Writing 101: Email Marketing

Indie authors have to promote as much as they write (maybe even more) in order to sell books. But if you restrict all your marketing to Twitter, you could drive yourself insane. Don't miss out on email marketing. For indies, it's an invaluable promotional tool. If you do it the right way, it's also a fun way to stay in touch with readers and other writers. 

Pen Pals

Everybody checks their email. I've actually had trouble managing my own email time in the past, because I can just get lost in my own inbox. So I happen to know that email promotions work -- I'm one of the people who clicks the links you send me. 

And good news for you indie authors, I read books. So you'd better start using email marketing, and get more purchases from people like me. There's a simple way to do it: add a widget to your blog. Sites like this one (Blogger) and WordPress allow you to create a mailing list of your readers. Put all these people into a contact list in your email program, and send mail to them when you have a new book or a new promotion that you want to market. 

If you're going to send out emails, make them worth reading. Check your mails for key components to make sure your message is being sent out successfully.

• Short and sweet. Brevity is incredibly important when you're marketing through email. If I've got 50 emails to look at, what are the chances I'm going to read every word of your crazy 3-page epic letter? Keep it short, and that will be really sweet. 
• Funny. Make your email interesting by making it humorous. I'm much more likely to read a funny email than one written with plain, straightforward language. Be irreverent, be weird, make jokes, write puns. Be funny, and you'll get more clicks.
• Appeal. The world of the Internet is not black and white, so don't make your emails that way. Change the fonts, add colors, include images. Don't forget the links!

Keeping track of an email mailing list isn't so difficult, but it is one more thing to do. If you like, there is an easy way out. Amazon automatically generates emails for your books. If you want to keep your readers up-to-date with very little effort, just point them toward your Amazon page and tell them to sign up. This way, you don't have to write the emails. But use email marketing in some way, and sell more books any way you can.

Writing 101: Pinterest and Self-Publishing

I've found that Pinterest is a great way to distract myself from writing, but if you can manage to stay a little more professional than me it's also a great marketing tool. Pinterest and self-publishing were made for each other, in fact. It's a little site that became huge, and it's driven by ordinary people who are simply sharing what they like. If that doesn't have indie written all over it...what does? 

Get on Board(s)

I belong to several boards about books and reading, and I created my own boards to show off book covers, book blogs I like, books I've reviewed and books I love. There are a ton of book-oriented boards you can get into on Pinterest, but you can also take it one step further...and I think you should. 

Pinterest is great for sharing book covers, but please don't stop there. If you really want to promote your book, use the site to start building that world online. I've seen authors who create Pinterest boards for character weddings, for character closets (pictures of clothing and accessories and shoes), maybe even for the character itself (foods, hobbies, interests that represent that character). You can even build boards to represent the specific setting where your book takes place.

That's the great thing about Pinterest -- you can pin just about any photo, any time. Show me the car your character drives. Show me a girl or boy who looks like them. I want to see the house they live in, the hairstyles they use. Do they have a tattoo? A pet? A unique talent? Pin it to your book board! Take your readers deeper into your world, and take your promotions further.

Writing 101: Flashbacks

Unless you've decided to model your books after Charles Dickens, there's a good chance that many of your characters don't come to your book fresh and new. Some characters have a past, previous events that have shaped them...events that may continue to influence them. When this past becomes relevant to the character's present or future, the reader may need to know more about the past. The easiest and best way to do it? Flashbacks. But if you use them, use them with care...because flashbacks get very annoying very quickly.

The Past...Within the Past

By and large, fictional tales are told in the past tense. Flashbacks are always events that have happened in the past. So when you start throwing flashbacks into books that are already relating a story that has already happened...well, it gets confusing. This is only one of the reasons why you have to use extreme care when you write flashacks into your tale.

The other reason? It gets old really, really quickly. If I'm moving through a story, I want to stay in the timeline with the character. I want to see what develops next, and most of the time I don't really care about all the stuff that has transpired before. If those past events were meant to be the story, wouldn't they be the story? Anything that disrupts the flow of the story you're telling can make readers put the book down, maybe for good. So if you're going to go back into the deep past, you better have a great reason for doing so.

Why Flash Back?

However, the flashback is an oft-used literary technique. It's absolutely the best way to present a piece of the story that happened long ago, and show how it remains relevant to the story that's occurring in the book now. It's much better to put the reader into that past moment, and show them those events, rather than to simply refer to those events (telling the reader about them instead).

But do it too much, and you're just telling the wrong story. Readers want to stay in the action and in the flow of the narrative, and that's where you've got to keep them. So use flashbacks to make very specific points and provide very important information, but that's it. They are not meant to be filler and they shouldn't be over-done, because at the end of the chapter the reader doesn't want to know the character's entire life history. They just want the story, so don't use too many elements that will interrupt it.

Indie News: "Real Authors" and You

What's the difference between an author and a book writer? One HuffPo blogger opines that if you're self-published, you certainly aren't the former. In a post titled "Are Self-published Authors Really Authors or Even Published?" he explores the relative merit of not the books themselves, but the scribblers who create them.

Getting Real

Dr. Jim Taylor (University of San Francisco adjunct faculty) says that self-publishing allows "anyone with a computer and a small amount of money to call themselves authors."

The sentiment isn't far from wrong, but Taylor is certainly wrong when he says "despite their warts" the publishing industry is "an initial arbiter of literary quality," and points to different quality standards in the traditional publishing industry, as compared to indies.

And I pretty much disagree. I've read atrocious books that were traditionally published, stuff that's riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors. In one book I still have, the characters call each other the wrong names for darn near three whole pages. It's outrageous. I've also come across my fair share of wholly predictable, badly-written and just plain unreadable books that were all published traditionally, and some by big names to boot. Taylor waxes poetic about the thoroughly-vetted nature of traditionally-published books, but I think many avid readers would also disagree with him on this point. 

Publishers aren't the literary tastemakers of this world. Nor are the agents. And though she does have influence, neither is Oprah Winfrey. The readers are. 

The great success of self-publishing is obvious: the world wouldn't know about people like Amanda Hocking and EL James otherwise. They've sold more books than many of those "real" authors who cram the virtual bookshelves and make it all the harder to find the really great reads.

If you publish on your blog, if you publish on KDP, if you publish through Simon and Schuster, you are an author. Don't let anyone tell you any different. Anyone who writes a book from beginning to end and then puts it out there for the world, in any sort of way whatsoever, is an author. And to hell with anyone who says they aren't.

Books on Film: Lord of the Flies

It's not your typical horror story, but Lord of the Flies scared the bejesus out of me when I read it. The story was even more horrifying as a movie. If you can't figure out what's scary about a group of young boys marooned together in a remote location, you've never had brothers...and you've also never read this book. It's time to familiarize yourself with this terrifying dystopian tale.

The Book

William Golding published Lord of the Flies in 1954. He was waaayyy ahead of the current dystopian trend.  It was his first novel, it was adapted into a movie and it's still read in schools all over the world. It's so controversial, people are still fighting it's use as a teaching tool today.

To me, this book always meant one thing: get a group of guys together, and the wheels just fall off the cart. But actually, Lord has a lot of deep symbolism and important meaning (so they say).  

Here's how it goes down: there's a nuclear war. Britain is being evacuated, but a plane carrying civilians crashes in the Pacific Ocean. As a result of this event, a group of school children have been marooned on a remote island. One group is a choir, and they have a leader with them, but most of them have never met each other before this. However, they are all pretty well-educated and they're all refined Brits (it's a British book, by the way).

Not for long. The story is about how the boys turn -- rather quickly, as it would happen -- into total barbarians. It gets nasty. In the beginning, two of the boys find a large conch (a type of shell). Blonde Ralph and overweight "Piggy" use the conch as a horn to signal others. In this fashion, Ralph becomes the official leader of the band of survivors. The boys' choir, led by redhead Jack Merridew, does not vote for him. The rules are simple. Ralph will work on a smoke signal for passing ships, and the conch will be used as a symbol. Whoever holds it may speak at formal meetings.

Jack turns the choir into a hunting group that will find food. Ralph is a clear leader for the "biguns" (the older boys) and though Piggy is his right-hand-man (so to speak), he is the outcast of the group. Simon is the third leader, in charge of constructing shelter and of herding the "littluns" (the younger boys).

The structure doesn't last worth a darn, and soon boys are being lazy and telling stories about a monster they believe lives on the island. Jack promises to kill the monster to gain esteem among the boys, because he wants to wrest control away from Ralph.

Soon enough, Jack has developed his own tribe at Castle Rock (a mountain of stone and a source of inspiration for Stephen King) and begins acting strangely. Simon ends up going a little crazy, and he discovers the Lord of the Flies -- a severed pig head.

Things get much, much worse from here. There is violence, there is bloodshed...there's a lot of completely primitive behavior, and this is why the book remains controversial. You'll have to read it to get all the gory details, and drop your jaw at the very surprising twist ending (it shocked the heck out of me, anyway).

The Film

Lord of the Flies had been majorly adapted to film only twice, the first time in 1963. Plotwise, the story is very faithful to the book. However, much of the movie was not even scripted. Most of the boys in the movie had not read the book and were not given much dialogue to memorize. Instead, the director explained each scene to the boys and then allowed them to act it out. Therefore, much of the speech is changed on film. But since the main plot points are depicted, this remains the best version of the story.

But if you're hankering for a newer one, the book was adapted again in 1990. This time around, a lot of the plot was changed. The boys are American and they attend a military school, already a huge change. Only one school is present on the island, but in the film there were two. Ralph isn't mean to Piggy in this version, and the phrases "biguns" and "littluns" are omitted entirely. The movie also has a lot more profanity, perhaps because that's more realistic when the characters are American. Some of the violence of the book is toned down. None of the boys look like they should. But much of the original ending remains intact, though the dialogue is changed.

What Got Adapted?

There are more minor differences from the book in both films, but you'll have to read the story to discover them. It's frightening, and that makes it a perfect October read. 

Writing 101: The Hook

You can't fall into a Goodreads group without finding a thread that discusses books and their opening lines. The first line if the hook, and that's why so many people consider it to be so important. That first line is truly the most important of the book. So...do you know how to sharpen your hook? 

Reeling Them In

I don't always read blurbs, and I'm not always interested in covers. When an author or an agent sends me a review request, I only really need one thing from them: the Amazon link. With this, I go straight to the book's sample...and I read the first line. If I don't like it, that's it. 

This is how a lot of readers make their decision about books. That's unfortunate for authors, because books have tens of thousands of words in them...and most of the time, you're getting judged on the first 7 you write. This creates an enormous amount of pressure to start the book off really strong. You want to be funny, touching, compelling, exciting and titillating -- simultaneously, and without creating a run-on sentence that's hard to read. That's pretty darned hard to do if you've got 7 words to work with.

That's why you have to forget about doing all of that. Don't worry about being funny or thought-provoking or anything in particular. Worry about hooking the reader. Write anything that might make them want to keep reading. One word, a single phrase, even a foreign language may be enough of a hook, if it's compelling enough. If I open a book and I see the word Fire! I might keep on reading to see what's on fire. That is how a hook works. 

And yes, it's perfectly okay to resort to any cheap trick you can think of in order to write a great hook. What else is a hook but a clever trick? Ever read the beginning of Gone With the Wind? Here's how it starts: "Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were." This is good stuff, people. Why's she so charming? How not beautiful is she? Who are these Tarleton twins? If the first line of your novel inspires questions, you're looking at a great hook. Curiosity is the strongest motivator, and it will keep your readers engaged in your story for as long as you can maintain it. The hook makes them curious, and that's it's magic. 

Writing 101: Make 'Em Cry

I wrote a post about the importance of humor in books, making your audience laugh, but tears can be just as moving as amusement. In fact, the books that make us cry can be as powerful as the books that make us laugh. Do you know how to make your readers cry? 

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Tragedy happens in life, and books that contain tragedy will feel authentic if it's written well. Tragic events are the best way to make your readers cry, but you have to walk a very fine line. 

Death is a common tragic event in books, and it can inspire tears...but it can also fall flat. It's all about the character who dies. You have to be part writer and part scientist to create the perfect destined-to-die character. 

First, don't make them too obviously good. I read a book, once, where I was absolutely certain the sister was going to die because she was being painted as some sort of perfect saint. Then she died, and I didn't care because I knew all along she wasn't going to live. Don't do this. All people have good and bad in them. You want to create a character that readers really like (the better to pull the tears from them), but it has to be a believable character. Give them flaws and allow them to make mistakes.

Second, give the reader enough time to know the character. Put the character in several pivotal scenes and allow them to play a key role before you brutally kill them in a cruel attempt to make people cry (it's okay, you sadist; everything is allowed in fiction).

Heartbreak is one of the most common tragedies in books as well, but this is even trickier to write than death. First, you must make the main character and the audience fall for the love interest. You must make everyone trust this character implicitly. An heroic act can be a big help. If the love interest saves the main character from something terrible, for example, this can create a sense of trust. Maybe the love interest confesses to something wrong they did, and makes amends for it. Perhaps they stop someone else from doing something wrong. There are lots of ways to do it, but make the reader trust first. 

That will make the subsequent betrayal hurt that much worse. Make the betrayal truly awful and write a wallowing scene where the main character is deep in it, and that should pull some tears out of your audience. 

Find your own way to bring tragedy into your books, and make 'em cry. People like a good cry, every now and then, and crying over fictional characters is perfectly harmless.

Writing 101: Gaps in the Story?

Editing is an essential part of writing, and any author will tell you the same. But don't get bogged down in the details of grammar and punctuation and forget to look at the bigger picture. When you're editing, you always have to check for gaps in the story. 

Plot Holes and Other Errors

You're the author, so you know how the story ends. You know who the characters are and what's going to happen. And when you're writing, it's common to be focused on getting to the end. It's only natural for gaps to appear in any first draft.

But you've got to fill in those gaps when you go back and do the editing. Remember that the reader doesn't understand the characters the way you do, and they don't know how the story is supposed to end. You have to fill in the blanks for them. If your heroine is supposed to be brave and confident, write a scene that shows her acting this way. If the reader is supposed to care about a friendship between two people, write a scene that illustrates their closeness. 

When you're editing, always be looking for the gaps. There's a good way to find them: ask questions. As you're reading, pay attention to any questions that appear in your head (such as, why are the characters in the desert? or do I know this guy Chris who's talking right now?). If you have questions, the readers will definitely have questions. Ask yourself questions as you read along. Do you understand why the character is doing this? Do you know why the character said no to Tom and yes to Jimmy? Are the motives and explanations part of the story...or are they just in your mind? 

Fill in all the gaps in the story to create a much smoother read. If you don't catch the gaps while you edit...when will you?