Setting the mood . . .

cj Sez:  Author Carrie Dalby craves music when she writes, and today on Lyrical Pens, she explains how it gets her in the mood to tell her stories.

  I enjoy any excuse to talk about books and music—the two biggest things I geek-out over. Some people need silence to write: I’m not one of those. Granted I’ll take silence over certain background sounds—like TV shows when the family is watching something—I’d rather have mood music. And thanks to my earbuds, I can cancel out those backgrounds noises with what I need to hear. Yes, need. I crave music.

  When starting a new story, I begin with characters. Usually just one, and the others blossom from the central person. Those characters tell me where they live (setting) and I get an inkling of a plot idea, but to go any further I need music. Before I write a word of the story, I start a “Mood Music” playlist in my iTunes account. It might only have half a dozen songs when I start writing, but as I get to know the characters and plot, that file grows. As I get further along in the story, I might drop songs that don’t quite fit the mood like I expected them to, but I’m always adding to it—which is easy to do from the more than 5,550 songs (and growing) in my eclectic collection.

  Right now, I’m working on a Gothic read (a little bit Southern, a little bit horror) for mature readers. My Mood Music playlist has almost a day and a half of songs to it. Yes, that means I could write for over twenty-four hours straight and never hear the same song twice. It has a mix of genres, but is predominately metal and classical.

  Using certain musical themes to fit the mood I want to portray in a story—or even a certain scene—helps me get into the proper mind-set and opens me to emotions that the characters are going through. It could be seen as a way to method acting, because music is one of the easiest ways to stir feelings in the right direction.

  While I can write to any type of music—singing along helps keep momentum going when my words slow down (and it’s a great way to ward off writer’s block)—I can only edit to instrumentals. Hearing other people’s words gets in the way of seeing where my words stand. When I’m finished with edits, I take my mood music list and narrow it down into a soundtrack for each novel, which is a chronological expression of the story through music. Check out my listings for Corroded ( https://carriedalby.com/2016/04/12/corroded-in-the-wild ) and Fortitude ( https://carriedalby.com/2016/01/28/the-music-of-fortitude ).

  How do you use music to fuel your writing time? Even if you can’t work with music, try listening to something that sets the mood for fifteen minutes or more before you start writing. I’d love to hear your results. Thanks for letting me stop and gush about music (and writing), cj!

  Born and raised in California, Carrie Dalby has lived in Alabama for two decades but still has trouble with the humidity of summer. When she’s not writing, Carrie homeschools her three kids and splits her time between family, reading, knitting, concert going, and volunteering. Sharing her love of literature for young adults and children is one of her favorite things to do, and her volunteer hours reflect that. Her local church congregation, the Mobile Writers Guild, SCBWI, and the Metro Mobile Reading Council are where she loves to spend her “free time.”

FORTITUDE...Growing up with a Creole best friend, sixteen-year-old Claire O’Farrell held little regard for the Jim Crow laws and the consequences of befriending those of a different color. But once she leaves the haven of her home on Dauphin Island, the reality of racial intolerance can no longer be ignored. Though she’s underage, Claire makes the bold decision to serve alongside Loretta, her best friend, in the “colored camp” hospital tents during the Spanish-American War, but her idealistic attitude and choice of working location immediately puts her in danger. Claire gives her heart to a soldier in the camp, only to find herself caught in the racial violence besieging the area. When the intolerant attitudes and stigma follow her home, she clings to her faith to navigate through her social isolation and find the path she was meant to travel.

cj Sez: Thanks, Carrie, for sharing this unique way of getting inspiration for your stories and writing your way through the dreaded writer’s block. I usually write in silence, but I'm going to try listening to music before I start writing. All best for great sales and marvelous reviews on your novels.

cjpetterson@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

Putting yourself out there: The act of self-promotion.

cj Sez:  Today, Lyrical Pens welcomes novelist D. J. Adamson discussing how she goes about the important business of marketing without breaking the bank. 

I worked in sales and marketing before deciding to self-publish. This background gave me the confidence to go forward. I’d trained many people to successfully sell and market. Combining what I knew before with what I know now allows me to pass on some of the tips I’ve learned about selling and marketing my books.

At the beginning, I played with social media, went to conferences and networked, purchased promotional packages. Did I have success? Some, but nothing that put me on the Amazon’s “most sales list” or matched Hugh Howie’s numbers. 

As a past business person, I know a business needs to eventually run in the black. Maybe not the first year, but eventually. So after two years, I pulled up my expenses and balanced them with my assets. DEPRESSING. Yet, instead of discouraging me, it motivated me to do it all differently. Here is what I found:

1.                   I no longer go to conferences unless the attendees include readers as well as writers.  Writers don’t buy books. Or very few.

2.                  I go to conferences that are close by and don’t cost a flight and hotel to attend. One conference cost me two thousand dollars and I sold one book. I joined active association, like Sisters in Crime, National Women’s Book Association, SCBWI, Mystery Writers of America. I became active.

3.                   I remind myself that I am as good as my last book. I received one award, was nominated for another, and received 4+ stars on my novels. Many Goodreads people “Want to Read” my work, but, sales diminish after the book has been out there for a year. I need to produce one to two novels a year. And let me emphasize, Good Novels. That means, I need to be disciplined in my schedule. I work my writing at least four to six hours a day and spend about five hours a week on social networking and promoting.

4.                  I used to work many social networks. Now, I am only on Facebook and Twitter.  I also limit how much I promote my books, only doing so when I have a special promotion going on, revealing a new cover, or mentioning a launch.  Don’t you thumb right past those twenty posts requesting, “Read My Book”?

I use social networks for networking, not marketing. I meet new people in the industry and by putting myself out there, I am received.

5.                   I use my Kindle freebies only before I launch a new book. I hold maybe one/two .99 cent promotions. I try to do a Goodreads giveaway once a month. I offer two, sometimes three books. I send them by camel.

6.                  I use snail mail to keep others updated on my new work. I’ve found postal mail more beneficial than email. It takes nothing to hit the delete button on a computer. The person getting the postcard has to see what the card is about and who it’s from before giving it a toss in the trash basket.

7.                  I set a dollar limit for promoting a book. If you look around, you’ll realize a whole industry has developed to swallow authors’ dollars, promising to get their books noticed. I have limited my promotional money to $500 a book. I know that sounds low, but I think I have sold more books in this past year than the two years combined. I advertise on free or low-cost sites. Amazon ads have been very successful, and the cost is low. Finding a way to get to readers or promote without spending a lot of money has become actually very fun. I had Fiverr.com create my book trailers. Go to my website http://www.djadamson.com to see for yourself. They aren’t bad. They are also on YouTube, and go figure this, the trailer of Outré has been seen by almost five thousand viewers. Did that turn into sales? Probably not. But five thousand people learned my name.

8.                  I created a newsletter. “Le Coeur de l’Artiste” reviews books and interviews authors. I publish it monthly. It comes out, like any other deadlined project, on the 15^th of every month. Sometimes not until midnight, but one minute before, I press the send button. The newsletter has not necessarily created sales, but it has branded my name as a writer. Plus, I find a great satisfaction in promoting other authors.

Stephen King said in his work On Writing that to write you need to read a lot. You need to read what is good and what is bad. I read at least five-six books a month, just for the newsletter. I also try to read one or two books on promotion and craft.

9.                  I began accumulating email addresses as soon as the newsletter idea came to me. So far, my “Le Coeur de l’Artiste” list is almost two thousand readers. I don’t promote myself in the newsletter, but it can be found on my website. I also offer it to many readers as a PDF.  The newsletter has been so well accepted that I now have a blog, “L’Artiste.” I produce it three times a month. I include others besides authors: musicians, scriptwriters, playwrights, etc. The blog emphasizes that getting the story out has many forms.

10.              There are great books out there on promotional ideas. Read them all. Take an idea, put it on a card then try it out. One idea at a time. If it doesn’t feel good to you or didn’t pan out, throw the card away and pick up another.  Don’t be bashful; ask others to help promote stories. I have rarely been told to “beat it.” In fact, I think it’s a writer’s responsibility to help other writers. We all know how defeatist we can feel when things aren’t going well.

      I am not sure I was helpful to anyone reading this. I am merely sharing my experience so far. I want to write for a long time, which means I need to be sensible about what I do, both with time and money. It might also sound like my whole life is consumed behind my computer. I still teach a full load of classes, grade papers, make dinner, clean house, and find the time to give my family a hug.

      Putting yourself out there is the ultimate KEY to being SUCCESSFUL.  Please share with me your promotional stories, both the horror stories and those that gave you some success. You can reach me on Facebook, Twitter, or my Website. And don’t miss the latest issue of “Le Coeur de l’Artiste.”

cj Sez: Thanks, D.J., for sharing your marketing methodology with Lyrical Pens readers. Lots of great tips in there. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Suppose runs right up Amazon’s ladder to the Most Sales List.

If you’ve got a question or comment, be sure to let D.J. know, either here or directly on her website. http://www.djadamson.com We’d love to hear from you. Okay, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

D. J. Adamson is the author of the Lillian Dove Mystery series and the Deviation science fiction-suspense trilogy.  Suppose, the second in the Lillian series, has just been released.  She also teaches writing and literature at Los Angeles colleges. And to keep busy when she is not writing or teaching, she is the Membership Director of the Los Angeles Sisters in Crime, Vice President of Central Coast Sisters in Crime and an active member of the Southern California Mystery Writers. Her books can be found and purchased in bookstores and on Amazon.

"What did he want to know about me?” 

“If you were still alive.” 

Connivers, murder and the international shipment of drugs unites the local PDs and the Federal Government, and drags Lillian Dove into a hailstorm of manipulation and danger; whereby, she is given two choices: Join? Or die trying.

A few thoughts on self-publishing

     cj Sez:  When a newly fledged writer, curious about trying her wings at self-publishing, asked me how, I realized that, although I have taken classes and practiced with the manuscript formatting, I am a traditionally published author . . . I definitely need to know more about the self-publishing process. So, I started reading. What follows is some of my top-of-mind thoughts on the subject:

You can publish a manuscript yourself if you’re interested in becoming a little more computer/publication/pricing/distribution literate. If you’re confident in designing a cover yourself using templates; check out: Joel Friedlander's book of templates    http://www.bookdesigntemplates.com/ )

Some popular programs for formatting books are: (text is from a Google search):

Guides for formatting eBooks:  Smashwords (Smashwords Style Guide - How to Format Your Ebook ...    www.amazon.com › ... › Authorship

The Smashwords Style Guide has helped indie authors produce and publish over 130,000 high-quality ebooks. 200,000 copies of the Smashwords Style Guide have downloaded! This guide offers simple step-by-step instructions to create and format an ebook using Microsoft Word.

CreateSpace: Self Publishing and Free Distribution for ...

https://www.createspace.com/

CreateSpace provides free tools to help you self-publish and distribute your books, DVDs, CDs, and video downloads on-demand.

Scrivener: A Quick Review of How it Works and Some of its ...

Scrivener is a word-processing/writing program for authors. If you create your manuscript in Scrivener, the program will direct you how to export your document to ePub or Kindle formats (including Smashwords and CreateSpace) that sell on Amazon … ( the Ebook is readable on e-readers).

***

If the thought of learning how to format/export your document for publication is daunting, find reputable people you can hire to format a manuscript to print and digital book and then get a graphic designer for the cover. These should be people recommended by a self-published author you know or like to read. Check out the acknowledgements in his/her book for those names. You might even contact the author.

Being a member of writing group can be especially helpful in your quest. Members of groups such as SCBWI are able to call upon each other for questions about agents, publishing companies, contract clauses, et al. (I’m a member of Sisters-in-Crime, an international group of mystery writers, and I see a lot of freshman writers asking questions of the organization’s members. Always, there are members who have had similar experiences and are willing to offer an informed response.)

Never sign a contract with agent or publisher without having someone look at it first…a lawyer is best because you could be signing away lifetime rights or obligations. I heard the sad story of a lady who thought she signed a contract to pay a publisher $5,000 to print her book. She misunderstood some of the legalese in the clauses, and it ended up costing her more than twice that amount because she couldn’t get out of the contract, and they threatened to sue. Plus, the manuscript wasn’t edited. That opened the door for typos and just plain printing mistakes … the kind of thing that damages the author’s writerly reputation and causes readers to hesitate buying another of her books. The reputation of the self-publishing industry suffers damage as well.

The lesson learned is to never pay a “publisher” to edit/publish your book.

Some small legitimate publishers will help an author self-publish a book and employ a contract clause that requires the author to buy a certain number of books at a price that may equate to about 70% of the list price. That can wind up costing hundreds, but it may be worth it since by selling all those copies yourself, you get all the sales price—not just the royalties (an important contract clause).

If you decide to try the traditional approach for publication and seek out an agent or publisher, Google “submissions for (the genre you'e interested in).” A few dozen names will pop up; some good ones, some not so good. (A clue: Other than a standard fee, reputable agents/publishers do not charge the author for the privilege of representing/publishing the novel.)

Check out a potential site (* see below), make sure your manuscript is perfectly edited before you submit, and follow the site’s submission directions to a “T.” (*One source to check for scams and if someone is reputable is “Preditors & Editors” http://pred-ed.com/  )

Google “query letters” for dos and don’ts on your submission letter.

Whether your novel is to be traditionally published or self-published, there is one last caveat from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators site: Make your manuscript great. Before you start sending your story to publishers, you will need to make sure it is as good as it can possibly be.  

 

Choosing Carter & Deadly Star are part of this ! 

Okay, readers, if you have more information to add to this, we'd love to pass it along. Now, you’all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

cjpetterson@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

SCBWI

Conferences are great. The Southern Breeze regional arm (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi) of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators held their annual fall conference in Birmingham, AL, on October 15 . . . and I was there. The theme was "WIK '11" -- the WIK stands for Writing and Illustrating for Kids.

Breakout workshops were led by some highly credentialed facilitators. Subjects included Creating Dialogue that Lives, How to Write Narrative Nonfiction that Pops, Achieving Tension Without Stressing Out, and, one that was a special interest to most everyone, How to Get Yourself Out of the Slush Pile, led by Alexandra Cooper, a senior editor at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

There were contests to enter, prizes to win, and networking opportunities galore.

In my mind, however, one of the greatest things that comes out of a conference is getting invited to send in your work to an agent or publisher. The ticket in the door, past the gatekeeper and out of the slush pile is your attendance at the conference. Definitely worth the price of admission.

I, of course, am not ready yet to do that. (Sigh) I have the nugget of an idea for a young adult novel, and the conference was to be my introduction to the complexities of the genre. Maybe next time.

After the two-day event, I spent the next week driving . . . met my sisters in Louisville, Kentucky, for lunch (they had travelled down from Michigan for other reasons), spent a few days at two of the incredible Metroparks in Cleveland, Ohio, photographing wood ducks, sped past the exotic animals on the loose in Zanesville, Ohio, drove through a near-blinding rainstorm coming out of Cincinnati, and crawled back into my comfortable bed six days after I left home and more than 2,000 miles later. My body is still humming.

Okay, that's all for now. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I'll try to do the same.

cj