Questioning Jose Agualusa

You know that saying about giving an urgent job to a busy woman? Well, I've also learned that a winner will come up with a winning question -- even if I don't know who she is at first. The best question submitted in the contest to win a copy of Jose Agualusa's The Book of Chameleons: A Novel is from Emmy Award winner Sonya Chrisman (not pictured at the left). She is a host, producer and writer for the public television station WNMU-TV in northern Michigan. She's already won Emmies for documentaries.

The best question, in my estimation, was this:

If you could be any character in your book, which would it be, and likewise, which would you not want to be?

When I finally tracked down Sonya (my first email went missing), she had this to say about her winning entry:

The question intrigues me with the genre of his novel. A memory is very precious to people. They are not only something very personal, they're free. Then, when we begin to lose our memories due to illness or old age, it's a tragedy. In Mr. Agualusa's book, memories are more than just precious. They are a precious commodity. If his world were a reality, which end of the spectrum would he rather be on character wise, the one that sells the memories or the one who receives them?

Sonya's query, and a few I managed to think up on my own, are currently in translation for the Portuguese-speaking Agualusa. Stay tuned for the interview.

Incidentally, the photo at the top is the only one I could find of the elusive Sonya. To be more precise, I think this is her alter ego, a.k.a. "Kirby".

Writing Books to be Published

Here's a unique offer -- a 750-page FREE eBook by published author, J.A. Konrath, titled The Newbie's Guide To Publishing Book. He is, as he says in the subtitle to his blog, The Newbie's Guide to Publishing,

author of the Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels thriller novels Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, and Rusty Nail

and a couple more, I think. The book is, of course, a downloadable .PDF file. As such, it requires .PDF reading software that you can obtain also for free, such as the Reader from Adobe. Truly an insider's path to getting published!

Ready for Writing Success?

When I was teaching a course on writing, one student revealed a major stumbling block. He was writing a book, a decent one at that. I thought he stood a good chance of getting an agent and selling the story to a publisher. But when I came to the marketing part of the series of classes, he balked. "No, I won't be doing that," he said after I talked about being available for interviews in all media, book signings and tours, and appearing at events to promote yourself as a writer or to market your writing.

"I'm shy," he whispered with a slight blush. I was taken aback. How could someone not be aware that public speaking and appearances are part of being a successful author? Selling a manuscript to a publisher is not the same as selling books to buyers. In this era of dwindling marketing and advertising budgets and personnel at publishers, more and more of the burden lies heavily on authors' shoulders.

That's not the only pressure successful writers encounter. Publishers are increasingly demanding that their stables produce books at a faster pace. The old paradigm of taking years to write a sequel or the next in a series is out the window, what with ebooks and electronic gizmos to read them. The public suffers from an ever-shortening attention span, too. This is especially true for readers of the suspense genres.

At least a novel a year has become the norm, the demand, according to an article in the Boston Globe, where local writer, Robert B. Parker, cranks out four books a year. He and Elmore Leonard must be blessed with great staminas. Parker quotes Leonard as saying, "If it takes you more than six months to write a book, you're not working."

In addition to producing reliably on time, authors still must cope with the public appearances that attract book buyers. No pressure, really, for success.

Writing a Book

Alison Baverstock is the author of 13 books and teaches creative writing. She is a former publisher and works as a consultant to the publishing industry. Talk about playing both sides of the street!

Her 256-page paperback, IS THERE A BOOK IN YOU? was published by A&C Black and came out at the first of this year. It includes a questionnaire that may help you discover if writing a book is really for you. Every chapter in this book is pertinent to one of the questions and contain advice from experienced writers, including P.D. James, Philip Pullman, Jacqueline Wilson, Margaret Drabble, Katie Fforde, and more.

It will help you answer your own questions, ones like:

• whether your writing is any good
• how to know if you have what it takes
• what you should write about

Quality is Key in Writing

Quality is the key factor in prolonging the preference for traditionally published over self published efforts. I'm referring to the quality of writing, editing, production, distribution and policy. This came to mind as I read the first book I knew was self-published, and by BookSurge no less. I was especially interested in the quality of the physical object and the appearance of the printed pages. The book proved a pleasant surprise. Nice layout, decent paper, great cover. From the quirky font used for page numbers and the plethora of illustrations, I suspect it was printed from .PDF files, probably prepared by the author.

All too often, self-published books look like they were printed on paper recycled from public toilets. Other problems include spacing issues between lines, letters, words and text on the pages (margins). Blah covers predominated the ones I've seen. Writing difficulties suggest a lack of professional editing. In fact, a lack of professionalism in most aspects marks self-publishing efforts, and this is what traditional publishing usually brings to the effort. Or maybe I should say, the professional touches used to be apparent. This winter I received a book for review from a Random House imprint. I had to check to see if they used "green" paper, but no such notice appeared. The paper was grey!Self-publishing authors cannot be expected to be experts in the intricacies of sales to bookstores and distribution of products, as well as commandeering advertising and marketing campaigns. A focus on producing high quality writing is enough for a one career. Publishing books is a complex industry that interfaces with and spawns other types of employment, e.g., printing being the most apparent. The traditional book industry's business model may be flawed, but the dinosaur lumbers on. Selling books to the public is yet another specialized type of work.

It is the lack of quality in all aspects, beginning with missing gatekeepers, that continues the bias against representing, reviewing, listing, and carrying self-published material. Many DIYers wind up becoming small publishers after learning all the elements involved with a first book (and often making many mistakes). When the inequity in quality reaches a balance (no matter how achieved), the disparity and disdain will automatically disappear. But no one person can do it all and well.

Getting from mss to Books

It's no secret that I lurk around a mailing list primarily for publishers -- the PUBLISH-L newsletter from Google Groups. I learn so much about all areas of book production, distribution and selling as well as book design, layout, covers and technology. One member, small publisher Marion Gropen, invited us to participate in her blog post entitled, "Things Newbies Say". I might have saved this reference for a Saturday Silly, except I know it's only funny to insiders.

I'm suggesting everyone who harbors a desire to have a book published, from secret sin to burning issue, read Marion's post and follow along with the comments. Though you may blush to find your own faux pas exposed, you'll come away with a better understanding of how book publishing operates. And why your assumptions don't work, why your demands are impossible, or maybe just what you're doing wrong in trying to sell a manuscript.

Don't be mad, be educated. The rest of you can laugh along with me.

Fiction Writing Lessons

Successful novelist David Morrell shares some of his latest book on writing at Backspace. In an excerpt from THE SUCCESSFUL NOVELIST: A LIFETIME OF LESSONS ABOUT WRITING & PUBLISHING, Morrell sets us depressingly straight about becoming rich and famous as authors. Then he lets us in on the key to becoming a successful writer, the answer to the burning question: Why do you want to writer? But this goes deeper than the apt response of "because I have to" or as I say it, "I can't not write!"

In what Morrell calls "self-psychoanalysis", he advocates digging into your psyche to discover what you most fear, often a childhood trauma you're unknowingly trying to work out (or work out of your system) through your writing. Therapists who work with children from alcoholic, abusive, codependent (or dysfunctional, if you prefer) backgrounds are quite familiar with this behavior. We attempt to repair the damage through relationships we have for the rest of our lives.

One method for discovering what your trauma might be is to examine where you mind goes when your brain's on idle ... daydreams. Pleasant and horrific. This type of research has its advantages: it's right at hand and very inexpensive (a factor that universally appeals to writers). Morrell says, "Day-nightmares are messages from your subconscious, hinting to you what that ferret is about. They’re disguised versions of your secret. They’re metaphors for why you want to be a writer."

Download the whole article in .PDF or print out the text.

Writing Book Review Pitches

"Newspapers have awesomely higher operating costs than the online publishers who are siphoning away their audience and advertising revenues," wrote Alan Mutter in his (presumably unedited) Reflections of a Newsosaur blog posting in February. He questioned the value and need for multiple editings of newspaper articles. That was about the time that the local paper's book reviews editor announced his departure from editing entirely.

Eventually the paper made known that the "Arts" editor would take on books, too. I predicted the two books pages (reduced from a multi-page stand-alone section) will disappear. Indeed, this week only one page of four book reviews appeared. The NY Times bestseller listings, already shrunk to only the top five, showed up on the back page with lists of what's hot in other media.

Authors, the writing is on the wall, and it's in book review editors' blood: don't bother trying for newspaper reviews anymore. Online is where it's at, the NY Times being exceptional. Some papers operate their online services separately from the print version and frequently offer more features on the Internet. Send your pitches there. This means, of course, that your pitch must be crafted as carefully as your opening book hook and/or the query that won you an agent.

Squeeze Copyright to Stifle Creativity

The Harry Potter brouhaha playing out in British courts threatens the "fair use" provision of copyright law, or so says New York Times business columnist, Joe Nocera, in A Tight Grip Can Choke Creativity. In a tight nutshell, the case involves a website publisher who announced he was about to present a companion book (long a standard practice in the fiction world) for profit. The problem? The product for sale was to be a portion of the Harry Potter Lexicon, also very much for the profit of the publisher. Nocera claims the "fair use" portion of copyright law, "allows anyone to create something new based on someone else’s art."

Perhaps J. K. Rowling and the handlers of her empire don't think an encyclopedia of Harry Potter terminology is something new. After all, it was Rowling who created the Harry Potter world and everything therein. Nocera implies Rowling is suing because no one asked her permission (read: paid for a license or franchise) to produce this new book.


Really, how creative is it to list words and their uses in someone else's novel? Sounds more like a specialized form of editing to me, like indexing or preparing a glossary for a manuscript. Not exactly original work. Certainly nothing new. The information in the website itself comes from established sources.

I realize I'm arguing against my own forté, nonfiction. But I'm thinking like a fiction writer of a successful enterprise, wanting to keep creative control, as they say in the movie biz.

Are Book Signings so Yesterday?

Last Sunday's chat with writers' publicist, P.J. Nunn, of BreakThrough Promotions, the featured guest in The Writer's Chatroom, proved quite enlightening. I was able to clear up a point of confusion circulating among new authors. That is, whether or not signings (in bookstores) are becoming passe and valueless. Yes and no is the answer. The Big Six (major traditional publishers) are booking fewer signing tours, and when they do, it's really to gain the attention of local media outlets for the author. A signing, I knew, is most effective when it is part of an "event" orchestrated for publicity purposes.

However, Ms. Nunn pointed out, book signings are an important tactic for getting a book into bookstores. I'm guessing she was talking in terms of authors published by smaller and independent houses. Perhaps it also applies to self-publishers, although for placement in major chains, a book must be available for order through Baker and Taylor, usually.

You often hear about bookstore owners "hand selling", promoting a particular book in their store and community. Some authors must similarly "hand sell" their books to independents, and the signing/event remains a tantalizing tidbit to offer store owners. It's good for the book, good for the store and good for the author. Sort of like recycling.

Chat With a Publicist

This Sunday at 7 p.m. EST you'll have a rare opportunity to participate or lurk in a chat with a writers' publicist, P.J. Nunn, of BreakThrough Promotions. She'll be the featured guest at the The Writer's Chatroom, providing publicity and P.R. tips as well as special free gifts for attendees. Click on "Enter Chatroom". It may take a moment to load. Type in the name you wish to be known by, and click "Login". No password needed. When you get there, tell 'em Georganna sent you!

Shopdropped a Good Book Lately?

The next time you stroll through a book store--and please, do support the brick-and-mortar variations of Amazon--you may come across a free book. It might not be labeled as such, but if you try to check it out, the clerk won't be able to ring it up and could ask, "Did you get this here?"

You will be a beneficiary of shopdropping: a growing practice of authors leaving their books lying about in places likely book buyers gather. Michael Quinion calls it a "guerrilla-art movement" akin to "culture jamming"--subverting competitors' advertising to your own benefit. In this case, however, the author use their own products to promote themselves and market the product. Sort of BookCrossing for a marketing purpose. I see nothing wrong with that.

This is my kind of free sample! I'd be delighted to find uncatalogued treasures on my library shelves. How about you?

Writing on the Bloggy Knol

Last month Udi Manber, VP Engineering for Google, revealed in the company's official blog a new project aimed at authors. Still in beta, and apparently nonpaying, the megatech is Encouraging people to contribute knowledge in the form of articles on their specialties. Clicking on the image below takes viewers to an example of a "knol". It's only an image, however, so don't bother clicking on anything that looks like a link. The very hush-hush beta testing is also by invitation only.

At the heart, a knol is just a web page; we use the word "knol" as the name of the project and as an instance of an article interchangeably. It is well-organized, nicely presented, and has a distinct look and feel, but it is still just a web page. Google will provide easy-to-use tools for writing, editing, and so on, and it will provide free hosting of the content. Writers only need to write; we'll do the rest.

Exactly which sector of the Internet this new project threatens is unclear and a matter of great speculation among industry watchers. One theory is that the company's "Pages" project is flagging, and "Knol" will simply prop it up with more tools a la Blogger. After all, a web page is just a web page. Or perhaps Blogger is losing out to Word Press, which offers more plug ins and flexibility in blog design as well as easier integration into complete websites.

Holiday Gifts for Writers

If you have writers on your holiday gift list (or want to drop hints to others)-- how about a present that will further careers? Be a Successful Writer and the two volumes on Effective Websites for Writers will provide useful information and show how much you care!

Writing Memoirs and First Novels

Lives I didn't live have been on my mind for the last year. This is also a dilemma for writers trying to create a memoir. The temptation is to follow the "what ifs" and become entangled in resentments. In his excellent THE MEMOIR AND THE MEMOIRIST, Thomas Larson suggests that this is fallacious reasoning, because it doesn't consider the value of the life you did live, and that the one you didn't, the road not taken, might have lead to different disasters.

A similar pitfall awaits young writers in attempting first novels, books best left unread. Knowing nothing of life but the brief one they have recently lived, their novels become thinly disguised memoirs. Perhaps reaching for drama, they air injustices, real or imagined, unaware that we all had similar angst-filled childhoods. Better to wait to use this material when you are much older and able to distinguish true tragedies.

If only I'd resisted that cute sailor and fulfilled my plan to attend Standford and become a clinical psychologist, wouldn't my life have been so much better, more fulfilling? Or I might have been lured by the flower children in San Francisco and languished as a hippie poet and a Lawrence Ferlinghetti groupie.

Virtual Book Touring How-To

Several times I've written about virtual books, signings and tours, even hosted a touring guest recently. However, I've neglected to direct your attention to a great resource on how to arrange a virtual book tour. Book Authors Tour the World with Virtual Book Tours by Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of Whale Song, in John Kremer's blog about marketing bestsellers explained the process. Tardif provided multiple links to services, sites and other resources to assist the neophyte virtual traveler. She offered detailed, step-by-step instructions -- way too much to even try to recap here.

The author prepared this article after completing a successful one-month virtual book tour. She wrote from first-hand experience. In a reply to an anonymous skeptical comment, Tardif said, "I found that it was a wonderful way to connect with readers, and I tried to make my VBT exciting and fun for everyone."

Strategies to Sell More Books

Scott Jeffrey of Become a Best-Selling Author offers a free eBook, 60 EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR SELLING MORE BOOKS (.PDF format). Not only does he list the strategies and write about implementing them, but he also suggests tools for the processes, including creating an author's website. The 76-page eBook also contains links to other useful resources.

When I mentioned this fabulous FREE resource on the Writer's Digest Forum, I just knew it would appeal to Jeff Yeager, The Ultimate Cheapskate, as he prepares for his new book, The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches, to be published in January 2008 by Random House (Broadway Books). In fact, he responded:

Thanks Geo. This is a TERRIFIC resource. So good, in fact, that I'm actually going to spring for the ink to print myself out a hard copy (ugh) [ed. note: typical Cheapskate attitude] ... much of the advice re: things authors should do is useful to all writers, whether you have a book that's already published and needs selling, or if you're just starting to write, looking for an agent, publisher, etc. Thanks again for bringing it to our attention.

Virtual Book Touring

Today we have guest writer Marina Kuperman explaining how to promote your book electronically. Instead of touring the country visiting book stores, Marina is touring the world, visiting blogs. We're pleased she chose A Writer's Edge for one of her stops.

GETTING THE WORD OUT
By Marina Kuperman

The new wave of internet book promotion is called the VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR. Even if you don't have a blog, you should never overlook this method of getting the word out. The goal is to contact bloggers in your category and ask them to give you a write up. It can take the form of a mention of your book, an interview, a review, or whatever you ask the blogger to write. This is networking, so you want to offer something back. I've noticed that when I do a blog tour, bloggers are more into it if I do a write up about their blogs or what they want to plug, plus (if you have a blog and/or website) exchange links with them.

For my young adult book Turtle Feet, Surfer's Beat and also the online teen community associated with this book at www.turtlefeetsurfersbeat.com, I've tackled the blogosphere and gave a shout out to as many bloggers as possible. I chose specific categories to my book. Because my book deals with marine preservation, surfing, and teens, I had a wide range of people to contact. I decided to get the support of other writers, surfing blogs and environmentalists. The majority of these people are super nice and extremely supportive of my work, gladly doing write-ups about me; and I did the same for them.

Marina also writes a blog, Turtle Feet, Surfer's Beat where you can follow her virtual book tour. She has graciously agreed to respond to questions in the comments section, so send 'em in.

Get Books in Barnes & Noble

One of the many myths about self-publishing is that if you pursue that course, you can't get your book carried by major stores like Barnes & Noble. Let's see what Marcella Smith, Small Press Business Manager, Barnes & Noble says:

The process for contacting Barnes & Noble for our decision about whether or not we want to distribute the book into our stores is pretty straightforward and pretty simple. All you need to do is send a copy of the finished book to us along with a cover letter letting us know how you're going to promote the title, what you're marketing and publishing plans are, when you plan to publish the book and what your credentials are for writing it.

Sounds simple enough. You might also consult the book store's online help desk's Publisher and Author Guidelines and the details about Submitting Content for a heads-up on what is involved if B&N accepts your book.

Newspaper Book Reviews

Ever since the rumors began to fly that my hometown rag, the San Diego Union-Tribune was going to join the growing exit line for Sunday book sections, I've held judgment and mention. The L.A. Times raised enough noise, following local agent Sandra Dijkstra's supposed call-to-arms. If there really was a rally, it failed. The paper no longer has a six-page pull-out section. Rather, two pages of the Arts section are devoted to books with more white space and, I'm guessing, fewer advertisements. No quality improvement, either. Nonetheless, if you have a book to plug and want to send review copies to the papers, John Kremer makes available a neat, free list of more than 60 Newspaper Book Reviewers with names, addresses, phone numbers, and live links.

Book Marketing, Self Promotion

Tim Ferriss blogs about his formula for hitting highs on bestseller lists in How Does a Bestseller Happen? A Case Study in Hitting #1 on the New York Times.

The conclusion, in retrospect, is simple... It all came down to learning how to spread a "meme", an idea virus that captures imaginations and takes on a life of its own.

Doing that, however, included skipping the traditional book tours and signings and hitting the blogs:

* Go where bloggers go
* Be there with a message and a story that will appeal to their interests, not yours
* Build and maintain those relationships through your own blog too

The strategies he implemented were a tad more complicated, involving those to Phenomenize, Polarize and Communitize. He also notes needs to sell himself first, ensure boffo distribution for the book, and (oh, yeah) smashing writing. His book? The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, but that hardly matters. We're talking about a process here and using current technology to sell an old one.

Virtual Book Tours

We've discussed virtual book signings and recently bookstore tours, but some have asked, "What's a virtual book tour?" Often these involve an author making the rounds of lit blogs, forums and chat rooms. You have an opportunity to participate in a unique version tonight at 9:00 EST as bestselling author Brad Thor (Blowback, Takedown, The Lions of Lucerne, Path of the Assassin, The State of the Union) adds audio virtuosity to his current tour for his new release, The First Commandment. Thor will log onto BlogTalkRadio and open the phone lines for discussion. You can listen online or by calling by calling (646) 478-5945. The website will be streaming the show and also archive it as a podcast for later downloads. According to a news release, Thor "will also be signing books for a select group of fans who tune in to be distributed after the show." He writes in the action genre, featuring spy/terrorist/secret agent men in the ongoing saga of Scot Harvath, a Navy SEAL turned Homeland Security super-agent.

Independent Bookstore Tour

It's been a couple of years since I wrote about bookstore tourism, a trend just getting itself organized then. Since that time, Larry Portzline's website and blog have flourished. Now he's planning an exciting-sounding Cross-Country "Why Indie Bookstores Matter" Tour. The intent of the ten-week road trip starting next April is "to raise consumer awareness of independent bookstores and celebrate the indie spirit." He plans to visit at least 200 locally owned book stores in all 50 states (flying to Alaska and Hawaii). Along the way, he'll be posting notes, photos and podcasts of his interviews with store owners and customers of whom he'll ask, "Why do indie bookstores matter?" The tour has it's own special blog site. We have a few indies in San Diego, and I'll have to pass along the info and perhaps persuade Larry to visit here.