Zbar's article on marketing (written in 2000) encouraged writers to maintain their Rolodex, whether the original or the newfangled 'contact management software'. Other suggestions included top quality stationery for sending invoices, cover letters, query letters, etc. He also suggested we be aware of the least expensive times to make phone calls (it used to be Friday).
April is coming to a close, which means the annual A to Z Blog Challenge is doing the same. I participated in this challenge in 2016. It was my first time participating in the A to Z Challenge, though not my first blog challenge and definitely not my first writing challenge. I’m familiar with deadline pressure - what writer isn’t? - but the A to Z presented a couple of different types of pressure, for different reasons. As I progressed through the challenge, and even afterward, my opinions on some blog-related issues swung back and forth like a West Texas weather vane. 
really solved a problem I’ve been having with a WIP. I couldn’t wait to get to the keyboard and type up a comment on the podcast. And that’s when I realized: If I’m not that excited about every comment I leave, I shouldn’t be leaving it. I shouldn’t be wasting my time on meaningless ‘hey, just dropping by from the A to Z’ comments in a likely fruitless attempt to increase my own blog's page rank. 
