Websites, tag lines, and titles, oh my!

PJ Sharon here today, and I’m asking for your help with some of my more immediately pressing concerns. First off, prioritizing my duties as an indie-published author and entrepreneur is challenging to say the least. There are many moving parts to this job and I wear more hats than guests at a royal wedding. While I await my second round of edits for WESTERN DESERT, I have time to work on my marketing strategy for the release next month. Priorities include scheduling a short blog tour, setting up an advertising budget for paid ads, a possible launch party of some sort, sending out press releases, and finishing my back cover copy and art. The list goes on, but sometimes, I just need to let my instincts take over and tell me what is most important for the day.

Of course, writing this blog is always on my Sunday to-do list—though it often falls over to Monday night at midnight—but today I was talking to my DH about a new website. Those of you who know me, know that I have talked about switching over to a WordPress site for my website and blog for at least the past year. Currently, I have a blog on Blogger and I have a website that I love, but it has some significant limitations. My Circle Pad site, which I pay the requisite $8.95 a month for hosting, has some quirks that make it not compatible with Apple products for one. Search engine optimization is lacking, and the interface, as user friendly as it is to work with, is antiquated and doesn’t stand up to today’s market equivalents. Even with all of that, I have resisted switching to WordPress because,

a.) I’m tech-phobic and,

b.) I can’t seem to make decisions about details such as colors, design, theme, or whether to go with .org or .com?

In a come-to-Jesus moment, I have decided to just suck it up and do it! No matter how overwhelmed I feel, the website change is a must-do. In forcing the issue, I have come to realize that part of what holds me back is that I still haven’t clearly identified my brand. I’ve gotten as far as to say, “I write romance fiction for teens and beyond,” but other than that I don’t really know what defines me as a writer these days.

This brings me to my second dilemma of the day:

Should I change my tag-line, and what should I change it to? My first three books, being contemporary YA romance with hopefully ever after endings fit fine with my “Extraordinary Stories of an Average Teenage Life” tag line. But now that I have added dystopian to my repertoire, “average” doesn’t seem suitable—not for genetically altered teens in a futuristic setting. There is still a romance, but the story clearly fits in the YA category of dystopian fiction rather than upper YA/NA stories. Romance readers are not necessarily sci-fi readers and vice versa, so I feel like maybe I need to change my image a bit to reach out to a broader audience. It occurs to me that maybe I’m having trouble pinpointing my target readership because I haven’t truly discovered my “hook”—that message in our style and voice that makes us unique and offers readers the promise of something different.

Once I understand what makes my stories extraordinary, and have narrowed down my tagline to who I am and what I write, then the web design should be easier. I also just finished taking an online web-design course to get me over my tech-fear, and DH has vowed to help me get set up on a WordPress site by the end of June when I launch Book Two in The Chronicles of Lily Carmichael, WESTERN DESERT.

This takes us to my third issue of the day, month, year…a title for the third book in the trilogy. Here are the parameters:

1) Title must be in adjective/noun format (Waning Moon, Western Desert)

2) It would be nice to keep with the “W” alliteration, but I’m not attached to that.

3) The title should reflect that Lily and Will are embarking on the final stage of their journey across a post-apocalyptic US. This time they are leaving Las Vegas and heading east along the southern route, which will take them through the Southern Swamps. (I already thought of that as a title but I think that would only work if there were a fourth book since this one will culminate in the final battle with the Industry and will take place in Chicago and then Vegas again. I do wish I had made it a series and not a trilogy…another lesson learned.)

4) Basically, I want a title that sounds catchy alongside the other two, is different enough to not be competing with a dozen other books by the same title, and one that metaphorically shows the shift to a hopeful ending rather than a title that focuses on gloom and doom.

These are a few of my ideas. I’d love to hear yours!

CHANGING/SHIFTING/RISING TIDES (you get the drift)
SHIFTING/RISING WINDS
STORM SURGE
HEALING WINDS

Thanks in advance for any help, advice, or suggestions!

Rest in Peace, Duchess

Hi, Scribettes and Scribes. Suze here.

Jeanne Cooper 1928-2013

I was going to talk about my recent trip to St. Louis today, but yesterday’s news made me think about something else. Jeanne Cooper, the matriarch of my favorite soap opera, The Young and the Restless, has died. I don’t know if the part will be recast. On one hand, no one can replace her. Jeanne Cooper was Katherine Chancellor (on screen, anyway), and I for one would have trouble accepting anyone else in the role. On the other hand, the longest-running storyline is the feud between Kay Chancellor (her son Brock always called her Duchess) and the wonderful, scheming Jill Foster Abbot, and that’s always been the pivot point on which the whole show turns. Without Kay, we’re going to feel lost for a while until we get our bearings and see which new direction the show will take.

As writers, we can learn so much about plot and character from the soaps. One of the brilliant things the writers of Y&R did in the beginning was to give Kay some pretty big and scary demons. Her husband was in love with a much younger woman (the aforesaid Jill); Kay became alcoholic; she killed her husband in a deliberate car wreck where she intended to kill herself too, but instead survived. This formed the basis of the conflict between Kay and Jill, and although there have been times when they’ve reconciled (at one point, it looked like Jill was Kay’s daughter given up for adoption. This was later proven false), that underlying hatred of each other was always there. And when things got bad for Kay, the writers could always make it worse and send her back to the bottle so she’d have yet another internal/external struggle.

We hear so much about GMC–Goal, Motivation, Conflict. Well the Kay Chancellor storyline (click here for the Wiki article, if you want to read a synopsis) illustrates that beautifully. And as for plots, of course they’re outrageous. That’s why we love the soaps! But notice how every single episode ends on a hook, and there’s a bigger hook on Friday’s show to bring the viewer back on Monday. While your plots might not take the crazy twists and turns of a soap story, every chapter should end on a hook, big or small. Every book should end making the reader satisfied but wanting more (your next book). And if you ever need inspiration on how to throw rocks at your characters (remember the classic advice: Run your character up a tree. Throw rocks at her. Get her back down.), nobody throws rocks like the writers of soaps. Abducted by aliens? Secret babies? A long lost twin back in town and bent on revenge? Why not?!

So tell me. Do you love the soaps? What’s your favorite show (whether or not it’s still running)? What character keeps/kept you coming back for more and why?

The Beauty of the .99 cent Price Point

Welcome to another Tuesday edition of the Writing Secrets of 7 Scribes. PJ Sharon here with today’s unlocked secret. I’d like to talk about e-book prices. Specifically, ways to use the .99 cent price point strategy to boost sales, gain exposure, and get your books listed on the hottest advertising sites around.

First off, if you are traditionally published, changing the price of your e-books is likely beyond your control. Additionally, publisher prices of e-books in most cases will set you and your books outside the realm of “discounted” or “cheap” reads since all of those folks in the middle (agents, editors, etc.) need to take a piece of your pie. The average traditionally published e-book is priced anywhere from $7.99-$15.99–not exactly an impulse buy kind of price. Being that there are no print costs, storage rates, or delivery fees to pay, I’m not sure what these prices reflect– other than the publishers trying to make up for a declining print book industry. These prices may not discourage rabid fans of Stephen King, Nora Roberts, or James Patterson, but if you are a new author trying to gain a readership, your publisher may be pricing you out of the market. There is simply too much free and reduced price product available to readers. As such, higher priced e-books are likely going to to have difficulty finding an audience as time goes on. Then again, I could be wrong. The benefits of having a publisher with access to a publicist who is willing to help you get exposure through pre-orders and reviews might just balance out the playing field. (I’d love to hear some comments from trad pubbed authors about this topic.)

If however, you have self-published titles that aren’t selling well, or you have a series that you would like to promote, the ability to give your readers a deep discount can open some new doors. For one thing, there are several advertising sites that focus mainly on selling discounted e-books. Kindle Nation Daily, Book Bub and Kindle Fire Department just to name a few. All of these sites can give your discounted e-books the excellent exposure they need to get them into the hands of lots of new readers. The caveat is that because there are so many authors trying to get their books in front of the world, advertisers have the advantage of picking and choosing which books they will feature. Requirements are becoming more stringent. Some expect as many as 18+ reviews with an average 4.5 star rating. To further narrow the field, the books may not be accepted if they have been offered for free within the past few months, causing some issues for authors who have participated in the KDP Select program with Amazon.

Lest you feel you are “giving away the shop” with this .99 cent price point, think of how large retail stores encourage consumers to try a new product. They will often give away samples or significantly reduced price items in order to introduce customers to a new product or product line. It’s known in the industry as a loss leader. Even if you normally price your e-books at the $2.99-$4.99 sweet spot for impulse buyers, a drop to .99 cents can expose you to a whole new readership who ONLY buys .99 cent books or downloads freebies. You might take a cut in royalties (from 70% down to 35%) but if it leads readers to other books in a series or gains you a new following, the increased volume of sales and the boost to your rankings can be a sacrifice well worth making.

Now, there are a few tricks you can try to employ to keep 70% of your dollar. By changing the price of your e-book on Smashwords and BN, for instance, and then waiting for Amazon to price match. If they choose to change the price, they won’t change your royalty rates, but as the TOS (terms of service) agreement states, authors are not supposed to offer the book at a lower price on any other distribution channels,so it may ruffle their feathers. It could also take several days or even weeks before Amazon catches up with the new price (a process that can sometimes be sped up by having friends “report” the lower price), and there is always the risk that they could call you out on the contract breach. So far, Amazon has been amenable to price matching strategies that self-published authors are using. One of the silly benefits of allowing Amazon to match the lower price of their own volition is the neat little slash they put through the old price so that customers know they are getting a deal.(See here for example)

If you decide to try a .99 cent sale on one or more of your books, it can help to boost your exposure if you join with other authors who are doing the same thing. Readers will often look for these “group sales” so that they can stock up on “cheap” reads all at once for their summer reading. Indie Romance Ink, a yahoo group for independently published authors has just such a sale coming up this week from May 1-3, called the Book Lovers Buffet, Bouquet of Books, offering over 150 e-book titles across multiple genres, all priced at a very affordable .99 cents each! There are books for every reader available all in the same place and we have a staggering number of authors promoting the sale. We’ve lined up dozens of book bloggers, FB pages, and advertisers all promoting with us. Hopefully we’ll have a good turn out. Check out our landing page by clicking the icon below, but wait until tomorrow if you want to enter to win great prizes. If you stop by today, you can browse through the books, but the prize page won’t be active until tomorrow and there are no price guarantees until the sale starts. Be sure to spread the word to family and friends. Hope you find exactly what you’re looking for!

As for me, both WANING MOON and HEAVEN IS FOR HEROES will be available for .99 cents during the sale. I’ll also be giving away a $25 Amazon Gift card at my http://www.pjsharonyawriter.blogspot.com site to one lucky vistor who drops by and leaves a comment with a valid e-mail address (not to be used for any other promotions).

Contest ends at midnight on May 3rd. Winners to be announced Sunday, May 5th. Thanks to everyone who organized the sale (Clover Autrey…you know who you are), and a big thanks to everyone for passing along the word on FB, twitter, and Goodreads.

What do you all think about e-book prices and the .99 cent price point strategy?

Interview with Author Laura Bradford/Elizabeth Lynn Casey

Hey, Scribelings! Welcome! I have another special treat in store for you today: an interview with cozy mystery/romance author Laura Bradford/Elizabeth Lynn Casey. I recently asked her a buggy full–or should I say a sewing box full?–of questions, and she was kind enough to answer all of them. Here’s what Laura had to say:

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m one of those folks who knew what she wanted to be since she was a little girl. I was officially bitten by the writing bug while playing at a friend’s house in 4^th grade. It was raining and we’d had our fill of Barbies. So out came the paper, the crayons, and we started writing and illustrating stories. I was hooked.

Fast forward through my post-college days as a reporter and then the birth of my two daughters and I decided to tackle my love for fiction-writing. It took me five years to write that first book (twenty minutes here, twenty minutes there while my youngest was occupied with a toy). I sold it to a small press. The book released (with a horrible cover) and was soon nominated for an Agatha (it didn’t win) and picked up for Worldwide Mystery’s book club (which meant new life with a big publisher and a far bigger audience).

Today, I have sixteen books out and another six under contract.

Tell us about your latest book, Assaulted Pretzel. (I love this series, by the way!)

ASSAULTED PRETZEL is the 2^nd book in my new Amish Mysteries with Berkley Prime Crime. The protagonist of the series—Claire Weatherly—owns a specialty gift shop in Amish country. The local detective—Jakob Fisher—is former Amish. His ex-communicated status makes him the last people the Amish want to talk to. So when crime happens, and they have to talk, they prefer to talk to Claire.

This particular book has the head of a large toy manufacturer coming to Heavenly, Pa, to hire the Amish to build a new line of toys for his company. When he reneges on the deal and is found murdered, a number of people—Amish included—are viable suspects.

You write romances as Laura Bradford and mysteries as Laura Bradford and Elizabeth Lynn Casey. How many books a year do you write?

There was a year or two there when I was writing four books a year. That has slowed somewhat with the Berkley Prime Crime titles being moved out to a 12 month model.

So, at this time, two a year…unless I add in a romance…or a thriller…or a women’s fiction.

Do you have any advice on how writers can increase their productivity?

Just write. Set a word count goal for yourself and keep track. Seeing those numbers growing really helps motivate me.

How do you keep your various projects organized?

Since I’m writing two cozy series, I have an index card box for each. Inside, are cards for each character—what they look like, issues, background, etc.  It helps tremendously when I switch from writing one world and more onto another.

What kind of marketing do you do for your books? Do you have any marketing advice?

• I send out postcards (my mailing list grows every time I do a signing/event).
• I send out an e-newsletter to the people who have signed up via my website.
• I keep up on my FB pages—one for each name.
• I try to tweet but I don’t find it as effective.I do a daily blog on my Elizabeth Lynn Casey website.
• I do contests on my FB pages as we’re closing in on a book’s release.
• I guest blog on various sites (maybe 3 or 4) during the lead up/first month of a book’s life.

How do you battle the Doubt Monster? We define the Doubt Monster as: the nagging feeling that your prose is terrible, your plot is silly, your characters are insipid, and no one in her right mind would read this drivel, let alone buy it.

I just keep going.  Or I pout and then I keep going.

Do you have any pets?

Angus is the family pet. He’s a black cat. With seven toes/6 nails per foot.

What’s your junk food of choice?

I think just about any of my fans (at least the ones who frequent my FB pages) could answer this for me.

Chocolate.

Unless I’m on deadline. Then it’s candy corn (with milk).

When will your next book be out? What’s it about?

My next book release will be August 6^th and that’s for the 8^th book in my Southern Sewing Circle Mysteries Series (Berkley Prime Crime) written under my pen name, Elizabeth Lynn Casey.

In this book, one member of the Sweet Briar crew is convinced the death of an elderly local man is not what it seems…

You can keep up with Laura/Elizabeth here:

www.laurabradford.com

www.elizabethlynncasey.com

Laura Bradford AUTHOR page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Laura-Bradford/316744455035472?ref=hl

Elizabeth Lynn Casey AUTHOR page:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elizabeth-Lynn-Casey/286853572181?ref=hl

Cover Reveal and an Excerpt of WESTERN DESERT

I’m so happy to see the month of April and the light at the end of the long winter tunnel. If you want details about all of my April happenings, stop by my blog at http://www.pjsharonyawriter.blogspot.com. There are contests, prizes, a Beach Book Blast Spring Splash book sale, and an Authors in Bloom Blog Hop on the agenda, so pop on over and check out the fun when you’re done here!

PJ here, if you hadn’t guessed. We still have patches of snow in the Berkshires, but I’m finally seeing signs of spring. The Robins have arrived and the pearly white petals of the snow drops are peeking out of the ground where the snow has melted. I think we’re all looking forward to the lovely face of spring that will soon overtake the gray landscape. And speaking of lovely faces, I thought I would share with you the cover to my next book, WESTERN DESERT, Book Two in THE CHRONICLES OF LILY CARMICHAEL trilogy. The fabulous Melody Simmons designed the covers for the trilogy. I think she has done a great job so far. What do you think?

Cover Reveal!

Taking off where WANING MOON ends, Lily Carmichael and Will Callahan embark on a journey across a sun-ravaged and decimated US in the year 2057, headed for the Western Desert on a dangerous rescue mission. The survivors they meet along the way put Lily’s healing abilities to the test, and challenge Will’s talents for lying and conning his way out of some tricky situations. But even with the weight of life and death on their shoulders, the greatest challenge they face is trusting their hearts to each other.

Here’s an excerpt from WESTERN DESERT:

“Rudy really cares about you.” Will stared out the back window. “You’re lucky…to have so many people who love you.” He glanced my way as he came around to face front, his expression sad and hard at the same time.

I adjusted the mirror and straightened my shoulders, gripping the steering wheel with both hands as I blinked back tears. “He’s a good friend.” The words came out softer than I intended, choking past the knot in my throat. As lucky as I was to have my family and community, Will had been equally unlucky, having lost his mother and sister in a storm that leveled his house and wiped out his whole town. With no reason to stay, he’d roamed the country for the past two years in search of his father, the only family he had left. My heart squeezed at the thought of all he had been through.

The road changed from gravel to chunky asphalt, cracked and loaded with potholes. Will held onto the grab bar that hung from the ceiling above the door. “You should have let me take the gun Rudy offered.”

“I hate guns. And what if we got caught with one?”

Will ignored me and shook his head. “I’m more concerned about what happens if we get caught without one? Have you figured out a plan for breaking into Industry Headquarters when we get to Vegas, or are we just going to storm the gates? I’m not sure a blow gun and a baseball bat are going to get us in and out alive.”

I felt the cool gaze of his gray-blue eyes on me but I focused on the road. “No specific plan yet, but we have plenty of time to figure it out.” I pressed my foot to the gas pedal, anxious to put some distance between me and the voices of home that echoed in my mind. “And we’ll make do with whatever we have.” Sam’s words flowed out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop them. “Adapt, improvise, and overcome, right?”

“If you say so; you’re the boss.”

I glanced at Will, whose lips twitched before he turned his head away to watch the Stanton town line fade into the distance in the side view mirror.

I hope you’ll join Lily, Will, and the cast of characters who embody the best and worst of humanity in this second book of the dystopian trilogy, THE CHRONICLES OF LILY CARMICHAEL. WESTERN DESERT is scheduled for release June 24th. If you haven’t read Book One, WANING MOON, stop by my website and purchase your e-copy today, or comment below and you will be instantly entered into a drawing for a signed print copy. Good Luck!

Thanks for stopping in. As always, your feedback and comments are welcome.

PJ

The Unlocked Secret of the Niche Market.

So what is Niche Marketing? Wickepedia says, “A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing.” Really, Wickie? Who wrote that? Is that the best you’ve got? Of course they go on to explain further with words like demographics, market shares, and some other marketing terms and examples that didn’t do much to help me figure out how to define where my books might land on the book shelves.

The first question a professional marketer asks is, “Who is your target audience?” Truly understanding this question is probably the number one best marketing tool a writer can have. We’d all like to say, “everyone, of course.” And while that may be sort of true that many different demographics might enjoy your book, it’s more likely and infinitely easier to reach a smaller group of readers specifically interested in your genre, subject matter, and characters. Think “low lying fruit.”

Targeting “your” readers may be easier if your book falls into a specific genre. If you’ve written a cozy mystery about a librarian who is a quilter turned amateur sleuth, you might consider marketing your book to librarians and quilters, a pretty small “niche” market that might be easier than trying to reach “everyone.” This is why agents and editors want to know what “genre” you are writing. So they can determine the marketability of your book based on their experience with that particular readership and their understanding of where the market is currently trending. Women 30-55 years old are the greatest book-buying demographic that marketers are competing for. Publishing houses are trying to meet that supply. So sending a query for your “Sci-fi/ Historical, Inspirational/ Regency might be a tough sell.

The problem for many authors is that our stories don’t always fall into one genre. Diana Gabaldon had difficulty getting OUTLANDER published at first because she couldn’t clearly define it as a romance, a historical, a science fiction/fantasy, or a time travel novel. Of course it’s all of those, but it was so fabulously written that some smarty-pants publisher decided that they would take a chance and market the book to readers across multiple genres, essentially including “everyone,” and the series took off.

It worked out well for her, but most of us aren’t so lucky. In most cases, if your book falls outside of a specific proven market, agents and editors don’t want to touch it. Most of my rejection letters a few years back were because my manuscripts didn’t “fit the market.”

Now that I’m self-publishing, I see their dilemma. When I put my books up on Amazon, BN, and Smashwords, I have to pick categories that best describe them so that they are listed where my target audience would find them (good old search engine optimization-SEO). The frustrating part is that the choices are limited to the old model of publishing and haven’t caught up with new trends. “Teen/YA fiction” refers to books with protagonists ages 14-17 and are a subcategory of “children’s fiction”. But the books coming out these days for teens are arguably for a much more mature audience, and the demographic isn’t so clear-cut. Ideally, they should be much more delineated. There should be choices that would target older teens and adults who enjoy reading about that all-important transition from teen life to adult experiences. I had no idea when I chose my categories that some sites would lump my books into “Children’s fiction” because I labeled it a YA. They aren’t likely to find a readership there!

So what’s a writer to do? Well, you can choose to write for a particular market, ie; cozy mystery, romantic suspense, thriller, or romantic comedy. This is a very viable approach and is the most likely road to becoming traditionally published if you do your research and watch what’s selling and who’s selling it, and target your agent/editor query appropriately. But if you consistently find your stories falling into “genre no-man’s land,” you can join the new age of genre-bending authors who have literally created new markets by taking risks and writing what they want to write, self-publishing, and then finding their readers by focusing on certain niche markets and using that SEO to their advantage.

Whether traditional or indie-published, when it comes time to market your books and find your readership, look at who your target audience really is. Be creative and look at it from all angles and try different approaches. If you aren’t reaching readers by promoting the book to one segment of the population, try another. My book ON THIN ICE could be marketed to ice skaters, teens who become pregnant, sufferers of eating disorders, or teens experiencing the grief of losing a parent. Over time, I can market this book to several different niche markets, keeping it relevant as long as I can keep reaching new readers and targeting new niche audiences who might not otherwise have found the book. That’s why SEO is so important. And why creating whole new genres may be the best way for your target audience to find you.

For instance, I’ve been promoting HEAVEN IS FOR HEROES as a “Contemporary YA Romance.” But the story deals with the tragedies of war, overcoming loss, and the determination of one seventeen year old girl to find the truth—pretty mature themes that 14-17 year-old readers wouldn’t necessarily be looking to read about. Because of the protagonist’s age, the book falls into the YA market, but our hero is a nineteen-year-old Marine Veteran struggling with a difficult recovery, which changes the demographic for this story. Because the focus of the book is a tenuous teen romance with the underlying plot of a family’s search for peace in time of war, HIFH will appeal to adult readers as well as older young adults, but listed as a YA, it may never reach those adults who might enjoy the book.

The hero’s age and the subject matter make it fit more appropriately into the New Adult genre—a relatively new niche market targeting 19-23 year-old readers previously forced to read “teen” novels or jump right into “adult” romances. This segment of readers wants more than the typical high school experience, but they may not be ready for the white-picket-fence-via-total-abandonment-to-love-and-sex that rules the adult romance world. They are looking for relatable characters faced with real life issues that they themselves might be facing; such as leaving home, going off to college, or dealing with friends coming back from war.

Filled with moments of poignant reality, hard lessons, and the angst and sexual tension of first love, HIFH combines family drama and the relationship between childhood sweethearts, Jordie Dunn and Alex Cooper, who must overcome some pretty “grown-up” obstacles to find their way to a hopefully ever after ending.In Savage Cinderella, Brinn is eighteen and Justin is twenty-three. Add the subject matter and this book clearly falls into the New Adult category rather than YA. I might have tried marketing my books as Mainstream fiction and put them up against books from authors like Nicolas Sparks and Jodi Piccoult, but that would again put me in a very large pool with some very big fish, and without publisher backing, it’s tough to swim in that pond. Literary fiction is an even tougher sell than genre fiction.

With many of today’s YA books fitting more appropriately into the New Adult category, this niche market is catching on. Entangled Publishing, St. Martin’s Press and I believe even Harlequin Teen are adding New Adult titles to their acquisitions. Publishers are finally willing to recognize that yes, college students do read for pleasure in their limited time, and that they want more of what the New YA market has to offer. There are loads of twenty-something’s looking for books that go beyond the teen dramas focused on high school but who still want stories that deal with all of those wonderful (and hideous) firsts. Many of my readers fit into this category. If I had to guess, my average reader is between 19 and 33. That’s a pretty big demographic, but by listing my books as YA, I’m potentially focusing on the wrong group of readers. I don’t want to misrepresent the books by having them listed in the “Contemporary Romance” section either, since they definitely have a younger voice and reader expectation is important to consider.

Re-branding my work might take a bit of time and effort, but if it means reaching my target audience, I owe it to my books…and my readers to give it a shot.

Have you thought about who your target audience is, and what niche markets you might be missing?

The Accidental Series by Frankie Robertson

Happy Friday everyone! Casey here. I’m thrilled to have Frankie Robertson return as our guest today. Take it away Frankie!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you, Casey, for inviting me to post here today!

I didn’t set out to write three series at the same time. I didn’t even set out to write one. At present, I’ve just published FORBIDDEN TALENTS, the 2^nd book of the Vinlanders’ Saga; LIGHTBRINGER, book one of the Celestial Affairs series is out; and BETRAYED BY TRUST, the first of the two TRUST books is waiting to be revised. Scattering your efforts like this is not the best way to build a following!

When I wrote DANGEROUS TALENTS I was stretching my wings. I’d written a partial novel before and several short stories. With DANGEROUS TALENTS I was giving the long form another try. It took me a year to finish Celia and Dahleven’s story, and another six months to revise it. And while I was submitting and collecting very polite rejections, my critique partners were nudging me, “Tell us a story about Ragni, Dahleven’s brother.”

That’s the problem with creating complex worlds and interesting secondary characters. People want to know more about them.

At the time, writing a sequel to an unsold book was not considered a smart move, but I didn’t have anything else in mind, so I did as they asked and began writing FORBIDDEN TALENTS. I didn’t want to ignore the main characters from the first book, though, so I decided to weave Celia and Dahleven’s continuing story into Ragni and Saeun’s romance. Now I had four POV characters and two main plot lines.

That’s where I ran into trouble. I got almost halfway into the book and ground to a halt. Writing stopped feeling good, but I was too inexperienced to understand what was wrong. I was also too stubborn to work on something else. I just kept banging my head against that wall trying to make it work, and the story kept saying, NO. Finally, somebody, somewhere said something that made the light go on. I wasn’t thrilled with what I saw. I had taken a serious wrong turn in chapter two and I needed to rewrite the first 200 pages, completely excising a really neat character in the process.

You’ve heard the saying, “Kill your darlings”? That’s what I had to do. But after I committed charactercide, the story fell into place. Writing became a joy again, and in the fullness of time FORBIDDEN TALENTS was complete and revised.

DANGEROUS TALENTS and FORBIDDEN TALENTS are long books, as you might expect romantic fantasies set in another world to be. How did I keep everything straight? I kept a folder of loose notes of character names and descriptions (later a computer file), and a calendar to keep track of what was happening to which character, when. And I had really good critique partners. Even so, my fabulous editor Rochelle French at Edits that Rock still caught a few discrepancies.

I stumbled into writing the Celestial Affairs series in a similarly accidental way, by writing a secondary character into LIGHTBRINGER that folks wanted to know more about. And when I started writing BETRAYED BY TRUST,  I thought it was a standalone book, too. Wrong.

It turns out these were fortuitous mistakes.

Writing a series, especially as an indie author, is good for business. The readers who love your characters will come back for more, and the folks who discover you through the 2^nd  or 5^th or 32^nd  book in the series will go back to look for the first.

If you decide to commit series, I have a few suggestions:

• Keep a “bible” of characters including their backgrounds, appearance, and relationships to other characters, and their involvement in major events.
• Use a calendar to keep your timeline straight.
• If you’re writing a closed end series (not just connected novels), create an arc from the outset instead of figuring it out in the middle — the way I am.
• If you have control over your covers, make sure they reflect the tone and genre of your book, and that they look connected to each other through fonts and composition.
• It’s also important to make each book stand on its own so your readers aren’t frustrated by a cliff-hanger while you finish the next book.
• And unless you write really fast, it’s probably better to write just one series at a time. Do as I say, not as I do.

Bio:

Frankie Robertson can’t seem to stop herself from writing paranormal romance and romantic fantasy series. She lives with her husband in the desert southwest where her backyard is visited by bunnies, quail, hawks, and bobcats. If you want to know more about what Frankie is up to, please visit her website: http://FrankieRobertson.com.

Buy Links:

http://www.amazon.com/DANGEROUS-TALENTS-ebook/dp/B007QQ1CDK
http://www.amazon.com/FORBIDDEN-TALENTS-ebook/dp/B009B56INS
http://www.amazon.com/LIGHTBRINGER-Celestial-Affairs-Novel-ebook/dp/B005VIE9FI

Thanks so much for being our guest today Frankie! If anyone has any questions or wants to share their method for creating a series, please jump in!

Murder Comes to the Scribes — Interview with Mystery Author Lucy Burdette

Hey, all! Suze here. Today I’m thrilled to have mystery author Lucy Burdette visting us. Her new series is the Key West Food Critic Mysteries, and Book 2, Death in Four Courses, just released. I’ve read it, and I love it! Take it away, Lucy.

You write wonderful cozy mysteries, Lucy. How would you define a cozy, and why do you think people love them so much?

Thanks so much for those kind words. Cozies are traditional mysteries that avoid graphic description of violence and sex. They often take place in a small town and introduce the reader into the protagonist’s world, including a group of friends and family.

The real world is such a scary place these days! I think readers like the idea of the good guys winning and the bad guys getting what they deserve, as always happens with a cozy mystery. And they like strong women who use their smarts to solve puzzles and problems. And food–food and cooking are very big right now and I’m delighted to be part of that trend!

Your latest book is DEATH IN FOUR COURSES, book 2 in the Key West Food Critic Mysteries. Tell us a bit about it.

Food critic Hayley Snow has the biggest assignment of her short career–covering the food writers who are attending the Key West Loves Literature conference. Unfortunately her assignment gets complicated when she finds the keynote speaker floating in a dipping pool at the opening night reception. And to top that off, she’s made the mistake of inviting her mother down for the weekend, which adds another layer of pressure. This is the second book in the Key West food critic series, after AN APPETITE FOR MURDER.

How do you go about developing a new series? What kind of  research is involved? (Sign me up for some of that Key West on-location  research, will you?) Does the sleuth or the setting come first?

Usually character comes first. When thinking about Hayley, I wanted to develop a protagonist who was a little lost, a newcomer to Key West, yearning to make a mark as a foodie writer. Some reviewers find her a little naive and dizzy–I think that gives her plenty of room to grow over the course of the series… With DEATH IN FOUR COURSES, I was delighted to learn that the REAL Key West Literary Seminar was focusing on food writing just as I was planning the book. So research involved attending the sessions, eating great meals, and tooling around Key West to come up with plot tangents and setting. I must admit that I’m astonishingly lucky to be able to combine my passions for food, writing, and Key West!

Do you have any pets?

Always! Right now my faithful writing companions are Yoda the cat, and Tonka the Australian shepherd. They stick with me through every word and adventure.

When you set out to write a mystery, do you know whodunnit and why at the outset? Or does that only become clear to you once your cast of characters is complete?

I like to try to start knowing whodunnit, but also who else might have done it. It helps me write the book to give several characters important secrets that they might kill to keep from revealing. Often about halfway through the book, I’ll stop and write the ending. This gives me something to point to during the development of that murky middle.

Who are your literary inspirations, and why?

I read all kinds of books as a kid, including Nancy Drew, the Hardy boys, Cherry Ames, and the Bobbsey twins mysteries. I still love to read mysteries such as Diane Mott Davidson’s culinary series, Julia Spencer-Fleming’s wonderful series featuring an Episcopalian priest and a small town police chief. I’m also reading lots of food memoirs like Frank Bruni’s BORN ROUND and Kim Severson’s SPOON FED. And women’s fiction too, especially if there’s food in it:)

Thanks so much for inviting me to visit! DEATH IN FOUR COURSES is available wherever books are sold:
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/death-in-four-courses-lucy-burdette/1110865391?ean=9780451237835
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Death-Four-Courses-Critic-Mystery/dp/0451237838/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348146179&sr=8-1&keywords=death+in+four+courses
Indiebound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780451237835
You can learn more by following Lucy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lucyburdette
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lucyburdette
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/robertaisleib
Lucy’s website: www.facebook.com/lucyburdette
Lucy’s blogs:  www.jungleredwriters.com www.mysteryloverskitchen.com

Thanks for visiting today. Readers, any questions for Lucy?

Falling Skies

Welcome to Tuesday’s Secrets of 7 Scribes. PJ, here. Have any of you seen the television series, FALLING SKIES?  Great cast, neat effects, and well written. It’s also research for my current WIP. This TNT sleeper series is a post-apocalyptic story of what happens after the world is invaded by aliens. Survivors band together in small militia groups and fight the invaders and their creepy multi-legged “Skitters” and hope to regain control of the world or will die trying.

The story follows one such group, made up of your average cross-section of Americans, including a former Army Captain (played by Will Patton), who the group has dubbed their leader, a woman doctor (played by the lovely and talented Moon Bloodgood—love that name), who can basically do field surgery under very unsterile conditions and not seem to worry about infection, and an ordinary history teacher, played by a handsome in a scruffy kind of “anti-Carter” way, Noah Wiley, who is the humble moral-compass of a hero for the show. Folks walk around armed, grubby, scavenging for food and supplies, and trying to protect their children from being taken over by the aliens who control them with a harness that is attached to their spinal columns, that if removed, will cause death…in most cases. One teen survives and is left with some extraordinary abilities, but we’re all waiting to see if the aliens will find a way to control him once again. If alien monsters aren’t enough, our survivors need to worry about enemies in their own camp. Have I piqued your interest?

I’m not usually a big fan of “aliens take over the Earth” type movies, but this one grabbed me last season and I anxiously awaited its return this summer. You see, I was already percolating the idea of writing a dystopian story. THE CHRONICLES OF LILY CARMICHAEL came to me all mapped out in trilogy form. I knew where book one began and ended, what would happen in book two, and how the saga would come together in book three. Writing a trilogy, let alone a dystopian, was a first for me, so I decided to do some research before diving in. After reading the Hunger Games, The Giver, How I Live Now, and a few other dystopian tales, I had an idea of what types of details I wanted to include. But I had trouble seeing the logistics of what a post-apocalyptic world might actually look like. FALLING SKIES has filled in some of those blanks for me. How people live with no electricity, how they work together to find and prepare food, and what the landscape might look like once no one is maintaining roads or neighborhoods. It’s amazing to think about how fast everything would be reclaimed by nature. My back yard is evidence of this if we don’t weed-whack for a while.

In addition to FALLING SKIES, I’ve taken to watching episodes of DOOMSDAY PREPPERS. I’m fascinated by all of the theories that people have regarding the fall of our society and what they plan to do about it. Whether financial collapse, natural disasters, or zombie apocalypse, some folks seem to be remarkably equipped. They have enough food and water stored up to last years. Most have weapons amassed. One woman was so touched by her husband’s gift of a massive shipping container that they planned to bury in their yard to store supplies, that she was brought to tears. These people are serious about surviving whatever future awaits them.

Perhaps it’s too much research, but the whole apocalypse thing is making me a bit squirrelly. Lily’s story will have elements of the doom and gloom that would likely be a part of a post-apocalyptic world, but there is an underlying hopefulness that our planet and our species can survive. Lily is a healer after all, and she is determined to share that gift with the world that she feels is worth saving. Me–I’m pretty much a “live in the moment” kind of girl, but I do like to be prepared. I used to tell my scout troop, “Expect the best, but prepare for the worst.” I’m not sure how that applies to an apocalyptic catastrophe, but I’m leaning toward “expecting the best.” On the “prepare for the worst” side, my research has me taking a gun safety course next weekend with my husband and making sure I have enough emergency supplies in my house, but if a plague hits, as is the case in my “dystopian world,” I hope Noah Wiley remembers his ER days and comes to my rescue.

How about you? Do you use television and movies to do your research? More importantly, are you prepared for the worst, or expecting the best?

 

To Be Continued

Hidey Ho Scribblers!  It’s Saturday once again, J Monkeys blathering here.  In just a few short weeks, all of our favorite shows will go on summer hiatus…well, almost all.  True Blood will be back from hiatus and really, that’s a good thing!  But Fringe, Once Upon a Time, The Mentalist, Criminal Minds, they will all be gone for months.  Some of them might even be gone for good!  Please, oh please, SOMEBODY pick up Fringe for next year…I’m not ready for it to be over!

But I digress.  My three least favorite words in TV world could find their way to the screen in the next few weeks and even if they aren’t seen, you know they are lingering in the static…to be continued.

Yup, their commin’ and that got me to thinking about sequels.  Do you like them?  What do you like about them?  For me, it depends.  For example, I loved The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and I really liked the sequel, Catching Fire, but it took me a while to come around to Mockingjay.  That third book is very different from the first two…

I came to the Twilight series late in the game, after Breaking Dawn was already available, but like the rest of the world over the age of 10, I had to wait years between the Harry Potter books.  Of course, they were very much worth it!

I think what it comes down to is a need for a satisfying ending to the book I just finished.  I really don’t like being left on tenderhooks.  While you knew there would be more books coming in the Twilight series, each book stood on its own. 

If any of you read Anne Rice back in the day (I heard she has a new werewolf series out!) I was really angry with the ending of The Witching Hour.  This was a wonderful story – a huge tome of a book – right up to the last 4 pages.  The thing was captivating for 1300 pages and then, she didn’t wrap the story up – she started a new direction, leaving the bad guy out there.  I can’t remember the name of the sequel, but I was so angry that I don’t think I’ve read The Witching Hour again.  That’s unusual for me.  I often re-read book.  I reread books I like many times.  maybe enough time has passed that I can give it another go…

 

Today’s secret: I’m about to start the 3rd book in a series and I’m thinking about sequels a lot lately!

Today’s Question: Where do you stand on the topic of sequels?  Do you love ‘em or hate ‘em?