Easier said than done?

Whenever a big book deal is announced, especially when the beneficiary is a celebrity, there's always blogosphere strife. People arguing that they were paid too much. That they can't really write. That publishing is a nepotistic, taste-bereft land of the quick dollar.

Here's a very nice video responding to that.

But, is this suggestion easier given than received? After months, sometimes years, of rejection, can one just forget about the book deal and write?

How to Show, Not Tell

Yesterday, the Anna Karenina movie people released eight new posters for the film and I immediately clicked over to check them out. And I was so, so bummed.

At first, I couldn't figure out why--the sumptuous costuming and overall aesthetic are right up my romantic alley and JUDE LAW. The posters are ostensibly "exploring love" in all its types but...something about it felt cheesy to me.

Then it hit me. On each poster, you've got a caption over top that's all "ADJECTIVE Love." The problem is that the images themselves say so much more than any single adjective ever could. If they'd just put LOVE on each one, it would have been so much more sophisticated.

Is there a lesson here for writers?

Here are the rest.

And here are a series of UNCAPTIONED pictures of the cast that I think say a lot more than these tell-y posters.

Why I Didn't Respond To Your LinkedIn Invite

It's weird when I get random friend requests on Facebook. If I don't know you well...and/or haven't talked to you in person or via phone in the last year, I don't want you creeping on my photos. I just don't. My Facebook profile is presumed personal--because I don't have a professional presence there.

BTW: that pro presence on FB is called a page, not a profile, and if you're thinking of starting an author page do it here. No, you can't just convert your personal profile to a professional Facebook presence by cleaning up your act going forward. If people "friend" you it's personal. "Like" you, professional. But I digress.

I get all sorts of LinkedIn requests via email, which is even weirder to me than the rando FB requests. Because, as Dana Kaye so eloquently puts it, is primarily a B2B (business to business) network. So companies do their recruiting there, for instance. It can get you a job. But no one gets to know you there. Name me one person that even logs in to their LI account more than once a week (as opposed to several times a day to Twitter and FB). To quote Dana, "Skip LinkedIn and focus on the communities that matter."

Plus, requesting to be my contact on LI has the connotation that I'm somehow endorsing you to professionally. Which is weird to ask when I've never met you or read any of your work (even if I have, honestly). But, again, digressing.

In short, stoppit. I'm not connecting to you on Linked In.

The Lucky 7 Game

A fun game for writers, published and non, from my friend Liz Norris, author of UNRAVELING (out this month! Go preorder!). Here's the game:

1. Go to the seventh or seventy-seventh page of WIP.
2. Count down seven lines.
3. Copy the seven sentences that follow and post them on your blog.
4. Tag seven other authors (on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr--up to you!).


Enjoy!

Being "Booksy"

There is still a lot of debate surrounding the effect that the ebook has, both on our industry as well as on those who keep us being able to call ourselves an "industry": the readers. Some say it's a travesty, that writing can never be experienced the same way on a touchscreen as it can on a deckle-edged page. Some say otherwise (typically in large groups, conspicuously): that anything that gets more people reading is OK by them.

In all of this, though, I've always had the feeling that something is missing from the discussion. That, really, ebooks aren't a bad thing. That they're not infringing on your right to have a bookshelf full of first edition hardcovers with pages whose smell fills you with joy--but eventually you will have to pay more to fill that bookshelf, just as all those vinyl-philes do to keep their turntables turnin'.

The missing thing is reading. Love of the stories contained in books, rather than their packaging...when did we forget that binding is just a vehicle for getting you the story in a convenient, albeit well-designed way?

I read this (sort of pretentious and college-y feeling, unfortunately) article this morning, about the difference between loving to read and loving to fetish-ize reading (page sniffers!). The author says the following, among other very true things: "Booksing tends to show up as a gushy, shared celebration of the idea of books, rather than of the experience of reading any given one." You can read more here: http://bit.ly/GJZMzE

Thoughts?

Learn to Blog in 90 Minutes!

Courtesy of yours truly and Writer's Digest. I'll be teaching a webinar about all the essentials and best practices for author blogs, including shedding some light on how agents use the blog to troll for potential clients. Then, I'll take a look at your own blog to tell you how to optimize for the most traffic, getting readers to come back and, of course, how to tailor the blog to help you get noticed by an agent.

Check it: http://bit.ly/x5MvJs

I've got my talking points, but I wonder: what are the most pressing questions for you? You can get as specific as you'd like.

Let me know in the comments! And, of course, you should also sign up for the webinar to learn the answers!!

Viva Maria Contest!

You've probably noticed that I've been feeling very sassy and Latina lately here on ze blog. That'e because our authors, Carmen Vazquez and Rosa Gil, have a new ebook out: THE MARIA PARADOX (confetti!)

We had such a great time with this other contest that I thought I'd repeat for our friend Maria. But the stakes are going to be much, much higher.

The prize: Query critique, first 30 page critique, and a 20 minute Skype call. 

Tha's right.

Here's how to get it: 

• Like and/or send people to like The Maria Paradox fanpage on Facebook.
• Follow and/or send people to follow The Maria Paradox on Twitter 
• Blog, tweet, post on Facebook about either of the above or about the Maria Paradox ebook (use this link: http://bit.ly/yDClFm)

Keep track of where you post/tweet/blog about the book--please help these authors promote their Facebook and Twitter pages. 

There will be THREE WINNERS. How do you win? Well, you do the best job. That means posting/reposting the most amount of times, and in the largest variety of ways or places. Maybe reaching out to friends' blogs to reblog your blog post or...I dunno. Up to you. :) I've pasted a Press Release at the bottom of this post that you can copy and paste/send to friends for blog posts.

To Enter:

1. Do your posting. Remember, you have SEVEN days. Pace yourself.
2. Send an email with ONLY the following in the subject line: Ebook Celebration to assistant[AT]bookhaven[DOT]com No punctuation, no project title, no nothing except those two words with that exact capitalization. 
3. Paste your links to the places you've posted these links and/or where you've had others reblog, repost, or retweet.

The contest will be open for one full week, from tomorrow, February 2 - February 9.

Any posts/reposts will be counted between those days. But remember, variety and number of people reached is more important than volume! Retweeting yourself seven times won't get you a win.

Sound hard? Well, it's a competition! :)

I'll look over the entries, decide on the winners, and get back in touch about sending your materials and scheduling your call by March 31.

Thanks in advance for your help!!

*****PRESS RELEASE FOR BLOG POSTS (feel free to copy)*****

THE MARIA PARADOX, written by Drs. Rosa Gil and Carmen Vazquez, is a unique self-help guide for Hispanic women and the men who love them.

The authors challenge the machismo-reinforcing idea of “marianismo,” a centuries-old belief system that in effect tells Latinas: "Don't forget a woman's subservient place; never put your own needs first; sex is for making babies.”

Filled with self-help exercises, this clearly written manual offers practical advice on how to build support networks, overcome passivity, forge career paths, change or get out of abusive relationships and increase sexual fulfillment.

Filled with real-life success stories and wise, compassionate advice, THE MARIA PARADOX details how Latinas can enjoy the best of both worlds.

The book can be purchased from all major online retailers. The authors can also be found on Twitter and on Facebook. 

Latinas Unite

Er...can I join too? Not Latina but...nevermind. 

Our authors Rosa Gil and Carmen Vazquez have written a FANTASTIC book called THE MARIA PARADOX, now available as an ebook for the first time.

It's a unique self-help guide for Hispanic women aimed at finding ways to reconcile traditions from Latin heritage with the sometimes-very-different culture here in the States. And it's filled with self-help exercises and practical advice, so basically you can't lose.

Like it?? Well Click it!

FACEBOOK!

Liked it?? Well buy it!

Click here for all retailers!

Jennifer "The Brilliant" Laughran on "The Market"

Wondering if "there's a market" for what you're writing? You'll want to read Children's agent Jennifer Laughran's (aka Literaticat) post on the topic. It's here:

http://literaticat.blogspot.com/2010/06/theres-always-market-for-awesome.html

The Tweakers: Steve Jobs and Writers

I read a very, very excellent article by Malcolm Gladwell last night on the train home. It was about our recently departed Einstein of Design (he would have hated that), Steve Jobs. 


Gladwell points out that there are two types (well, for our purposes) of genius: the Creators and the Tweakers.


The creators make huge innovations. Come up with things that have never been done before. The Tweakers, well, "tweak." Tweakers make the "micro inventions necessary to make macro inventions highly productive and remunerative." In other words, tweakers take the big bangs and, with a series of small, well-placed sparks, make a bigger one.


I think this is relevant to writing, in the sense that writers live in fear of not being original. Fearful of that old adage: "There are no new stories."


Gladwell points out, and I agree, that small innovations are as important as the earthshaking ones--can, in fact, be the earthshaking ones. 


So write what you're writing, and don't worry that J.R.R Tolkein did it first. You're doing it different. Shoot, you might do it better. (Just don't tell me that in your query)

Jumping The Gun

One of the most important skills to develop as an author, particularly an unsigned one (i.e. my favorite type of author) is patience.

patience

It's a beautiful word. It's nigh perfect. It sort of takes a long time to say, too, which sort of fits. Am I hyperanalyzing here? Perhaps. 

But I can't explain how much better and easier your writerly career will go if you also treasure this virtue. Do your research. Give that manuscript one more week to sit, so that you can read it one more time with fresh eyes. Take care with your queries so that the list of agents is right, you have your personalization planned, and you make a good impression. If you're think about going the self-pub route, get all the information and plan out what your journey will look like.

You'll be glad you did.

Networking

It never ceases to amaze me how powerful randomness is. How one seemingly random occurrence can be related to other recent random occurrences and how fast the randomness synergy adds up to something wonderful.

For instance, my love affair with StumbleUpon has brought me two clients. I set aside 20 minutes every day to use it. If nothing else, I see some really cool stuff and it gives me fresh fodder for my social media accounts. Sometimes I even find things to pass along to my authors for their social media accounts.

There's so much information available to us these days. It can be so overwhelming, but if you just let randomness take over (in moderation) you might be surprised at the benefits.

#AskAgent

Let's have question time. You can ask anything for the next two hours and I promise I'll answer it before midnight tomorrow (so end of the day Friday). Yes, questions about your projects are OK, but let's keep it general: word count for a particular category (or look here), character age, whether a character name is distracting. We're not editing (although maybe you'll find a good beta reader!), so don't post excerpts. Know also that this is public--don't post anything that you might not like the answer to (so no marriage proposals, please) or that might cross the "too personal" line!

Some of you will probably have awesome questions that are too complex to answer in the comments--for those, I'll do blog posts in the coming weeks.

Use good judgment, please, so that I want to do this again. :) 

Questions open now until 6:15 pm EST.

Is your book melodramatic?

How does one know when his or her writing crosses the line from emotionally compelling to just too much?

For me, it's often in "the twist." Something that's merely intense veers into soap opera territory when an author adds that one. more. thing. The twist in these cases is often highly salacious or verboten rather than subtle and surprising.

For instance: pregnant terminally ill main character discovers she has to solve a murder--of her baby daddy.

Or: Small town guy realizes he's gay and must face coming out to his Bible-belt family and friends--but then his father dies in a plow accident and CAN HE REALLY RISK TEARING HIS FAMILY APART MORE?? Oh, and then he discovers his father's stash of child porn when going through his effects.

No joke, those were in my inbox.

Trust yourself, writers. The above stories have great hearts: facing one's own death as a new one is starting. Navigating prejudice of those close to you. Tell those stories; you don't have to throw the kitchen sink in, too. 

Self Publishing: I Wanna Know

Yesterday there was a link circulating around the pub-peeps Twitter-verse (along with commentary ranging from outrage to profanity) to an offer from Publish America.

(BE-EFFING-WARE!! THEY ARE EVIL AND ONLY WANT YOUR SOUL AND $$)

The link took you to a buy page: pay $49 and Publish America (my fingers burn to type it) will show your book to J.K. Rowling and "ask her what she thinks."

To me, this just sounds insane. Completely implausible. But I empathize with writers, and I sort of see how PA gets people. The suggestion that something might get an author published is a powerful thing.

I know this, too, because I see so many queries that start out "I self-published with _____ but the experience was not what I expected (or) I am disappointed (or) they totally jerked me around." And my heart goes out to these people! Because often that project is shot--without serious sales numbers (5K+) an agent will have a very difficult time leveraging a self-pubbed book for print sale.

So I want to ask you guys. What offers entice you/your compatriots to pay the $49, to sign a contract without representation? Is it resentment toward the Publishing Establishment? Snazzily worded pitches from the self-pub companies? What value do you see in the self-publishing world, in having to do it all on your own??

Further, what do you want to know from the Publishing Establishment? Does it make sense that agents cite such a high number of sales before a self-pubbed project is valuable for the traditional publishing world?

My instinct is that there was a lot of "Eff the Man" talk about a year ago. The sad stories I'm seeing in my inbox now are the result of the early adopters of self-publishing getting burned; the backlash. I feel now that there's a more cautious view of self-publishing: that it's a dangerous, potentially career-harming move if not done correctly, with a lot of back-end work. But then I still get emails asking what the point of an agent is...so I dunno.

MUST READ Online Marketing Post from Nancy Coffey Literary and Media Representation

It's sometimes hard to talk about online marketing because every book and every campaign is so different. The strategy changes 100% with each new project. It's easier to talk about what not to do, but that'll only get you so far.

Case studies, man. Case studies is where it's at.

Here's a great one from Joanna Stampfel-Volpe's client Boy Sees Hearts.

Online Author Marketing: Your Book Is Pubbing!

You're living the dream, man. An agent, a book deal...now your book is about to come out!

This is going to be AWESOME.

Publishers dedicate marketing and publicity staff to your book, with their biggest push focused around the launch. It's called "event marketing" in the industry.

What that means is that there's one big push, but no long term marketing strategy for the book...and this is where most authors (and some agents) get really grouchy. ("They're not doing anything anymore!")

But before we start Publisher bashing, as is so en vogue these days, consider that just as your book had some launch-time marketing (galleys printed, an ad somewhere, etc.) the next book on that publicist's list has to get the same attention. The publisher has to move on.

Which means that, at this stage, your own marketing efforts have to get more aggressive and your strategy more sophisticated. In post one, we talked about building the foundation of your online presence. On Tuesday, about focusing your online strategy. At this stage, you should focus on marrying your marketing foundation (blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) with specific marketing strategy.

This means getting creative. Your goal should be to keep your book(s) on people's minds in the online space, where attention spans are notoriously short.

This is not done by "selling" your book.

As you've no doubt heard before, broadcasting "BUY MY BOOK" is a quick way to get ignored. Create value for your audience--by being funny, like Maureen Johnson, finding interesting images on Flickr, or marrying your writing interests with something broader, as Sarah Fine does with psychology and YA literature.

Keep them coming back for your digital content and persona (separate from your book) and they'll get your book news (new releases, discounted ebooks, etc.) too. Organically piqued interest has a much greater chance of generating sales and word-of-mouth advertising.

Yes, this "online stuff" takes time. Or money (you can certainly pay some very talented professionals to do this for you). The online space has become a hugely important marketing and sales environment. If you choose to ignore that online space, you risk dooming your book to the "Launch and Fizzle" pattern so many books fall into.

Online Author Marketing: Agented!

You may have been an unagented writer before, just trying to build a basic online brand (see yesterday's post) but now...

YOU DID IT!

You landed an agent. Nice work! You've got a blog with a few followers and you've done some guest posts here and there for other bloggers who've even returned the favor. You may have figured out The Twitter. The two platforms, through cross-linking, support one another.

Things feel a lot more concrete than they did when you were just hammering away at different projects. You've got one to really focus on, with some in the wings (your agent hopes).

Now that you have something specific to promote, whether sold or unsold, you should reevaluate your online strategy and perhaps expand into new platforms. Hopefully your agent can help you. For instance:

• Are you writing nonfiction as an expert in some area? You could join Quora and start answering questions there--it's a great way to build platform.
• Facebook. This is more complicated because everyone thinks they know how to do The Facebook. Most people have a Facebook page of some sort, but few have one that's really effective in building an online brand, (see here for some details). Think of a strategy for Facebook: what are you promoting? A single title? A series? You as an author?
• Flickr. If you're an artist or illustrator, Flickr is a great place to showcase your work and build stories--supplemental, perhaps, to your book--in a new way.

There are many more ways to build an online brand; your agent can and should help you with this strategy, although you shouldn't expect them to do it for you. If you're too busy for social media, see here. Apply to all social media platforms.

A word on oversharing: you're going on submission now. It's a nervewracking experience for all involved and it can be really frustrating. Don't blog about it. Don't tweet it. Don't write angsty poetry about it and post it to your Tumblr. Don't.

So in the agented stage you get an online presence with a little more flair, guided by your agent. You've also got a more focused message, since you'll have a project to promote. Go get 'em!

Online Author Marketing: Pre-Agent

On Friday, I participated in an amazing interactive interview on Krista Van Dolzer's Mother. Write. (Repeat.) Blog. One of the questions asked, concerning author online marketing, was too complex to discuss in the comments section:

How can a writer get the most out of the Internet at each stage of the writing journey (pre-agent, post-agent, pre-book release, post-book release)?

Since we couldn't talk about it on Friday, it'll be the subject of a series on the blog this week.

First, we'll cover pre-agent online marketing and platform-building tactics.

Since your online presence is the foundation for your online marketing in the future, you should have a strategy before you just jump on Blogger. What brand are you trying to build? What other people are already talking about what you want to? How can you possibly collaborate with them? Unfortunately, blogging about "your writing process" or "your publishing journey" is not going to cut it if you really want to build a following--too many are already doing it. For tips on blog topics, check out this post here (and the surrounding posts).

I suggest a blog and a twitter account as a good online foundation for an aspiring writer.

You don't have to be super active on Twitter as soon as you sign up. Go ahead and find 20 or 30 people to follow--a mix of writers you admire, agents, editors, and non-publishing people--and just lurk. Listen to conversations, jump in where you feel like you have something to say. As you get more comfortable with the platform, you can tweet more. A fully active account should be tweeting no fewer than three times a day.

The hashtags #askagent and #yalitchat are examples of ways to find others interested in the things you're writing about: both agents/editors and beta writers. You can search those terms on Twitter and read the transcripts of the chats, which are always full of great info.

A blog is another good way to get started building an online presence. As you'll see as you get your feet wet with Twitter, the writerly blogosphere is incredibly interconnected. Bloggers guest post, start series together, and share thoughts on books they loved (And hated). But here more than anywhere else you have to worry about oversharing.

Many writers serialize their work on their blogs. I cannot encourage you strongly enough to avoid that. Authors nearly always list "getting an agent" as the reason they put "teasers" on their blogs. But there is already a mechanism for showing your work to agents: the query. Trust that process; it is highly unlikely that an agent will just stumble on your blog. They usually find it by clicking links in a query. So why put it on the blog?

If you choose to do so anyway you may put yourself breach of the warranties and indemnities clause of the publishing contract that you haven't even signed yet. I like Krista's strategy: she has a widget on her sidebar that lists a logline for her book. That's interesting without crossing any lines. Kathleen Ortiz has a great author website post here that lists website elements you should focus on.

You should try to post about twice a week on your blog--a link with a caption is still a post, but try to make a habit of producing real content--between 100 and 400 words.

So what do you think? Any questions? Tomorrow we'll talk about changes you should make once you're an agented writer.

Writing Process

Writers out there, you baffle me.

I was at Books of Wonder last night for the launch of the DELIGHTFUL Arlaina Tibensky's AND THEN THINGS FALL APART, her literary-reference-and-comedy-filled YA contemporary.

She was answering questions and, as is wont to happen when writers get in a room together, someone asked her about how she writes, and how her characters develop. Charmingly, she said that her characters develop through her "making them do things." That they just sort of spring up one day, "wearing a cute little outfit." She also said that her book, once she gets an ending in mind, just sort of comes out, moving somehow in the direction of that ending.

Of course, for me, a non-writer, that all sounds very strange. Of course the characters don't literally spring up one day--you have to write them. But it's interesting shorthand for how it feels when a story is just right.

How does it feel for you? How, in the WORLD do you do it!?