10 Tips For Book Signings

            Weeks of effort have paid off and this month I have a heavy schedule of book signings and other author events. While I was at one of them this past Saturday, it occurred to me that I might as well offer ten tips based on what I have learned.

10. Arrive early and offer to help setup for the event. This gives you a chance to meet the staff and establish a connection with them. In turn, this allows them to discover that you are friendly and helpful.

9.  Bring donuts for the staff. I guarantee that if you bring a tasty gift for the people who work the book store that they will remember you and want you back. A book signing shouldn’t be a one-time event. It should be the first in a series of visits during your writing career.
 
8. Bring an assistant. Having a friend or family member along will put you more at ease and that in turn translates into a friendlier author meeting. A friend can also help talk with customers when the table gets a bit crowded so make sure it is someone familiar with your book.
 
7. Stand. The biggest reason for this is that your conversations with customers will have more positive energy if you are standing. Not to mention that just sitting there can often look as if the author just doesn’t care.

 
6. Greet everyone. You will get fewer people to stop and talk to you if you say nothing.
 
5. Have a poster, with your picture, that tells everyone you are an author signing books. Even if you are at a bookstore a surprising number of people will not realize that you are the actual author of the stack of books you are standing behind. And some people will pick up the book just because you are the author and will sign it for them.
 
4. Have something to hand the customers to remind them of your book. Bookmarks and postcards that have the cover image from your book both work well. It keeps your book on their mind as they walk around the store and even if they don’t pick the book up at that time it will remind them that the book is available when they see the items again.
 
3. Ask customers about themselves. Show an interest in them and get them talking about themselves and you have greatly increased the chances that they will pickup a copy of your book. Asking about what they like to read or what the last book that they read are both good questions that can be connected back to your novel.
 
2. Offer to sign any books that are left over. If you haven’t sold out, this creates an incentive for customers to pickup your book over the unsigned books that surround it. In many cases the store will be more willing to place the books in a high visibility location because of the autographs.
 
1. Have fun. If you’re having fun then so will the people who stop and talk to you.

What A Difference A Year Makes

(Picture from the LDStorymakers 2012)

            I just returned from LDStorymakers 2014 and the thought that came to mind at the end of the conference was about how much my situation has changed during the last year. And since this blog is about my journey as an author I felt that I should comment on that.

            At this same time last year, I attended the 2013 conference as an author in search of a publisher. My manuscript for The Gathering had already been turned down by Covenant and I had sent it off to Cedar Fort the previous month.

            Of course, that quickly changed. Soon after I returned home I received the notice from Cedar Fort that they wanted my book. Yahoo! I was going to be a bona fide published author. My dream had finally come true.

            Jump forward to the Storymakers 2014 and I am surprised to find that much of the experience has changed. Most of it reflects a change within myself and my new situation as a published author.

            For one, I almost didn’t attend the conference. And don’t get me wrong, I love the Storymakers event. These are great people putting together three days of activities intended to recharge the emotional batteries of the attendees and educate each of us on how to become even better writers. The need for me to continue my marketing efforts with The Gathering had led me to consider skipping it this year. Between my wife reminding me that I enjoyed the conference too much to miss it and the opportunity to do some marketing while I was in Utah I was eventually convinced to attend.

            I’m glad I changed my mind. It is too easy to get caught up with all the work that is required as a published author. Once in awhile, we need to take a weekend off to enjoy the ride. Spend some time hobnobbing with our fellow authors. Meet a few fans and talk about our books. After all, isn’t this what we day-dreamed about doing before we were published?

            Another big difference for me was the First Chapter contest. Or should I say the lack of the contest for me. During the last three years I have eagerly looked forward to this competition. It gave me a chance to work on new projects and get vital input on the stories themselves. The truth is I like making stuff up and this was a perfect outlet for my newly hatched darlings.

            As they announced the winners for 2014 I made an important connection. The First Chapter contest was a primer for unpublished authors. It prepares them for their experience in the publishing world. As a published author I am participating in a much bigger competition. I send in queries and usually the first three chapters. My judges are the agents and editors in the industry. The prizes for winning are book contracts.

            All of a sudden, I didn’t feel so bad about not participating—because, I am. Just on the next level.

            Not everything about the conference has changed for me. I still attend the classes and learn how to improve my skills as an author. I still get the chance to meet my heroes in the literary world and talk about our common love of writing. I still walk away from the experience feeling uplifted and ready to face another year as an author. And most importantly, I still get the opportunity to talk with the wonderful friends I’ve made during previous conferences.

The Gathering: End's Beginning

Don't panic. This clip is just the book trailer for my speculative-fiction story, The Gathering.

I'm going to make this post short so you can go straight to the video and check it out. David Stipes, Douglas Monce, and Amber Nichols are the team of profesionals that put this together. A big thanks goes out to them. They went above and beyond what I asked them to do. Let me also thank the Jackson family, the Uchytil family, Jack, Jim, Ted, Paul, Tony, Larry, and Dan for the impressive performances they gave in the video.

Now, watch the trailer and try not to be afraid.

Make Things Happen

My post for this week is small, but mighty.

            MAKE.

            THINGS.

            HAPPEN.

            The world as I knew it has changed for me. My Author-In-Training days of spending huge blocks of time writing and thinking about what I wanted to write have gone the way of the Dodo. Endless hours of marketing have taken its place.

            Marketing isn’t bad. It helps you find an audience so that you can actually have people read what you write. And I find it amazingly fun now that I have a better grasp of what I’m doing. 

            The reason I’m writing about this today is because I am excited to see the progression of my career as an author. I have found that each step along the way leads you to the next. Built on the foundation of your previous work each new step takes you to greater heights.

            As an example, thanks to a suggestion from my publisher I contacted my local Barnes and Noble store and arranged a book signing. The obvious benefits of that event is the opportunity to sell a few books and meet some readers who may become fans. That alone is reason enough to justify the effort to make that happen.

            However, the Community Relations Manager turned out to be not only an amazingly friendly person, but one who had plenty of keen insights on marketing. Based on a discussion we had during the book signing I agreed to help setup a science-fiction panel for the store. My efforts to network and recruit other authors to join the panel have resulted in my connecting with individuals who have knowledge of resources and events of their own. Those in turn will no doubt result in even more marketing opportunities.

            The important point in all of this is to get out there and make things happen. I realize that not every effort will pay off in a big way, some of them may even be a waste of your time, but if you continue to plug away enough doors will be opened for you to succeed.

            Or as Nike has said for years, “Just do it.”

 

 

 

Stephanie Worlton Interview

            Marketing a novel is a difficult and time-consuming effort. However, one of the great things about it is the opportunity to meet my fellow authors. These are people with a similar passion for storytelling. And on occasion, I am able to involve them in my blog, thereby giving you the chance to meet them as well.

            Today, I am interviewing Stephanie Worlton. She has written three books, and her latest, All the Finer Things, is a romance novel that explores some important issues about love and the pursuit of wealth. If, like me, you’ve wondered what goes on inside the head of a romance novelist, then this is your chance to find out.

 

Q1) What was your motivation for becoming an author?

 A1) Honestly, being an author was something I never aspired to. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been a creative person, I just never saw myself sitting long enough to write anything substantial, especially a novel. My whole writing journey started when my youngest child went to kindergarten and, with new-found time on my hands and a few great business opportunities on my doorstep, I asked Heavenly Father what path would be best. The answer I got was, “Write your book.” At first I laughed then, after getting the support of my husband, I moved forward. Not only was I able to create a beautiful story of love, forgiveness, and self-worth (Hope’s Journey), but I also discovered a love for writing that I never knew I had! I feel like I’ve been blessed with a talent and an opportunity to create value-based clean fiction. Writing has become a huge part of who I am. 

 

Q2) What was your hardest obstacle on the road of publication?

 

A) Fear of rejection. And it doesn’t get any easier with each subsequent book. I hate, hate, hate the very idea of failure. It took me a year to talk myself in to sending out queries for Hope’s Journey. It actually turned out to be a very painless process but then came launch time and all that anxiety started over again. Here I am at the launch of my third book and I’m just as anxious as ever.

 

Q3) What is your strength as an author? What part of the writing process do you do best? 

A3) I get a lot of compliments about my ability to write banter. This always makes me smile because those banter-filled conversations are my favorite thing to write. I love to play the words back and forth in my mind. I often smirk at the things my characters say…. sometimes I even make myself laugh out loud.  

 

Q4) What is it about “All the Finer Things” that compelled you to write it rather than another story?

A4) I woke up early one morning with a very clear image of who Megan was and where her story needed to go. I could see her face and feel her pain. I’ve witnessed the horror of physical and mental abuse in the lives of women that I love. And it’s not always a spouse or a loved-one that deals that abuse. Often women are their own biggest oppressors. But I’ve also witnessed the strength and the beauty in those women as they’ve conquered their fears and moved past the oppression. I couldn’t wait to introduce Megan to the people that would help her get to that place of peace, joy, and self-love.

 

Q5) What is your favorite scene in “All the Finer Things”?

A5) Oh dear, this is a toughy! I have a few faves! … The first one that comes to mind is a scene where Megan gets stranded in the pouring rain and Carter comes to her rescue on his four-wheeler. Imagine this pampered princess, fancy shoes and designer pants kind of girl, fresh from getting her hair done, stuck on the back of a four-wheeler in the pouring rain! She is horrified by the whole experience and every time Carter splashes into a mud puddle or takes a corner with the slightest degree of speed she freaks out. He, however, finds great humor and entertainment in the drive.

 

Q6) How much of your own life went into this story?

 A6) In every novel that I write there are fragments of my own life. The biggest pieces of me are in the character of Carter. He’s a graphic designer by trade but his real love is carpentry. I, too, love to design and build things. My favorite smells are fresh-cut lumber and new paint. The concept to cast him as scoutmaster also came from my life. I spent five years on our district scout committee and my husband has been involved in scouts for the better part of his adult life. Some of the greatest men I’ve ever known are scoutmasters so it just made sense to make the hero of my story one, too. 

 

Q7) Why a plastic surgeon? Is there a deeper meaning to choosing that career for Megan’s husband?

 

A7) The whole concept behind Doctor Hamilton’s character was this societal push that physical beauty is everything. He represents the very ugliest part of our culture – vanity, greed, artificial popularity.

 

Q8) Is there a sequel in the works involving rich Washington DC politicians? Or how about one set in Hollywood and involving the entertainment elite?

A8) No sequel (at least not that I’m aware of at this point). My next novel Beyond Tomorrow deals with corruption within a big city police force and the DEA. It also features a very strong undertone of our connection with those who’ve passed on. It’s a bit more intense than my other novels but it still has a surprising element of romance woven in. I’m very excited about it!

 

Q9) What has been the most exciting part of your author journey so far?

A9) There are two things. First, it never gets old seeing my covers come to fruition (especially when I get to be involved in the process). There is something about seeing my name on the cover of a book that sends shivers up my spine. I hope it never loses that rush!

The second thing is when I get emails from readers telling me how much my book helped them. I love to go to book clubs and participate in their discussion on my books. And I absolutely love all the new friends I’ve made in the process.

 

Q10) What do you hope people walk away with when they have finished your story?

A10) While I consider my novels to be “escape literature” I always hope my readers walk away with a message that will help them in their personal journeys.  The message I hope they take from All the Finer Things is that money and prestige don’t buy happiness. Cliché as it is, we live in a world that very much worships vanity, fashion, money, and fame. Sadly we often set our sights on these things thinking they will make us happy when, in fact, real peace and joy have nothing to do with the quantity or quality of “things” we manage to gather.  I hope my readers walk away with the reminder that the finer things in life aren’t things at all.

 

 

 

 

Married to one of the most lucrative and sought after plastic surgeons in SoCal, Megan Hamilton has it all. Her posh life, designer clothes, and stunning penthouse leave her wanting for nothing… or do they? Controlled by his obsessive pursuit of perfection, Doctor Matthew Hamilton will stop nothing short of breaking his young, spirited bride into a subservient trophy wife. But when parenthood enters their picture, the entire game changes. How far will Megan have to go to escape Matt's obsessive control and abuse? And how much will she have to lose before she gets there?

~Sometimes money costs too much ~

Stephanie Worlton is excited to announce the release of her newest novel All the Finer Things. As part of her book launch, she will be giving away one autographed print copy and one eBook copy of All the Finer Things.

To learn more about the book and TO ENTER TO WIN simply visit the author's Kreating Krazy blog.

  About the Author:  Stephanie Connelley Worlton lives in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains where she enjoys frequent opportunities to observe nature and feed her creative spirit. She has been blessed to be a stay at home mom to her four children, many of whom share her artistic tendencies. She spends her days designing, building, painting, drawing, landscaping, and snuggling with her dogs. She has her own collection of power tools, a plethora of camera equipment, and a passion for shoes. All the Finer Things is her third published work. To learn more about Stephanie and her other books, please visit her website. 

Stage Two

            I’ve written a book, a publisher has picked it up, and now I can just sit back and bask in the golden rays of my success. Or at least, that is what I thought when I was still a naïve author in training. Don’t get me wrong, no matter how many books I write and get published I’ll still be an author in training, but I’m not as naïve about the process anymore.

            Signing a contract with a publisher only means that you have moved on to Phase Two of your work as an author—marketing. In my situation, there was a relatively short amount of time between the agreement to publish and the release date. Six months would have been plenty of time to prepare my marketing campaign if I had actually started on it when I had the chance. Instead, I waited until my publication date was about three months away before I got rolling with it.

            Had I known what I know now I would have approached the upcoming release date differently. Hopefully, all of you can benefit from my mistakes and avoid them in your own journey as published authors. Here is how I would do it now.

            Celebrate – Let’s be reasonable. Signing with a publisher is a significant goal for any author. Take a couple of weeks to soak it all in. Consider it a vacation from your work as an author and be prepared to get back to work when you are done with it.

            Go back to school – Up to this point the education you have received as an author has been related to the writing craft. That’s great and it needs to continue, but then you need to learn how to market your book. No matter how good your publisher is at promoting their titles they will never be as passionate about the book as you. Pick up a couple books on marketing and spend the first month studying them. That doesn’t mean to just read them. In order to successfully market your book you need to understand how the information you read applies to your specific work. I found Jump Start Your Book Sales by Marilyn and Tom Ross to be the most helpful of the books I studied.

            Create a plan – After you finish your marketing studies take a couple of days and make a list of all the tasks that you will need to do to market your book. Don’t be surprised if some of these tasks cause you to add more items to your list.

For example, book signings seemed a simple enough step when they sat innocently on my list. Then when I looked into what I would need to do to make my book signings successful I realized that there was a lot more to it than I had thought. I needed to find locations to hold the signings and decide which ones were best for my particular book. I needed to contact the locations in advance so that I had plenty of time for them, and myself, to prepare for the event. I needed to come up with a way attract customer attention to my table, to devise a creative way to entice them to purchase the book, and to develop items to pass along to those customers who weren’t quite ready to buy the book. This went from being a single item to one that had over a dozen tasks associated with it.

Get busy – Once you have a plan, start working it. There are definitely some things that will need to be done before you can move onto other tasks on the list. Items like creating an author bio and a list of book related interview questions will need to be done before you start questing for media interviews. Then there will be plenty of research to find actual newspapers, radio stations, and television shows for you to contact.

 

All of this may seem too much. At times it does to me. But if I want my book to succeed and if I want people to read it then this is what I have to do. One of the pieces of advice I received along the way is to do five things every day. I can do that. I can write and answer five interview questions in one day. I can contact five newspapers about whether they would like to interview me. I can send out five e-mails to companies inquiring about forming a strategic alliance.

 

So don’t sweat it. Five items. Every day. They add up.

 

Lisa Swinton Interview

            In January, several wonderful people helped me spread the word about The Gathering during my first ever blog tour. Now, I get the chance to be on the other side of the event for Lisa Swinton and her new book.

            Here is the cover description for Fallen Angel.

 

 

Antonio does not believe in love at first sight until he sees her fall into a street in Milan and get hit by a motorcycle. Compelled to know if she can return his affection, he becomes Renatta’s hospital volunteer only to learn that the accident erased her memory. Together they must discover her past, present and future. In the way of happily ever after stand her opera career, tyrannical mother, and fiancé. Antonio must win Renatta’s heart before she bends to the will of her mother and marries Marcello. Failure means a lifetime of loneliness, for love at first sight never happens twice

 

            As part of the Fallen Angel blog tour I had the chance to interview Lisa.

Q: Why did you decide to start writing?

My friends made me do it! I'd never planned to be a writer. I have a degree in Musical Theater. But that part of my creative life went on hold while I supported my husband through med school. Some friends challenged me to write, so I did. It fit perfectly into my life and provided the creative outlet I needed. Writing can be done anytime, anywhere and works well with raising kids. Now I have characters that bug me. Who knew writing would take me so many places to meet interesting people? I didn't! But I'm very grateful to my friends who challenged me and supported me threw. I am very blessed.

 
Q: What was most difficult part of writing Fallen Angel?

Learning how to write and what makes good writing. That and the endless editing. And then figuring out how to self publish. This is definitely my learning curve book.

 

Q: Why did you decide to write this particular story?

I spent 3 years as singer in Las Vegas portraying a character named Desdemona. This is the backstory of how her parents met and fell in love.

Q: Can you tell me about your favorite scene in the book and what makes it so special to you?

One of my favorite scenes in the book is when Renatta finally confronts her mother about why she chose to rip their family apart so many years before. It shows so much development of her character and there's lots of tension.

Q: Why Milan? What does that choice of location add to the story?

Funny enough, Milan isn't my favorite city in Italy, but it's got strong artistic ties both in opera and in fashion and I needed both elements for this story. I needed a northern Italy location and while the Olympic games brought more attention to Turin (where I lived for a summer) I don't think it registers as quickly with a reader as Milan does. It has a major airport and train station which I also needed. Plus the duomo there is incredible.

Q: Who is your favorite character in book?

Stefano lightens the mood so much and is the kind of BFF you'd like to have hanging around. He's fiercely loyal.

Q: What do you hope your readers will take away from the story?

Even though life has its ups and downs, there is joy to be found and love to be shared.

Q: Are there plans for a sequel?

No. If there were, it would be Desdemona's story and you'd meet Antonio and Renatta with their daughters almost all grown. They have 5: Carmela, Violetta, Desdemona and her twin sister Elisabetta, and Mimi. All opera names.

            You can find Fallen Angel on Amazon. Just follow the link.

 

Ten Best Author Moments

            The author gig has me pretty busy this month. So I thought I would give you something short, sweet, and relevant to my current situation. Here it is, my ten best moments as an author—so far.

10. Putting the words “The End” at the end of the manuscript.

9. Having Earl walk up to me, a week after its release, and telling me he liked my book.

8. Reading the first review that wanted more.

7. Filming the book trailer.

6. Seeing the cover for the first time.

5. Holding a copy of the galley in my hands.

4. Signing my wife’s copy of The Gathering.

3. My Dad telling me how proud he was of me.

2. The notification that my publisher wanted The Gathering.

1. The look in my daughter’s eyes when anyone asks if her daddy is an author.

    Watch for a review of The Nut Job next Monday.

 

 

The Ten Best Movie Rentals For The Last Day

            Do you know what today is? I mean, other than Tuesday.

            Today is the release date of The Gathering. That’s right! My brain child is now sitting on the shelves of book stores all over the Southwest. To celebrate this awesomely awesome day I composed a list for the occasion.

            Here are the Ten Best Movie Rentals for the Last Day.

 

 

 

 

10. It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

9. The Omega Man.

8. 2012. (Drink a toast for every year they were off.)

7. The Day After Tomorrow.

6. On the Beach (1959 Version).

5. History of the World: Part I.

4. Testament.

3. Wall-E.

2. Armageddon.

1. It’s a Wonderful Life. (Might as well go out on a high note.)

 

            And if you get the chance, stop by my friend Shelly’s blog. The topic of the day—why The Gathering release of course.

 

What I Learned In 2013

            Here we are at the end of the 2013. It has been a landmark year for me. Several short stories and my debut novel were all picked up for publication. In the space of twelve months I passed from a wannabe writer to bona fide author. During this time I learned some important lessons.

            At the top of my list is the importance of branding yourself. There’s a lot of work and frustration involved in becoming a published author. Doubling, or even tripling, that workload is insane. Brand yourself and then once you are firmly established you can think about going a different direction.

            Marketing yourself involves getting the readers to identify you with a specific kind of story. In my case, I started out with Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror. My earliest published stories were The Coyote’s Tale (fantasy), Not Fragile (science-fiction) and Matches (horror). Fortunately, all three of these genres blend well together. Writing any one of them did not ruin the expectations among my readers.

            Publication and the subsequent marketing of The Gathering changes things. Even though it is speculative fiction it has religious themes that fans of my fantasy and sci-fi may not find interesting. It has a different audience than my short stories.

            As I started preparations for the upcoming blog tour in January and scheduled book signings over the next two months I realized what a nightmare this would be if I had to split my efforts between two genres. The situation would have been even worse if I had attempted to launch two author personas as I had planned.

            During this past year, I had been working on a comedy-murder. I like being funny and wanted to branch out and show people that I could write about more than zombies, dragons, and space aliens running amok. My plans also included a collection of children’s stories that I planned to self-publish.

            The truth of the matter is that a demonstration of my versatility as a writer will need to wait. I have to focus all of my efforts to spread the word that I have written an excellent speculative fiction story about the end of the world from an LDS point of view. The articles on my website need to contain subject matter that will interest people in reading The Gathering. Any materials I create for book signings, speaking engagements, and media interviews need to promote my expertise on the apocalypse. When people hear the name of Randy Lindsay, I want them to immediately think about that author that writes touching stories about the end of the world. And I’m just not talented enough to do that and promote a line of books, under a different name, that deal with a pair of goofball private investigators in Hollywood.

            If I had known at the time I signed my publishing contract what I know now I would have immediately started on the second book in the series. And if I understood then just how much effort goes into marketing a book, I would have started preparing my marketing materials right away.

            Now, where did I put that time machine?

Blog Tour Anyone?

            Guess what I did for most of last week. Go ahead, take one wild and crazy guess.

            That’s right, I worked on my upcoming blog tour for The Gathering. And now I’m writing an article about it. Talk about the blind leading the blind. But I’ll do my best to give you some helpful hints on the process. If you don’t plan to ever become an author you can just sit back and giggle at all the work that went into mine.

            For those who are unfamiliar with blog tours, you basically convince as many bloggers as you can to mention you on their blog. This is usually a month long process that centers around the release of an author’s book. Fortunately, I’m not doing this alone, Cedar Fort has helped me.

            The first step in creating a blog tour is to block out the dates. As you can see from the banner below, mine runs from January 2^nd to January 31^st. Since the release date for The Gathering is the 14^th this gives me roughly two weeks of blogging before it comes out and another two weeks once it’s on the shelves.

            Next, you’ll want a visual reminder of the blog tour. This is a task that Cedar Fort took care of that would have been difficult to do on my own. See the lovely banner below? You could do a blog tour without a banner, or a button, but it wouldn’t be as effective. A graphic announcement of the tour will catch the eye of anyone visiting a blog that’s participating in the tour and they tend to stay up on the active page for most of the month. Some bloggers may even add it to their sidebar for the duration of the tour.

            Then you need to find bloggers who are willing to participate. Once again, Cedar Fort helped me out in this area. They provided me a list of blogs that I could contact about the possibility of getting involved. It still took me about ten hours to go through that list and check to see of the blog was active, dealt with novels in my genre, and had open spots in their schedule. I also made the rounds with my own personal contacts, writers that I’ve met at conferences and on the internet.

            If you don’t happen to have a handy list to work from then start with your blogging friends. See which blogs they have linked to on their blogs and then go there and check out the links they have too. Keep this up until you find enough blogs to promote your novel during the upcoming tour. That probably means about sixty since at least half of them will not be interested.

            Now all you need is content. What exactly is it that the bloggers will be doing? They could be reading the book and writing a review. They could be interviewing you as an author. They could be doing something as simple as mentioning that your book is for sale and posting the back cover blurb for it.

            One of the things I’ve learned during the marketing process is to make it as easy as possible for them to participate. I offered to send over an author interview that I wrote myself and they could use that as a starting point or post it as is. These are busy people and they are going to be much more willing to help you if you reduce the amount of time and effort they will have to give in order to do that. I’ll be doing a guest post for one of the blogs in my tour. In that situation, they give me a topic to discuss and I write an article that they will post on their blog. Minimal effort on their part and I get the chance to reach a new group of people.

            Whatever your fellow bloggers agree to do, they will need the proper tools. In addition to a banner, those tools will likely include links to your blog, a link to the Amazon.com page for your book, any content that you pre-generated, an image of your cover, and in my case a link to the blog tour page on my publisher’s website. I’m sure I left out several others, but this should give you an idea of what I mean.

             Finally, make sure to thank everyone once the tour is over. These people expended time and effort to help you sell your book. Do the same to show them how much you appreciate it. Not only is that the civilized thing to do, but it paves the way for a good working relationship with them in the future. It might even help you make some new friends.

           

 

Stage Two

 

            I’ve written a book, a publisher has picked it up, and now I can just sit back and bask in the golden rays of my success. Or at least, that is what I thought when I was still a naïve author in training. Don’t get me wrong, no matter how many books I write and get published I’ll still be an author in training, but I’m not as naïve about the process anymore.

            Signing a contract with a publisher only means that you have moved on to Phase Two of your work as an author—marketing. In my situation, there was a relatively short amount of time between the agreement to publish and the release date. Six months would have been plenty of time to prepare my marketing campaign if I had actually started on it when I had the chance. Instead, I waited until my publication date was about three months away before I got rolling with it.

            Had I known what I know now I would have approached the upcoming release date differently. Hopefully, all of you can benefit from my mistakes and avoid them in your own journey as published authors. Here is how I would do it now.

            Celebrate – Let’s be reasonable. Signing with a publisher is a significant goal for any author. Take a couple of weeks to soak it all in. Consider it a vacation from your work as an author and be prepared to get back to work when you are done with it.

            Go back to school – up to this point the education you have received as an author has been related to the writing craft. That’s great and it needs to continue, but then you need to learn how to market your book. No matter how good your publisher is at promoting their titles they will never be as passionate about the book as you. Pick up a couple books on marketing and spend the first month studying them. That doesn’t mean to just read them. In order to successfully market your book you need to understand how the information you read applies to your specific work. I found Jump Start Your Book Sales by Marilyn and Tom Ross to be the most helpful of the books I studied.

            Create a plan – after you finish your marketing studies take a couple of days and make a list of all the tasks that you will need to do to market your book. Don’t be surprised if some of these tasks cause you to add more items to your list.

For example, book signings seemed a simple enough step when they sat innocently on my list. Then when I looked into what I would need to do to make my book signings successful I realized that there was a lot more to it than I had thought. I needed to find locations to hold the signings and decide which ones were best for my particular book. I needed to contact the locations in advance so that I had plenty of time for them, and myself, to prepare for the event. I needed to come up with a way attract customer attention to my table, to devise a creative way to entice them to purchase the book, and to develop items to pass along to those customers who weren’t quite ready to buy the book. This went from being a single item to one that had over a dozen tasks associated with it.

Get busy – once you have a plan, start working it. There are definitely some things that will need to be done before you can move onto other tasks on the list. Items like creating an author bio and a list of book related interview questions will need to be done before you start questing for media interviews. Then there will be plenty of research to find actual newspapers, radio stations, and television shows for you to contact.

All of this may seem too much. At times it does to me. But if I want my book to succeed and if I want people to read it then this is what I have to do. One of the pieces of advice I received along the way is to do five things every day. I can do that. I can write and answer five interview questions in one day. I can contact five newspapers about whether they would like to interview me. I can send out five e-mails to companies inquiring about forming a strategic alliance.

So don’t sweat it. Five items. Every day. They add up.

 

 

The Gathering

 

            Today is the big day.

            Well, it’s one of the big days. My first novel goes to print. The next big day will be January 14^th when the book is officially released and I can run down to the nearby stores and look for it on the shelf.

            Until then, I’ll just have to settle for revealing the cover and telling everyone what the book is about. Ready?

 

 

 

                Many of the prophets have spoken about the events that will happen prior to Christ’s return. It has been described as a “Great and Terrible” day. The Gathering follows the lives of the Williams family as they struggle not only to maintain their faith, but also survive the calamities and disasters which have been foretold.

 

 

This Is Only A Test

            Testing . . . Testing. Can everyone hear me?  

            The Gathering comes out in January, thanks to the help of the wonderful folks at Cedar Fort, and they have agreed to let me put together an audio book for it. That way if you are like my sister and don’t have enough time to read my story of the events leading up to the Second Coming you can listen to it instead.

            In preparation for the upcoming task I decided I should do a test run. Here is my reading of a flash fiction piece I previously did on the forum and that showed up in the Flash 500 anthology. Just click on the link below to listen.

            If that grabs your interest go ahead and check out the rest of the Flash 500 stories. They are free to download at this time. Thanks to Nicole Pyles and Carrie K. Sorensen who put all the effort into collecting and e-publishing the stories.

Please, give me some feedback on this audio version of Window View.

 

Author In Training No More

            Today, I had planned to post a review of Monsters University. (Yes, I do realize that recently all I have done are movie reviews.) But the MU review will have to wait for later in the week. I’ve decided to discuss the matter of my “Author In Training” status.

            First off, I want everyone to take a look to the right. Well, kind of over and down. Below the lovely blogging awards I received. You may have noticed that there is a new picture of me over there. The very capable Jonathan Stalnaker snapped a series of shots that I could use for my author’s pic in my upcoming novel.

            That’s right, I sold my first novel. Cedar Fort Publishing has picked up The Gathering and will be releasing it in January. They sent me the cover today and I decided that I couldn’t wait any longer to blog about it.

            This year my writing portfolio has really blossomed. In addition to the novel six short stories have been picked up for publication (Not Fragile; You Better Watch Out; Time Enough To Die; Waste Not, Die Not; Bloody Hector; and Matches.) as well as the inclusion of five of my flash fiction pieces in the Flash 500 anthology. (You can now access the Flash 500 for free if you are interested.) In my mind, that makes for a pretty good year.

            I have seven more short stories I’m submitting to the Sci-Fi/Fantasy market. The first novel I wrote, Hellathon, had a nibble this month. And a close friend of mine has talked me into self-publishing a collection of quirky Christmas stores, which I plan to put out next year. Who knows what can happen before the end of the year.

            Is all of this a matter of bragging to you?

Maybe. A little I suppose. But mostly it has to do with something one of my friends brought up during a writing related conversation. She asked: Are you going to change the name of your blog? Once I have a novel published can I still be considered an author in training? Or is it a matter that a good writer is always looking for ways to improve their craft?

I am leaning towards the latter response, but that is more of a matter of being too lazy to go through all the effort of changing the name of my blog and any promotion that goes along with it. Besides, what would I name the new blog? My business cards have: Randy Lindsay, all around creative guy. Is that a good enough replacement for my author in training tag? I suppose if we were going with the ultimate truth in advertising it should probably read – All around nutty guy.

But the Planter’s nut mascot has already warned me about edging in on his turf.

 

StoryMakers 2013 - Part III

            Here is the final segment about StoryMakers 2013. These are the presentations that I attended on Saturday.

Fine Tuning Your Writing presented by Anne Perry

This was a great class because Anne is a great speaker. She discussed theme. The most important thing I took away from this conference is that we should not only have a theme for each of our stories, but a theme for our writing in general as well. For me that helped solidify what I need to be doing this year. I could be writing speculative fiction. I could be writing middle-grade. I could be writing historical novels. But what I need to do is determine my passion in life and then start writing books that reflect it.

Anne also spoke about something I hadn’t considered before and that is characters accrue debt. What she means by that is whether it is a debt of money owed, or one of gratitude, or even a debt of family bonds that characters can be forced to move in a direction they don’t want to go. Explore different kinds of debt and you can create deeper motivations for our characters.

 

Blogs Are More Than Marketing presented by Sandra Tayler

Blogs can be anything: a collection of recipes, an online daily diary, bits of fiction, or updated directions to the best coupon clipping sites. The best way to get readers is to create something awesome. Create what you’re passionate about. (Sort of reflects what Anne Perry had said in the previous presentation.)

Expect to see some changes in this blog because of the excellent advice that Sandra passed on during her presentation. Thanks Sandra.

 

Writing Action Scenes presented by Sheralyn Pratt 

            Here are the twelve tips Sheralyn gave on writing action:

1) Do what you write. Take the time to attempt the actions to see if they can be done.

2) Use your verbs. Do they set the right tone?
3) Avoid passive voice.
4) Use dialogue strategically. Use it to break up the action.
5) Every sentence moves the action forward.
6) Read other writers.
7) Give it tension.
8) Foreshadow the protagonist’s success of failure.
9) Keep it tight in the scene.
10) Have stakes. What happens to the winner / loser?
11) Stay within real time. It shouldn’t take longer to read the scene than to perform it.
12) Keep it primal. Instinct not intellect.

 

Nancy Drew To You: Writing Mysteries For Teens & Tweens presented by Linda Gerber

            Since the novel I’m working on now is a mystery I decided to find out how much of the advice for the tween market would apply to me. The majority of it did.

     -         Teens want dynamic characters.
     -         Teens like to be empowered.
     -         Teens like to be scared.
     -         Teens like sophisticated plots.
     -         Times change and writers must change with them.

A mystery must have:

     1.  A puzzle.
     2. Someone to solve it.
     3. Clues.
 

            Plot Devices:

- Riddles                                  - Clues                                     - Red Herrings

- Checkov’s Gun                      - The least likely suspect           - Closed community

- Unreliable witness                  - The big reveal                        - Sexual tension

 

Story Turns presented by John Brown

            This is a presentation that I highly recommend. Understanding turns, as presented by John, is the key to writing exciting stories. Story turns grab our interest and they make you turn the page. Turns are changes that raise a question in the reader’s mind or give them an anticipation that something dramatic is going to occur.

            John used a small clip, a commercial I believe, to demonstrate this principal. A man and his family is at the beach and he shuts the hatch on the back of the vehicle and walks to his family. We see that the car starts rolling down the road. The man chases the car. But then he starts to run out of breath. The man spots a bike and takes it. The man catches up with the car and is able to grab a hold of the door. But then a sign indicates that there is a turn up ahead. The man dives into the car and grabs the steering wheel. But the wheel locks up, preventing the man from turning it. Then we see a shot of the back of the car where the keys are still in the lock.

            The Turn has a basic flowchart that goes like this: Event/Action – Reaction – Action – and either Resolution or return back to Event/Action. The first action in the video is the car rolling down the road. We get a reaction from the man—he wants to catch his car. The action is his running down the road after it. Then we loop back up to the Event/Action portion again and see that the man is getting tired and will not be able to catch the car. At the same time he sees the bikes alongside the road. His reaction is to take the bike and use it to catch the car. Etc. Etc. Etc. This looping continues until we reach the end of the story.

            Turns:

     -         Change the situation
     -         Affect progress
     -         Raise questions
     -         Make us anticipate
     -         Often surprise

John suggested that you look at them as a sort of good news / bad news announcement.  Such as: You are pushed out of a plane. The good news is that you were wearing a parachute. The bad news is that it doesn’t work.

           Turns drive pacing and the more frequently you go through them the faster the pace. And once in awhile through in a surprise turn that no one will expect.

  

That’s it. Even though it took three posts to tell you about the conference I learned so much more than what I wrote. And I made some great friends too. If you get a chance I suggest you check out a writing conference near you.

StoryMakers 2013 - Part II

             Today and Friday I am going to cover the actual presentations that I participated in at StoryMakers 2013. There were many more and covered both basic and advanced levels of the craft. The StoryMaker crew does a great job of covering a wide variety of topics too.

            The conference also offers: Bootcamp for beginning writers to share their work and get some helpful feedback, the Publication Primer which does basically the same thing but is intended for more experienced authors, a First Chapter contest where unpublished authors can submit the first chapter of their novels and possibly get the attention of the attending publishers, and a keynote speaker who addresses the group about the craft of writing.

 

            This year the keynote speaker was Anne Perry. Her presentation was easily the highlight of the entire event. With her classy British accent she presents her message in a remarkable way. Then, of course, the content of her speech was inspirational. As a writer I don’t think you could sit there and listen to her without wanting to jump up, run out the door, and start working on whatever it is that you are passionate about. And really, that was the heart of her message; decide what you really care about and then write about it.

        

Plot, Structure, and Pushing Your Characters presented by Hannah Bowman

            I couldn’t believe it. The presentation started and the next thing I knew we were done. I even asked the lady next to me if there was supposed to be a second half of the presentation and she correctly pointed out that we had gone through both sessions.

            Hanna did a phenomenal job with the material. The basics of which are: in a story things get worse for the hero until the climax and then they get better. But there needs to be moments where the dramatic tension is relieved momentarily to give the readers a chance to breathe before you plunge them back into danger.

            She uses a graph to help plot out the stories. It moves downward and has an occasional upward peak. She recommends that there are three primary peaks for whatever level of plot that the graph is being applied. In other words, if you are writing a story that follows the three-act play format you will have a break in the downward spiral of doom at the end of the first and second act and then again at the climax. This method can be used for scenes, chapters, acts, and the entire storyline. 

 

Revision and Grammar presented by Annette Lyon

            Annette was very thorough on her coverage of grammar problems and how to self-edit a manuscript to get rid of them. It’s hard to cover the material briefly, as the whole presentation is a matter of covering the rules of grammar. However, here are a few that capture the general nature of the class.  

1.  Combine scenes when you can.            

2. Specify with strong nouns, strong verbs, and strong adjectives.  

3. Trim your manuscript. Cut out all the excess. For example: “several of the students” becomes “several students.” 

 

Top Ten Secrets About Agents, Editors, and Publishers presented by Michael Bourrett

            Michael is the agent for James Dashner. The two of them made the presentation together. The session was a lot of fun, mainly due to the good natured ribbing that the two of them gave one another. Here are the Top Ten as given by Michael and James.  

10. Agents are human. They have feeling and lives too.  

9. Publishing is a small community. If you are nice, or nasty, that will get around.  

8. They read submissions in their free time. The rest of their work is done 9-5.  

7. Agents and editors don’t like saying no.  

6. There is not just one way to measure success. You don’t have to be on the best seller list to be a success.  

5. There is never a nadir to your writing career. The goals keep coming.  

4. Develop a network of contacts within the writing community. Your fellow writers may well be the link between you and your future agent.  

3. Being able to revise and accept criticism is more important than writing.  

2. You are your own best advocate. Don’t rely on others to promote YOU.  

1. There are no secrets. All of this is easily gleaned from the internet.

 

Beyond Microsoft Word: Cool Software For Your Writer’s Toolbox presented by Annette Lyon and Sarah Eden 

            Unfortunately, this is one of those presentations that you had to be there to really get anything out of it. Both of these ladies covered a variety of software that can help authors with their craft. The list included: Scriver, Cloud-On, Drop Box, Mozy, Evernote, Behind the name dot com, and Now Casting dot com.

            They did a great job presenting the information and I’m considering Scrivner at this point and plan to use both of the dot com suggestions they made.

More on Friday. See you then.

StoryMakers 2013

            The StoryMakers2013 writing conference just wrapped up Saturday. This was my fourth year in a row attending this joyful gathering of writers. It’s hard to believe that I briefly considered skipping it this year. Man, what was I thinking?

            This is a great place to be for anyone who is working on their writing craft. It offers so much to us writers that I hardly know where to start.

            The most noticeable benefit may well be the presentations that are offered. Established writers, agents, and editors conduct classes on the author’s craft. These range from presentations aimed at beginning authors to more advanced classes that are likely to benefit the more experienced writers. I know that I saw plenty of established authors sitting in some of the presentations with me. 

            It illustrates the point that all of us have room for growth when it comes to our writing. If the author who has twenty books on the market takes the time to sit in on a class and take notes, then I would be wise to follow suit.

            There were presentations on how to write mysteries, how to land an agent, how to create compelling characters, how to keep your story moving along at a brisk pace, how to write for children, how to keep motivated, and a whole lot more. Out of eleven “Break Out” sessions I learned important tips that will improve my writing in all eleven of them. I just wish that I had the time pendant out of Harry Potter so I could have attended more of the sessions.

            On Wednesday and Friday I will be posting notes on the classes I attended.

            Another advantage of attending a conference like this is the chance for opportunities and contacts. At the very least, there’s a host of fellow writers who might be developed into a full-blown network of contacts. I don’t want to discount the benefit of gaining their friendship and sharing a good conversation with them. Those are valuable items of themselves, but making contacts can lead to gaining an agent or meeting an editor. They may have information on the markets that will help you navigate a successful pitch of your work.

            In the regular business world, contacts are often the difference between success and failure. Don’t expect that the writing world to be any different.

            I made three new friends at the conference this year. One of them has her first novel coming out in July. If I can convince her to become one of my beta readers imagine how helpful that would be in getting my own novel ready for publication. And it will be a lot easier to get an endorsement blurb from her than it will be from a published author that I barely know. Not to mention that she turned out to be a really neat person. All of them did.

            Finally, the writing conferences are probably the best place to go to be inspired. The energy that is generated from so many writers gathered together to talk about the process of creating great stories is impossible to resist. As soon as the conference finished I wanted to rush home and write a dozen novels.

            This year the keynote speaker was Anne Perry. Wow! Or maybe that’s WOW!!! Her keynote speech was fabulous. Not only did she throw out gem after writing gem to the audience, she did it with style and inspiration. She let us know that we are not merely word smiths that assemble bits of language together, but are noble creators of ideas that have the possibility of staying with society for ages to come. And that we should find our own individual passions and write about it. If we are not sharing what’s in our hearts as well as our heads then we have done a great injustice to ourselves.

            Maybe StoryMakers isn’t the conference that best meets your individual needs. Start looking around. Find one that is within your price range; close enough for you to be comfortable to travel and attend; and with a focus that matches your writing goals. Then go and be inspired.