Author: Bob

Now that my novel Hour of Consequence is out in both eBook and paperback versions, I need to start the marketing. I already did the simple stuff, like announcing the books on social media. The more professional stuff is next. It will be my first time with an all-out marketing activity; what wonderful mistakes will I make?

One of the first steps is to send the book to professional reviewers. These are people who review books and then print their reviews in magazines or websites. If a good reviewer can recommend your book to their audience, it can drive sales up quite a bit. When you get several good reviews, it really sets things off.

The trick is to find the reviewers and determine their requirements. You don’t want to get on their bad side by violating their rules. Then you create an appropriate introductory letter and send it along with a copy of the book. Finding them will require an Internet search.

In the past, publishers would send galleys (essentially a copy of what a book would look like after publishing, but made before actual publishing). Today we have print on demand; by the time you have a galley the finished book is only a couple of days away.

If this part goes well, I will have to document all of it for the next time I publish a book. I may even offer it as a service to acquaintances who self-publish.

The next step is to send press releases. This is new to me also. I’m not good as self-promotion, tending toward the subtle side of things. This involves both writing the release and getting a list of targets. The obvious targets are for newspapers and similar from the immediate region. “Iowan author releases second novel” should be the theme.

The purpose of the press release is to get the attention of these publications in the hope that they will want to produce an article about me and my writing. Such articles are free publicity. That’s way better than paying for advertising.

The final and least happy step is looking into buying ads. What does it cost to buy ad space in the major newspapers in the region? Would it do any good? What will it cost to have a graphic designer make the ad? This could quickly turn expensive and may not be worth it in the long run. If the advertising does not generate enough revenue then all the money spent is lost. I wonder how much of that can be written off as a business loss come tax time? I wonder if writing can be more profitable that way.

Those are my next steps. I will let you know how it goes. It would be better still is some reviewer in your favorite periodical lets you know how it goes.

My new novel, Hour of Consequence, has gone to press. There will be some processing time before the print version is available. However, the eBook version is ready right now. Get it here.

In my first novel, Cordell’s Rebellion, one will find the lyrics to three songs from one of the characters. Since I had written the songs anyway, so I could include snippets in the story, it seemed like a nice thing to append. Now I have the question: should the second novel also include song lyrics or poetry at the end?

The thought behind the question is that such a thing could become a normal part of any novel I write, a sort of trademark. I write poetry and lyrics occasionally anyway; it would not be difficult to knock something out that fits the book. If anyone ever recorded a performance of the songs, it would help to promote the books. As long as the lyrics were good, I couldn’t see anyone complaining.

However, as I thought about it, there is no direct tie-in with the story. In the first novel, one of the characters likes to sing when he is under stress. He also fancies himself a song writer. This gives a story-related reason for there to be song lyrics. This character does not appear in the second novel, nor are there any others where a musical bent is important. This means lyrics in the second story would seem forced.

I’ve looked through the story of the second novel and cannot find a place where music would be appropriate. There’s no part where the characters or plot are enhanced that way. I can’t really think of the right kind of music for this story, not anything easy to describe.

In later books, poetry and music may come to play again. In those cases, it would be reasonable to append the verses to the end of the tale. It would be a natural thing. For the second novel, the prose will have to stand on its own. Isn’t that always the case.

As my current project nears completion, I’ve been thinking about what to do next. I have notes for the next few novels in the series, and one of them would be a good candidate. However, the part of my brain responsible for such things says I’m going to write a screenplay. What do I know about writing a screenplay?

Sure, years ago I read up on screenwriting. I wrote a few (fake) commercials just to see what it was like. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to do a really good job on a screenplay for a movie. Unfortunately, that’s the story my brain says I’m going to write.

It seems as though Hollywood likes bringing back old (intellectual) properties and rebooting or extending them. Sometimes this has worked (I really enjoyed The Predator) and sometimes it has not (Tom Cruise’s The Mummy starring Tom Cruise). My brain tells me a story that extends a television show I enjoyed in my youth. I must write it. Can I do simple fan-fiction and be done with it? No, it has to be a screenplay.

So, I’ll get started on the research to make sure all the incidental facts are correct in the story. I’ll also have to refresh my memory on screenplay formatting and nomenclature. If/when I finish it, I’ll have to seek out an agent to try to sell it to the people who own the characters.

Who knows, maybe this will turn into a profitable outlet for my energies. It may also go nowhere or may get me sued for infringing on some copyrights, trademarks, or other obscure movie thing. Of course, if it does work, I also have an idea to get rid of that Mummy picture, start the mummy series on a new, updated path, and still include Brendan Fraser.

Most of the editing is wrapping up on the second novel. The scenes have been laid out and characters assessed. The last part will be adding weather to the story. “Shouldn’t that already be done?” you ask. Some bits, perhaps, but now the real weather work begins.

It is very easy to get wrapped up in all the details of a setting. When that happens, those details can slow the pace of the scene. On the other hand, a scene can fly by so quickly that the reader has no idea what is going on with the setting. Weather is one of those things that can get in the way or can help.

On the first draft, weather was only mentioned if it had a direct impact on the action. In those cases, the story would not make sense without explaining the effect of the weather. You don’t want to forget about that while planning to add it later. What about the rest of the weather?

There is a lot of emotive potential to properly used atmospheric phenomena. We tend to associate sadness with cloudy days or happiness with the sun in spring. Refugees on a long slog down the road are that much more miserable with a downpour. We should take advantage of these things, but we must do so without making it a weather forecast.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I make a list of all my scenes and what happens in them. This helps me check the continuity of my story. The next use for that list is to map out the weather. I’ll make note of any scenes where the weather was already defined. Then, I’ll plot out what the weather should be in order to augment the emotive potential of those scenes.

The pattern to the weather will follow the story arc. There is the initial disruption where stories start, the changes, the character growth, etc. We know those things follow a pattern, within reason. The weather should support that. The story is about the character’s world, and that should be shown in all aspects of that world.

Of course, your story may need something different. For example, you may have a character who is sad about something on a very pleasant day to show that the world goes on despite the character’s plight. Every story and author will use these things differently, but it must be given some thought.

After mapping the weather, I’ll have to apply it to the story. It must be subtle, never disrupting the flow of the writing itself. Noting how a street light reflects off the wet pavement tells you that it has recently finished raining. Characters can be uncomfortable because of the humidity and the sun beating down on them. The same sun, without the humidity shows a pleasant day. These are the sorts of things that use the weather to add depth to the story world but not disrupt the story itself.