Experience Tips # 4-7

Charming southern authors, Shellie Tomlinson and River Jordan, are a publisher's dream team. They loaded the car and went on the "Wing & a Prayer Tour" with 22 bookstore stops in 14 days. This was not a whim, but a carefully crafted book tour which, if you can afford the time and money, might be the "write twist" for your promotion.

Here are elements of their tour that are worth repeating by those of us who can't leave the day jobs:

Experience Tip # 4: Build interest in the tour weeks before departing. Shellie has a radio show, however, you could use Facebook, Twitter or other social media to announce your plans. Choose a manageable travel schedule. You may only have three day weekends and can't cover as much ground.

Experience Tip # 5: Work in advance with each bookseller to encourage local promotion. Don't put all of the marketing on the bookseller, send your own press releases to media in each stores' local area. Ask the store owner to share their media list with you.

Experience Tip # 6: Bring promotional materials, free standing sign (better than a banner), small folding table with clean cloth and give-aways. Shellie and River got prizes from their publishers and other sponsors. As a newcomer, you won't have that luxury so bring along inexpensive but clever giveaways.

Experience Tip # 7: Post information and photos of your tour online promptly and send old fashioned "thank you" cards to each book store that hosted your appearance.

Shellie and River partnered in this venture. At each stop, Shellie mentioned that they cross-promoted each other's books. Shellie suggested that several authors representing different genres might team up to reduce costs and multiple interest.

*** Click the links on their names above to visit their sites. You'll be glad you did!

"Experience" - New Feature for Getting the Words Out

Beside my desk is this button reminding me that even in seeming disasters there is the experience value. It's darn costly, but that may be all that remains from mistakes made and dreams delayed. Fact is, no matter how well you write, you have to "get the words out" to build a following who become loyal book buyers. For most of us, this is more challenging than writing. In our enthusiasm, authors go careening down one-way streets, wasting time and money attempting to "get the words out". We have to work smarter, not harder.

My weekend at Southern Independent Booksellers Association (SIBA) didn't get what I expected but did give me experience lessons that I needed. Stay tuned as I pass these along to you. I deeply appreciate each book blogger and book store owner who spent time to educate me on the booksellers perspective.

Experience Tip # 1: Get an electronic copy (preferred) or printed copy of your book to book bloggers and reviewers at least three months prior to release date. The book bloggers present affirmed Rebecca Joines Schinsky's  (The Book Lady's Blog) comment that "When your book is out for 2 weeks, it's old news to bloggers so don't expect any attention."  

Experience Tip # 2: Book Blogger Ron Hogan mentioned the value of timing, "Get review copies to key bloggers early enough that the review can be published just prior to a major book show or other event where your book is launched."

Experience Tip # 3: If you are looking for endorsements, get review copies out as much as 3-5 months in advance. The bigger the name value of the reviewer, the longer the lead time. After all, that endorser is busy with his or her own writing, speaking, etc, so make it easy for that person to review your work. Don't bother to send it a few weeks before debut. Instead of a quick turn around, you are likely to get a quick return with no review.

Taking Book Blogging to new heights

The infamous duo from "Get in Bed with a Book Blogger" fame shared how their wicked humor translated into a  powerful book seller-blogger relationship. SIBA President Kelly Justice shared that this works because they are complimentary personalities who respect each others as independent thinkers. Blogger Rebecca Joines Schinsky encourages book bloggers to find their "home bookstore" and build rapport with the owners and customers. Kelly reminds book sellers to treat the book blogger as a team member without attempting to influence what the blogger writes.

Kelly and Rebecca's "Get in Bed with a Book Blogger" photo is heading for legend status. This proves that the best campaigns are attention grabbing, clever and connect with a wide audience. Frankly, they beat the pants off any New York publicity agency with their idea. Careful, let's not mention pants. Rebecca has that panty-throwing habit but you can learn more from reading The Book Lady's Blog.

SIBA - Books and Beds

Book conference and ocean view resort, that's a writer's paradise! Delightful folks with side order of humor, as you see in the lobby display inviting us to lounge and read. Naturally I had to do it.

Heard Steven Johnson talk about his new book, "Where Good Ideas Come From". Look at his book trailer, it's amazing. Plus he gave attendees an autographed book! His ideas are philosophical yet have a broad based appeal which is a tough balancing act.

Best session so far was "Get in Bed with a Book Blogger".  Kelly Justice (owner of The Fountain Bookstore) and Rebecca Schinsky (aka The Book Lady's Blog) started this eye-catching campaign before BEA and they became rock stars in the book world for this creative effort.

Heading for Southern book heaven!

Attending my first SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Association) conference this week, I plan to delight in down home style networking. As a     GRITS (girl raised in the South), these are my people bringing Tennessee gentility to Florida. SIBA is an opportunity to connect with hundreds of independent booksellers in prime markets for my novel.

When your work has a strong regional edge, look for organizations that give maximum access to potential book buyers and book signing locations. A few good contacts would more than compensate for my membership and conference expenses. Since I enjoy meeting people and presenting my work, this is the ideal forum to network. For writers who are shy or less comfortable walking into a room of strangers and talking about your work, this would not be a good option. Conference are exceptional opportunities to make contacts, acquire new ideas and amp up motivation to keep going on the never ending promotional push to get a new book noticed.

Do you Squidoo? I do.

An early player in the blogging world, Squidoo offered a simple, yet powerful way to create a "lens" in your topic of choice. I heard so much about Squidoo from Tiffany Dow, excellent writer and marketer, that I decided to try it. To my surprise, my first lens about Online Teaching Jobs rose up the rankings and continues to hold a strong position in the Education category.

Squidoo is sales friendly with links to Amazon and many other ways to generate income (writers certainly need that). New features at Squidoo reward Lensmakers with additional tools as each lens gains popularity. While I'm not obsessing over my lens daily or even weekly, I receive checks from Squidoo. You can take the money and run or send it to your favorite charity.

A Squidoo lens in your writing genre is another useful way to recycle articles or other work to a fresh audience.Squidoo meets all my criteria; free, easy and well received by Google search bots. Start your lens today and let me know what you think.

Oxymoron Alert: Zombies

Why are writers dying to get into the zombie world? Even seasoned writer John Rehg invited the St Pete Florida Writer's group to a "lovely evening. . . with zombies". I warned John that this comment (lovely evening - zombies) was destined to be a featured oxymoron at The Write Twist.

Before even contemplating writing about zombies, I have much to learn. Do zombies text? My daughter, Kelly, says no because other zombies ate their thumbs. Is that the underworld version of the current cupcake craze?
Do zombies have jobs? The stalking of the living must get old after awhile, what else do they do?

What about personalities, do zombies retain their former personalities? At the risk of being politically incorrect, seen one walking dead person, seen them all. I'm going to stay with living characters like my evil doers in Taylor Kendall: Evil Inc. No zombies or vampires here, my characters do their blood sucking the old fashioned way; they bilk the government.

Thinking outside the traditional rules of publishing

For any writer who knows the frustration of rejection by a traditional publisher, Scott Nicholson's article (September 16) in The Blood Red Pencil has a fresh take on the current state of publishing. His views may seem radical, yet he is offering alternatives. Are these easy? No, but neither is breaking into traditional publishing houses that take month to reply and a year to print.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week!

September 13-19 is the official Book Blogger Appreciation Week. With so little newsprint devoted to books, the book blogger has become a leading literary information source for savvy readers.

My highest compliment goes out to Terry Kate who developed the Book Bloggers and Authors Conference. This online conference was packed with information for book bloggers, authors and publishers. Thankfully, Terry arranged to record many of the excellent sessions for later listening. Since I was teaching at Regent University during that week, I deeply appreciated the recorded sessions.

Celebrate book bloggers this week by locating and subscribing to two book blogs in a genre that interests you. When you sign in, remember to say, "Thanks" because book bloggers are instrumental in discovering and promoting new books.

Mystery Monkey - a Character Study

A fugitive brown monkey has attained local hero status by eluding captors in his dash around Pinellas County. The blogs and Facebook are filled with "Go Monkey, Go". Recently he showed the high cost of his freedom.
In a heart breaking photo snapped by a homeowner, the Monkey was befriending a mirrored cube. He was initially excited to find another monkey only to touch glass. The final photo showed him visibly downcast at the lack of monkey companionship.

Change the character from Monkey to college student away from home, adventurer, recluse. . .you decide. Notice how this little animal's story is the same as one you might write for a person. The price of freedom can cost more than imagined. What appears to be freedom from the outside looking in may be a golden handcuff, like the price of fame is to a celebrity.

Characters make the story - vivid characters make the story great. Even the glass mirror cube reflection is a "character" who becomes a foil to the bold, entertaining Monkey. What could you do with this story using human characters?

Think like a Journalist

Journalists stay focused on the classic "who, what, when, where and why" questions when developing stories. That's a smart approach for any type of writing.  From blogging to thrillers and romance to science fiction, the writer needs to know the answers to those journalistic questions. Face it, if you don't know then how will the reader know what's happening.

Here's a technique I teach to my graduate students who have to boil down a complex paper into an abstract: think TV promo listing. What is the essence of your story?

Now expand this to a  news story or book review. How would you give a short, concise and factual account of this work? Now you see where the "who, what, when, where and why" questions are valuable to consider as you develop the writing product.

Every Day is Labor Day for Writers

While regular workers anticipate a four day holiday weekend, writers are not able to turn off their "write brains" that easily. To stop thinking about writing takes more than a legal holiday, perhaps a coma or alien abduction is required. Coma might work, but there would be too much exquisite detail and future characters to memorize in an alien abduction. Besides, what writer really wants a holiday from new ideas or resolving existing plot dilemmas?

Holiday weekends are prime people watching time, whether traveling or staying in the local area. Get out and soak up this information. In fairness, writers need tee shirts or signs announcing: "Anything you say may appear in my next book or blog."


Have a relaxing Labor Day weekend with family and friends. Drive safely and defensively. Enjoy simple pleasures. Meanwhile, "write on" as many of us will, even on Labor Day.

Oxymoron Alert: Play Responsibly

The Florida Lottery radio commercial caught me off guard by adding in Buccaneers football details. Then I heard a phrase worthy of Oxymoron Alert: Play Responsibly. Trading hard earned, recession weary cash for a ticket with the odds worse than getting struck by a meteor needs a warning, but not that one. The act of buying these tickets is irresponsible, greed boosting and cheats education which it was touted to help.

To Play Responsibly is not to play at all. Or if you have the unquenchable urge to waste cash, use the 24/7 convenience of flushing money down the toilet. 

Meet the "Godmother of Ethical Thrillers"

Dr Kathie Erwin & Professor Jane Till

May I introduce the “Godmother” of the Ethical Thriller, Jane Till, professor in the Applied Ethics Institute at St Petersburg College. When I shared with her the concept of my book, Taylor Kendall: Evil Inc, as a thriller but with more ethical issues than the usual blood, guts and police tape, she instantly proclaimed it a Thriller of Ethical Genre. From that idea came this new sub genre, the Ethical Thriller. 

She was hooked when I mentioned “guest appearances” in my novel from truly old school guys like Augustine, Dante and Machiavelli. During my years teaching as an Adjunct Instructor in the Applied Ethics Institute, I looked for ways to make ethical issues come to life for our students. That’s exactly what happens in this novel, where clashes of good v. evil and decisions made in the midst of those clashes drive this thriller. Taylor Kendall: Evil Inc is Applied and Mis-Applied Ethics set in the real world controversies that still swirl around Medicare fraud and patient manipulation.