Who Says You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover?

 by Rebecca Yount

As a child I had a love affair with book covers.

Wesley Dennis's artwork that graced Marguerite Henry's 

stories drew me in like a magnet attracts metal.

 So, too, Arthur Rackham's illustrated edition of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows.  It was Rackham's cover that initially attracted me to the book that would become one of the most beloved of my childhood.

  To this day, I cherish memories of the "olde fashioned" illustrations from my early edition of Mother Goose.  At times I merely flipped through the pages to revel in the pictures, rather than read the nonsensical verses.

Deepening the Mystery

by Paul Anthony Shortt, @PAShortt

While I’m not a mystery writer, I have enjoyed including mystery elements in Locked Within Silent Oath. Nathan Shepherd started off his journey investigating mysterious deaths and disappearances. His eidetic memory helps him piece together clues and figure out what his enemies are planning.

and

Many urban fantasy series include elements of detective fiction. It’s common for the protagonist to have a job, or some form of responsibility, that relates to crime investigation. For Nathan, what started out as a strange death led to the discovery of the supernatural world he was once a part of. One thing which I did, which is a little different to many urban fantasies, was use Nathan’s past-life memories to explore the setting and take that opportunity to make other characters draw him into this world, rather than push him away. It was the antagonists, Dorian and Morningway, who held the mystery, not the world itself.

The Slow Release—Not the End of the World

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

It used to be, and still mainly is, in traditional publishing, that you wanted a really strong book release.  My publishers like to see good pre-orders and a high sale volume for the first month of a book’s release.  They want books sold off bookstore shelves and few returns.

That’s mostly because, in the print tradition, if you didn’t have a strong start and your books hung out on bookstore shelves too long, the stores would quickly end up shipping those books back to the publisher to make room for other titles.

Twitterific

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It's the search engine for writers.

November 13-14:  Get Read – Marketing Strategies for Writers: Dan Blank’s We Grow Media is a  two-day online conference for authors looking for promotion strategies--and, ultimately, readers.  Speakers include Porter Anderson, Chuck Wendig, Dan Blank, Jane Friedman, Therese Walsh, and many others.  (I'm one of the scheduled speakers and am also am serving on the advisory board.)  More information about the conference and registration information can be found here.

If you use the discount code elizabeth, you receive $20 off the conference price.

Check out the new resource for writers.  It’s Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group website.  There you’ll find pages of links to resources—writing tips, publishers, agents, queries, self-publishing, marketing, contests, and publications for writers.

Writing Our Region

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I know that my editors specifically wanted a Southern writer for the two series I’m writing for Penguin. They do get the South when they hire me on. 

That being said, portraying a specific region can be tricky.  I think dialect can be annoying to read, if you’re using it broadly.  Southerners are fond of dropping gs, for instance.  That would get old after a while.  In fact, if you phonetically wrote out Southern dialect, it would be incredibly difficult to read.

Cover Conferences

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Traditional publishing is a funny thing.  It’s a hurry up-and-wait type of business.  Sometimes (quite frequently, actually), everything moves at glacial speed.  But sometimes, things happen before you’re ready.  And you never really know what’s going on behind the scenes exactly to cause either one.

I heard from my editor on Friday that she’ll be attending—today, actually— the cover conference for the book that I’m currently writing.  This is a book that’s due in January that will publish October 2014.  For some reason, everything that’s happened with this book has happened earlier than I was ready for, and it’s made me a bit flustered.  This is the same book where the teaser chapter was due at the same time as the outline, but then the outline had requested revisions…you remember.

What's Important in a Story

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I was going through my blog reader recently and came across an interesting post from writer Jeff Cohen: “Stuff Not to Do” on the Hey, There’s a Dead Guy in the Living Room blog.  The whole article was good, but the part that particularly caught my eye was this:

“Don't decide on the crime and then create a character to fit it. Character comes first. The crime is the bait; it's what Alfred Hitchcock called "the MacGuffin," something the people in your book are desperate about but the reader should find secondary. Your characters are first. Write characters the reader cares about one way or another, and you're halfway home. Killing someone with a guillotine in the middle of Indiana isn't the key to your book.”

Twitterific

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It's the search engine for writers.

November 13-14:  Get Read – Marketing Strategies for Writers: Dan Blank’s We Grow Media is a  two-day online conference for authors looking for promotion strategies--and, ultimately, readers.  Speakers include Porter Anderson, Chuck Wendig, Dan Blank, Jane Friedman, Therese Walsh, and many others.  (I'm one of the scheduled speakers and am also am serving on the advisory board.)  More information about the conference and registration information can be found here.

If you use the discount code elizabeth, you receive $20 off the conference price.

There's a new resource for writers—whether you’re writing your first book, trying to query agents or editors, or whether you’re working on promo.  It’s Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group website.  There you’ll find pages of links to resources—writing tips, publishers, agents, queries, self-publishing, marketing, contests, and publications for writers. Alex is a friend and frequent commenter here and very active in supporting writers. Thanks to Alex and his helpers for compiling the information for the site.

Protagonists Should Climb in the Front Seat

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

When I speak to book clubs and other groups of readers, I’m frequently asked if my characters are like me.

And they’re really not—the books would be boring if the protagonists were like me.

But I’m not telling the whole truth when I dismiss the question.  Because in some ways, they are.

In particular, I have one protagonist who behaves very much like me during social gatherings.  Beatrice watches instead of participating.

Advantages to Having Your Self-Published Book in Print

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

When I first self-published a couple of years ago, it really never occurred to me to put out print copies of the books.  I felt print was on its way out, and that it might be expensive to publish a printed copy. Plus, I wasn’t sure exactly how to go into print.

But soon after e-publishing the first of my books, I started receiving emails from readers asking about getting the Myrtle books in print.  Some of the readers sounded rather put-out with me.  “I know digital is The Thing right now,” said one, “but I will never buy an e-reader. Never. Even though I would like to read your books.”  That’s when I decided to reassess my decision.

Traditional Publishing: One Reason Not to Choose It

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Back in March, I wrote a post weighing in on the self-publishing vs. traditional publishing choice.  At the time, I was stunned by a report from a Digital Book World survey .  Although I didn’t mention it in the post, I couldn’t believe that one of the main reasons surveyed writers said they were interested in pursuing traditional publishing (76%) was the “marketing support from a publisher.”

At the time, I didn’t really want to pooh-pooh that on the blog—I wasn’t trying to slam my publisher(s) by outing this myth.  So I ignored it, figuring those were just ill-informed writers who wouldn’t be reading my blog anyway.

Twitterific

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It's the search engine for writers.

November 13-14:  Get Read – Marketing Strategies for Writers: Dan Blank’s We Grow Media is a  two-day online conference for authors looking for promotion strategies--and, ultimately, readers.  Speakers include Porter Anderson, Chuck Wendig, Dan Blank, Jane Friedman, Therese Walsh, and many others.  (I'm one of the scheduled speakers and am also am serving on the advisory board.)  More information about the conference and registration information can be found here.

If you use the discount code elizabeth, you receive $20 off the conference price.

There's a new resource for writers—whether you’re writing your first book, trying to query agents or editors, or whether you’re working on promo.  It’s Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group website.  There you’ll find pages of links to resources—writing tips, publishers, agents, queries, self-publishing, marketing, contests, and publications for writers. Alex is a friend and frequent commenter here and very active in supporting writers. Thanks to Alex and his helpers for compiling the information for the site.

How not to write a mystery: http://dld.bz/cRDgP

Updates on ACX and Goodreads, Thoughts on Freebies

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I thought I’d give an update on both the audiobook platform that I started doing this spring and the promo efforts that I’ve made for the past few months.  Maybe it can give some of you ideas for expanding your content’s reach or for marketing it.

ACX—Still steady income for the $0 I put into the process.  Readers are requesting that more books go to audio (several readers wrote that they’re losing their eyesight and can only “read” via audio). I hate admitting that I don’t have the audio rights for the traditionally published books and that I find it less-likely that my publisher will put them on audiobook.

If Your Mystery Needs Complexity

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’m new to outlining and sometimes there’s an element that’s missing when I draft outlines—complexity.

I think that’s because I usually add more layers to my books after the first draft is finished.  Unfortunately, I won’t have finished the first draft when I submit an outline to my editor...I won't even have started the book... and it won’t occur to me to add the complexity into the outline before I send it (at least, it hasn’t before).  This means that I ordinarily get feedback on my outlines that state “could you please add some complexity to this mystery?”

Concrete Tips for Developing an Appealing Voice in Your Fiction

by Jodie Renner, editor, author, speaker

What exactly is “voice” in fiction?

An engaging story “voice” captures us from the first sentence and beckons us into the story world. Literary agents and acquiring editors always say they’re looking for fiction with a captivating, fresh, natural voice. Then when asked to define the term, they hesitate as they try to capture the elusive “je ne sais quoi” qualities of a voice that is unique and original, a voice that engages readers and compels them keep reading.

In a nutshell, the ideal “voice” is that natural, open, charismatic tone and style that pull us in and make us feel like we know the characters well — and want to get to know them better! A strong, compelling voice will bring your characters and story to life on the page. Voice is personality on paper.

Twitterific

 by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It's the search engine for writers.

November 13-14:  Get Read – Marketing Strategies for Writers: Dan Blank’s We Grow Media is a  two-day online conference for authors looking for promotion strategies--and, ultimately, readers.  Speakers include Porter Anderson, Chuck Wendig, Dan Blank, Jane Friedman, Therese Walsh, and many others.  (I'm one of the scheduled speakers and am also am serving on the advisory board.)  More information about the conference and registration information can be found here.

If you use the discount code elizabeth, you receive $20 off the conference price.

There's a new resource for writers—whether you’re writing your first book, trying to query agents or editors, or whether you’re working on promo.  It’s Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group website.  There you’ll find pages of links to resources—writing tips, publishers, agents, queries, self-publishing, marketing, contests, and publications for writers. Alex is a friend and frequent commenter here and very active in supporting writers. Thanks to Alex and his helpers for compiling the information for the site.

6 steps to creativity: http://dld.bz/cRwPQ @authorterryo

What if You Have No Time to Promote?

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I recently had someone email me asking how he could most effectively promote if he had no time at all to promote.

I know there have got to be plenty of writers in the same fix.  If you’re new to publishing and you start researching how to market your book, you could end up very overwhelmed, fast.

The problem is that our books don’t sell themselves.  It’s fine not to do any promo, but we can’t expect to be making money if we don’t.

I asked the writer how much time he actually had.  If he really had as little as he said (which was basically no time), I figured he could at least:

Novel Revision: Twenty-page Sessions

Guest Post by Jack Smith

You can handle novel revision in many different ways—probably too numerous to mention.  One method: You can rework pages one at a time, trying to get everything right before going on.  A second: You can take the novel section by section, attempting to get everything right.

Or how about this third method?   Once you have a fairly complete draft, just commit yourself to twenty-page sessions of revision. 

Unless you hit real snags, you can do this in about two to three hours.

Here’s the kinds of things to look for/work for: