Literary Competitions are Another Reason Why You Need to Have a Printed Book

Literary competitions are a great way to market your book. However, I'm starting to notice a change in the air. Some of these competitions are no longer accepting ebooks. In other words, you can't enter unless you have a print version of your book.

The problem with ebooks, I believe, it that it has become too easy to publish them. The once-dreaded gatekeepers, whose mission was to prevent most well-written and professionally edited manuscripts from ever being published, are now nearly extinct. They've been replaced by Amazon Kindle and Smashwords, who have no means of vetting the content of any of the ebooks they publish. This means anyone with a pulse who has Internet access can now publish an ebook. As a result, the market is rapidly filling up with poorly-written ebooks. I'm already seeing negative comments posted on on-line forums by frustrated and disappointed readers begging for some sort of quality control from ebook publishers and distributors. I'm afraid if the trend continues, ebooks could soon become stigmatized.

The solution is simple. First, have you manuscript edited by a professional editor. Second, publish a hard copy of your book. Printed books open the door for you to enter more literary competitions, and winning, or even placing in a competition is an invaluable marketing tool that gives you, and your book, the credibility it deserves.


GM

Writing a Series of Books? Don't Leave Your Readers in the Dark.

Got an email the other day from one of my fellow authors who does editing on the side. She's in the middle of editing a novel for another author, in this case a second book within a series. She never read the first book, and the author is apparently making a mistake novice fiction writers sometimes make--that is assuming readers will have already read the first book. As a result, she found some passages to be very confusing, to say the least, making it difficult for her to do her job.

I recall making that mistake once myself. I'd just published Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the first book in my Luke and Jenny series. As I began working on the manuscript for the second book, Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War, I too went on the assumption that readers would have already read the first book, so I was writing accordingly. Lucky for me, my publisher clued me in. I seem to recall sending her an early draft of the first few chapters, and she caught the error before I'd gone too far. She told me to never, ever assume that the reader has read the first book. Even if they had, it wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibility for a considerable amount of time to have passed before starting the next book. She told me to go on the assumption that the reader had not read the prior book, and write accordingly.

When writing a series you don't need to include a complete summary of the previous book(s). What you will need to do is write a few brief sentences, perhaps a paragraph, when appropriate, with just enough relevant information so your reader can understand, or recall, the back story and how it relates to the current plot. You can do this in the narrative. It's even better if you can work it into the dialog.

Don't leave your readers in the dark and never assume that they've read your earlier book(s). Bring them up to speed, as quickly as possible, so they can understand your story and follow the plot. Otherwise you'll end up with a frustrated, confused reader, who may very well toss your book aside without ever finishing it.

My tip for the day.

GM

Halfway Through Your Novel? Time to Revise, Revise, Revise

I'm approximately halfway through the manuscript for my next Marina Martindale novel, The Deception. My two leading characters have, at long last, consummated their relationship and I've developed a temporary case of writer's block since I haven't quite figured out what curve balls to throw their way. In the meantime, I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to go back and review and revise my earlier chapters.

A funny thing happens while you write novels. Even if you start with a specific plan in mind, new ideas will come along as you put pen to paper, (or words to screen.) Your characters will also start to develop and take on lives of their own. Oftentimes this will result in having to go back and make some revisions in your earlier chapters. Don't fret. It's all perfectly normal. In fact, one author recently told me that she always goes back and completely rewrites the beginnings of her stories.

In my experience I've found that my stories are living, breathing things. They mature and develop as I write, and they are constantly changing. Sometimes that great scene in an earlier chapter might not work so well later on because one of my characters ended up evolving in different way. In this case, my leading lady thought that I was making her look too much like a loose woman in some of the earlier chapters. She wanted me to go back and restate the fact that she really is a good person. She just happened to get caught up in a bad situation, forcing her to do something that she really didn't want to do in order to keep a roof over her head. Now that I've gone back and clarified that fact the later parts of the story read better. It's all about going with the flow.

My tip for the day.

GM (aka Marina Martindale)

Book Signing Etiquette

It's that time of year again when I get busy doing book signings, and while my intent with this post is not to sound preachy, I would like to point out that we authors can sometimes let our enthusiasm get the best of us. Please consider this a gentle reminder that we all need to mind our manners at book signings.

Looking back, I think the worst experience I ever had was while I was signing books down in Tombstone, (Arizona). It was one of their big event weekends, and the bookstore had me, as well as another author, seated outside on the boardwalk in front of the store. Unfortunately, the author they'd seated next to me was a non-stop talker. He talked and talked and talked to me about anything and everything. Yak, yak, yak, yak yak. He just wouldn't shut up, not even while I was trying to talk to potential readers about my books, or trying to close a sale. As if this wasn't bad enough, he started blabbing about a rather controversial book he was planning to write concerning his religious beliefs. So, not only was I stuck with him yapping my ear off as I'm trying very, very hard, to talk my customers, he's quoting Biblical scripture, chapter and verse, in a very loud voice, in a very public place!

Please don't get me wrong. I have nothing against religion and I strongly believe that everyone should be free to practice their faith.  However, there is a time and place for a religious debate, and it is never on a sidewalk in front of a secular bookstore, at a secular event, where other authors are signing non-religious books! People were not only not stopping by my table, they were practically running away because this other author was, honestly, sounding like a nut. Instead of a successful weekend, as I normally have at Tombstone events, I had a disaster. I hardly sold any books.

A book signing is where authors come to connect one on one with their readers, although there may be other authors at the same venue. And while it's nice to meet and network with other authors, please remember to keep it brief and try to limit the conversations to those times when there are no customers around. Most importantly, keep your mouth shut while other authors are talking to a potential buyers! Nothing is more unprofessional than interfering with another author's sale.

My tip for the day.

GM

Is my Novel, "The Reunion" Banned by Paypal?

I've just learned that Paypal has decided that it will no longer allow authors to use it's payment services if their books contains scenes of rape, incest, or bestiality. I guess I'm in big trouble now.

Those of you who are regulars to this blog know that I happen to write romance novels under the pen name, Marina Martindale.  And while my books are hardly erotica I do have, in the case of The Reunion, a scene in which my leading lady, Gillian Matthews, is the victim of an attempted rape.  Notice how I said, "attempted."  Ian, the leading man, intervenes, and the rape is thwarted.

I wrote this scene because it is an integral part of the plot line. Sadly, it is my understanding that this scene is in violation of Paypal's policies, because it involves "rape," and I apparently will not be able to use Paypal to sell my book.  Not a problem.  The Reunion is available on Amazon.com, Barnes&Nobel.com, and BooksaMillion.com. For the time being, at least these sites do not tell me what I can and cannot write, and what you, the reader, can and cannot read.

In the meantime I guess The Reunion is banned by Paypal. Hey, I've been kicked out of better places. Trust me.

My thought for the day.

GM