On-Line Book Tours--Pump Up Your Book!

Everything is changing for authors these days when it comes to promoting books, especially for those using small presses or self publishing. We hear a lot of talk about the best ways to get the word out about your novel. Use social media, create newsletters, talk with your local bookstores and libraries--these are all good ways for readers to learn about your work.

Another way to promote your latest manuscript is by going on a book tour.

That phrase makes me think about traveling from state to state and sitting inside bookstores waiting for someone to come and look at my book. Or in an ideal world, there is a long line of customers eager to breathe the same air that I do as they await my signature on the inside of the novel.

Of course, for many authors that kind of book tour isn't quite in our league yet. So how else can a little known author use a book tour to promote themselves?

Try an online or "virtual" book tour! There are many companies on the internet that promote this very thing. It basically works like the traditional tour, only you can do it all from the comfort of your bedroom, workroom, or wherever! This is an excellent way to get in touch with readers from all over the globe and expand the scope of your work.

How does it work?

Well, it depends on what you pay for and each promotion company offers several different packages to choose from. Let's say you pay for a month. You might get several interviews or blog opportunities on various websites per week, in addition to reviews of your book. In a month's time, this kind of exposure can really help you see a spike in sales. Typically, the book promoter makes sure these blogs, reviewers, and interviewers are on sites that have something to do with your book (like genre) or reach out to your target audience.

Is it affordable? I think so. They almost have to be in order to attract authors! I've seen various prices at different on line book tour sites. My advice would be to check them out before you pay your money. Ask yourself the basic questions: What has the feedback been like from other authors? Are you getting a lot of opportunities to talk about your book and yourself?

I used Pump Up Your Book promotions a few months ago for my novel, Nephilim. My publisher is a great person, but when it comes to promotions, she encourages authors to do that on their own. Enter Dorothy Thompson at Pump Up Your Book. I had 8 reviews of the book and was featured as a guest author every day of the week at various websites during the month that I used her company. Amazing! She secured everything for me which was really nice and I didn't have to do anything but write a few blogs or answer interview questions. I would use Pump Up Your Book again in a heart beat!

What about you? Have your tried an on line book tour? What were the results?

Writing topics: TWIST ENDINGS

Does anyone remember O. Henry? I hope so, because he’s one of my favorites. I have his complete works and read them over and over. He’s the master of the twist ending.

If a story is predictable, it’s boring. If I can tell how everything is going to end up when I’m less than half way through, is there any point in finishing reading it?

The same goes for the stories I write. Of course, with a noir story, you know the ending is not going to be rosy, and for a more traditional mystery, the world will end up all right with justice done and evil doers punished. But beyond that, the ending shouldn’t be obvious.

How to avoid writing a story with an obvious, boring ending? I think this is rather easy. Think the story out to the logical, predictable, boring ending. Then don’t use that. Figure out another way for things to end up. Take a different path.

If I can guide the reader toward the first boring ending, then steer them toward the surprise—then spring a completely new ending on them, I’m a happy writer.

Here’s an example.

Elderly woman is killed. Her will leaves everything to her wayward nephew. So he’s the obvious culprit, and I should set up clues pointing to him. Meanwhile, his girlfriend has been introduced. Even though the clues lead to the nephew, the girlfriend is a possibility. She might want the old woman dead so the nephew can get the inheritance and spend more money on her. Maybe she killed the woman.

But the reader has met another character, the brother of the girlfriend. But it turns out he’s not her brother at all, but her lover. They were both leading the nephew on, knowing his aunt had money. The brother/lover is the real killer, and has set up the meeting between the girlfriend and the nephew. Not only that, but this charming pair has done this before, at least twice! They’ve set up the murder to incriminate the nephew, who has made out a will to the girlfriend. Maybe he even gets murdered himself. When the old cases surface, you have the culprits and the solution to the killing.

This kind of stuff makes writing fun!

Another Con, come and gone

I spent the weekend in All Con Dallas. Honestly, even now, I’m not sure what the Con was about. It had neither “gaming” nor “comic” nor “Sci Fi” nor “writing” anywhere in the title. Instead, it had the word “All” in the title, which I’m assuming meant everything was allowed. It certainly seemed that way.

The camps seemed clearly delineated. Anime characters with blue and yellow spiked hair dodged stormtroopers checking people for illicit droids. Superheroes snapped pictures with steampunks, and steampunks fought light sabers with stylish canes. Trekkies (not Trekkers) walked with both Aliens and Predators, Dr. Who #8 chatted up Dr. Who #4, and blood soaked zombies were out in force.

While this might not be your crowd, it was my crowd. I sell steampunk gaming books, a zombie novel, and of course the every famous and popular All Things Dark and Dastardly. OK sure I also sell steampunk gear, “Drink Me” bottles and vampire hunting kits, but that doesn’t relate to this blog.

What DOES relate to this blog is this. I chatted up the books to everyone who passed by, recited my spiel so many times the guy in the booth next to me memorized it and did it for me when I was gone, and I passed out cards, lots and lots of cards. From this I am certain of two things.

Truth #1: You must have a spiel, a blurb, an elevator length pitch to give to people as they walk by. The cover of the books caught many a con-goer’s eye, but every time, they lit up with the pitch, and the pitch is what sold it. It was quick, catchy, and easy enough to memorize that the people around me learned it by osmosis. Test your pitch and watch their faces when you say it. Keep what makes them smile, ditch what makes them look bored. Refine it and practice it with everyone who walks by. This is good practice not only for selling your book to customers, but also to selling your book to agents.

Truth #2: Sales aren’t necessarily over when you go home. I had a spike on Amazon the night after the con of additional sales. Not a huge spike, but twice what I did last month. I couldn’t tell you if the cards, the pitches, or the postcards I handed out did the trick, but something did.

And by the way, I wasn’t kidding about steampunks fighting light sabers with canes. You know me better than that...

Book Review--Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter

Last week you may have noticed that I didn't post my weekly Wednesday blog at All Things Writing. I took a brief vacation due to Spring Break and spent a great deal of time reading dirty novels and catching up on Season 1 of Being Human. However, not every novel I read was complete trash. I present for your consideration the following title:

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

OH YEAH! You read that correctly. At last, the secret diaries of President Lincoln are revealed and history buffs every where can learn about the true cause of the Civil War. Written by Seth Grahame-Smith, the diaries explain that Abraham Lincoln was more than just a country lawyer from humble roots: he was a vampire hunter with one bad axe. At the age of nine, Abe witnesses the death of his mother at the hands of a bloodsucker. It is an event sends him on a dark road of vengeance. Eventually, he is befriended by Henry, a vampire with connections, who teaches him how to fight. As Abe ages, Henry sends him on the occasional errand to get rid of an enemy vamp. Along the way, Abe begins to realize the deep ties that vampires and slavery have to each other (who knew?), which eventually prompts the Civil War.

Grahame-Smith does a clever job of mashing up history with fiction. I wouldn't say that this is as strong a piece for me as his mashup of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was, but I still enjoyed the ride. The language is fast paced and has the "historical" biography feel without being too heavy handed. I know that some people are offended by the idea of one of our most beloved presidents being portrayed this way, but personally, I think it worked. I was amused by many of the things that occurred within the novel, though I wouldn't describe this as a comedy. Indeed, at times, it is graphic and disturbing with its imagery.

The only thing that disappointed me was the end. Don't worry. I won't spoil it by telling you that Lincoln gets shot. Ooops.....

Anyway, check out Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter if you get chance. Already read it? Weigh in with your thoughts! 

Writing topics: CHARACTERS

I can't count the number of people who have asked me, "Where do your characters come from?" The answer is, "They come from my head." Since that's true, they all have their genesis in what's been put inside my head. But that includes everything I've seen, heard, or read in my life. Since things go in there and mush around a bit before they come out, there's no way of telling which inputs fostered which outputs. (Sorry, slipping into programmer mode--I'll try not to do that again.)

Okay, that's where they come from, my subconscious. But what's the best way to treat them once they pop out?

I'm the happiest when a character stems from a name. Therefore I collect names. If I hear a good one on a TV game show, I write it down. If I see an interesting one on a nametag, same. I get them from billboards, phone books, my spam files, and sometimes from actual face to face people. A name that isn't quite working can be improved by changing one or two letters, sometimes, not always.

But if my character has completely the wrong name, the guy won't do anything. He'll lie on the page like a slug. He won't look like anything, he'll never perform an original action--he's dull. I once had one like that who was supposed to be the romantic interest. Ugh. No one could be interested in that dud. But I searched around inside my mind and found a much better name. Voilà! He came to life! Now my main character could work up some feelings for him.

One thing that bugs me in some of the books I read is character names that confuse me. If the author does nothing to distinguish them from each other, after only an initial description, I don't even bother to remember who is who. In an attempt to avoid annoying my readers like that, I put each character's name, first and last, on a spreadsheet and alphabetize them. If I can manage it, I don't have any characters with the same first initial. I think it help to vary the number of syllables, too. It's hard to tell Pete from Dick from John, or Mary from Jane from Beth, because they're all four-letter names of one syllable. Boring, bland, and indistinguishable.

I'd like to hear any other writing tricks for creating characters. Also if, as a reader, characters bother or annoy you, can you say why? Is it the way they've been created? Or just the way they're acting? Sometimes that can't be helped. They have to live up to their names.

All illustrations in public domain from commons wikimedia.