Branding, Marketing, & Self-Publishing Your Novel

I don't feel I've had a very productive week but there was some positive things. My oven stopped working on Monday and my son and I were able to repair it for the cost of the part. On Wedensday, I was supposed to have a job phone interview but they never called. I  haven't called them because they scheduled the interview and ought to know when to call. Do I want to work for a company that it has taken three months to get a response from and then they flub it?

Things began to look up on Wednesday. My friend and author, Rae Ford, called me Tuesday evening to point me to a potential job as a PA to another author, C.J. Ellisson. I contacted Ms. Ellisson and it was the smartest thing I've done in a while. I didn't possess the skills she was looking for and I wasn't really surprised, but I still profited by the call.

Ms. Ellisson was so nice and not too busy to talk about writing with me. She provided me with valuable information and encouraged me to start learning those skills because I need the same knowledge as a writer. 

The industry has changed radically in a very short time and many writers are navigating in strange waters, including me. I found it ironic that much of her advice I'd already heard at the Austin, Tx Re:Write Conference last October. It overwhelmed me then. I had two days and a truckload of data shoved at me. This brief conversation gave me a bit of clarity and encouragement. 

Ms. Ellisson is a strong proponent of self-publishing and she provided a list of books she feels are the best place to start my education in marketing and self-publishing. When I looked for them on Amazon I found I actually had the first one on my Kindle. I'd obtained it free it over a year ago but I have so many writing books that I simply had not got around that one yet. Had she not talked with me, I might not have read it for a very long time.

I've placed links to the books below for your convenience. It is by no means the only books on the topic but it helps when someone recommends a book based on experience. I have the Kindle versions but they also have hard copies that are a bit more expensive. I started the first one today and it is an easy read. I'm taking notes because there's lots of information. 

Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should: Updated Second Edition (Let's Get Publishing Book 1) 

Let's Get Visible: How To Get Noticed And Sell More Books (Let's Get Publishing Book 2)

The Naked Truth About Self-Publishing 

Ms. Ellisson pointed me to her YouTube channel, The Author Coach where she has a series of free videos that teach you how to set up your Facebook page to maximize your marketing as an author.Her opinion is that many authors are under utilizing Facebook in their marketing. After watching three of them today, I would agree with her.  

The videos are interesting, brief,and easy to follow. I was unaware of many of the things she pointed out. Facebook has undergone some changes since she made the videos but the processes are pretty much the same. I was half done making an author page when I realized.... technically, I'm not an author yet. I'm just a lowly writer. So, I put that down and started on the books. I'll go back to the videos once I finish them.

It is rare to find a published author willing to have a real conversation with you about anything. It was nice to find one so willing to share what she has learned about the craft and marketing a novel. I hope, if I'm ever published, that I am equally generous. 

Falling Bodies

So, I'm trying to get psyched up for NaNoWriMo. As the ML you kind of have to be pumped up to write a novel of 50K and lead a group of like minded folks on to victory. I'm still in my PJ's this gloomy, wet Tuesday. I've updated the checkbook, which lead to a bit more gloom and decided to check email, FB, and NaNo for anything new. 

I landed on my Nano Novel Page and clicked on the link for last year's entry. I read over it and was mildly surprised that the excerpt, while needing editing, is pretty good. In fact, it made me laugh. That's a good thing. Now I'm ready to do another one. Honestly, there is very little that I recall in last year's attempt of merit but that opening tells me there's potential. It encourages me that I can do this again. 

"Just finish one!" Says everyone I know. The good news is that I'm trying to get the endings of three previous NaNos written. I've been dabbling on all three for a while. I get bored with them, wanting to start something new. Thus the reason I am writing on more than one. Only in the last month did the endings of two of those three reveal themselves to me. But now November is upon me and I have to shove that back for a couple of months.

I decided to share the excerpt here. The link is above but I'm not sure non-NaNoers can access it. This will save you the trouble. 

Falling Bodies, By Cynthia Maddox
Synopsis

Savannah keeps stumbling over dead bodies in strange places but she didn't do it. Unfortunately, her proximity to the victims puts her on the radar of the new detective in town. When Savannah begins to look for a connection to the victims she suddenly finds she may have stumbled onto a secret that places her on someone else's radar.

Excerpt

As she passed Willow Lake she glanced around. There were a series of benches scattered around the lake. Today there was a couple seated together. She couldn’t make out who they were but she’d seen them for several days now. The woman was seated on the bench and the man sat astride of the bench, close to her, one hand holding hers and the other around her waist. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. 

Savannah looked away and walked on. Glancing at her watch, she picked up her pace.It usually took her thirty minutes to walk her route. She had to be done before dark. It wasn't that she was afraid of being in the cemetery but after dark was when most vandalism occurred and she didn't want to risk running into people willing to take sledge hammers to a dead person's grave. 

She rounded the curve in the road that ran along the base of the hill. She used to have to slow down here because she would get winded but these days it was a piece of cake. She looked up the hill at the towering obelisk pointing against the sky. Something dark was rolling along the ground between the headstones. She frowned. What was that? As it rolled it picked up speed until it seemed to be flying. It hit a low stone and bounced and then bounced again and flew off the hillside, landing with a splat in the middle of the road, right at Savannah’s feet. She stopped. Another foot and it would have landed on her. 

She stared in disbelief at the object spread before her. For what seemed ages it simply didn't register in her brain. She knew what she was seeing but she didn't understand why she was seeing it. She looked up the hill, searching for something that would explain it. Then she looked again at the sprawling form of Darin Tate and as the blood began to spread out around his head, Savannah felt the world tip and she stumbled away to lean against the side of the hill where they had placed concrete barriers to prevent slump. 

“Oh good Lord. Oh good Lord.” She fumbled in her pocket for her cell phone. Thank goodness she always carried it when she walked. It took several tries before she could actually dial 911. When she did she recognized the voice.

“Winona! Oh my God! Winona, get someone out here to the cemetery! Darin Tate just rolled off the hill and is dead as a mackerel.” She listened to Winona’s response but interrupted her. “I don’t know why he was rolling down the hill. The last time I saw him he was fast walking away from me. All I know is he just did a snowball down Sweet Gum Hill and he’s bleeding all over the pavement.” 

Winona issued another litany of questions and Savannah sighed. “He’s definitely dead, Winona.”

Maybe a Short

So, I sort of have a story that I started a while back that has been sitting on the computer. It didn't have a name initially but now it does. I don't know where it is going or exactly what is going on but I'd like to use it for play. Oddly, it appears, at least on first glance, to be a ghost story... or not.

I opened it tonight and wrote a bit on it and realized I still like the opening....all 1500 words of it. Yes, that's all I've written on it. In over a year...maybe two. It wasn't anything when I started it and I was just doing one of my "exercises". Don't knock it. Those exercise have worked up into some longer stories. If you've ever read about Simon you know already he started life on a lark. He's well beyond that now.

But this one, I'm wondering if it is a short story. I don't feel a long tale in connection with it. I may post some of it at some point, just to see if anyone gives any feedback. For now, it will probably languish a bit since NaNo will demand my blood, sweat, and tears.

Michelangelo's Block

A young G+ friend, Anya, recently posted a blog about how she deals with writer's block. It got me thinking about my own struggles.

Over the course of my writing life, I've had several run-ins with this pseudo-building material. It can wreck a good story. Yes, I know there are people who say it doesn't exist, that it's all in our heads. They told me the same thing about PMS. It is now a recognized health problem that affect 50% of the population. The fact that the other 50% doesn't experience it, doesn't lessen the effects or negate its existence and some of those will tell you it is real.

Until August I worked a full-time government job for 16 years. Before that, I was a full-time student, a full-time military wife and mom. Before that I was a full-time mom and military wife. Before that... well you get the idea. Let me just tell you that when you wear a lot of hats, life can interrupt you at unexpected times and for me, everything was secondary to my family. There were times when I couldn't write because I was running my legs off, the kids were sick, or the dog just bit the postman.

In the top of a closet I have a box full of stuff written long before computers. I did a church newspaper for about 4 years, writing for each issue. I wrote for my journalism classes, my english classes, my history classes, for both university papers and anything else I could find to write.

In the last 10 years, I've been hit with depression, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, severe fatigue, the death of my husband in 2009, devastating grief, and the marriages of both sons breaking up. Still, during all that I kept writing. Not a huge projects but anything that came to mind, often to keep my sanity. I started doing National Novel Writing Month 9 years ago. That's where you write a 50K word novel in 30 days. I've lost three times. It is the wins that keep me going back. And now, I am the local municipal liaison, wrangling other writers in November while I write my own 50k word novel.

Now I write blogs, long letters, and notes over stories in various stages of development. Before you ask, no, I haven't published. I write because I love stories and I love writing them but recently, I'm thinking more about publishing. It isn't the Holy Grail to me but it sounds like a new adventure. Along the way, I'm sure there are those writer's blocks lurking to interfere with my quest.

So, how does a writer deal with writer's block? I suppose I could write a list of special techniques to deal with those times when you're just mentally constipated but that's been done, several times. Generally, they give you a numbered list of what you should do to get around the block. Maybe they work. I wouldn't know. I get depressed reading them because I've usually tried most of them with little results. My own experience led me to the conclusion that there is only one thing that works. You use the same technique Michelangelo used when he created his masterpiece, David.

In 1501, at the age of 26, Michelangelo was commissioned to finish a statue that had been commissioned years earlier, circa 1466. The previous sculptor has been given a great block of marble to create the statue and had only sketched out the form on the stone before abandoning the project. The stone sat in the same spot for over 40 years, exposed to the elements. When Michelangelo took over I suspect that 19 ft tall block of marble wasn't pretty. For the next two years he chipped away at it. It became one of his best known and most beautiful works.

CC Roger Wollstadt

What do you think would have happened if Michelangelo had tossed his chisels on the ground and fanned his chin at that hunk of marble after he'd worked on it a few days? Weeks? A year? Were there days he couldn't pick up a hammer? Were there days when dawn came too early, or his body couldn't go another step? Were there emotional crises? Did his dog die? I'm sure a lot of things crossed his path. I'm sure there were days he worked a few hours and went home disgusted. I suspect there were days he was ill. At 26 I'm sure a pretty smile distracted him. But on the days he worked, he kept chipping away at that ugly block of stone until one day he stepped back and looked up to find it had disappeared, replaced by a beautiful piece of art.

You overcome writer's block the same way Michelangelo created his masterpiece, you write through the block until there's just a work of art. It doesn't matter how long it sat in the drawer or how long it has taken you to write it. You pick up your tools and keep hammering away. Eventually, you get past the block to the art.

The Letter Arrived Today

I received the notice today from the Office of Letters and Lights (OLL) to say I'm still going to be Municipal Liaison for this region. They've also added a Co-ML and I couldn't be happier. Tammy was just such a huge help last year and knowing that she will be available again this year is such a relief. 

I've still got a couple of months but there is much to do to get it all sorted and get the meetings organized. I love doing NaNo anyway but the ML job is a bit like a part-time job as a cheer leader. I'm really fortunate to have such a great group of participants. They're all so eager when it starts and they bring such great enthusiasm. We have a lot of fun.

If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, follow the link and find out. Then, sign up for the most fun you'll have in November.