Michael J. Sullivan

Today we have a terrific guest post in IWSG blog by Michael J. Sullivan. If that name sound familiar it could be that you're read my raves about him before on this post. Or it just could be because he is a very, very successful hybrid author. And he's sharing tips on how he became so successful.

You can read about his journey to becoming a full time writer at IWSG. Though he doesn't mention it in that post, he is a very hard working writer. Not only does he write a lot of words every year, but he attends to his readers. He's a model for how writers should interact with their supporters. He answers emails, keeps up two blogs, tweets out his news on twitter and appears on blogs. If you reach out to Michael, he will answer.

It's no secret that I love epic fantasy. Michael's first series, The Riyria Revelations, is one of my favorite all time series. In my busy life, I don't have time to reread many books, but that series is falling apart from all the beloved readings. His characters are complex, fun and darkly heroic. I looking forward to starting Age of Myth, the first book in his next series when it's released tomorrow.

Spend the weekend attending graduation parties. One outstanding neighbor who will be going onto college on a football scholarship. Guess he won't be around to help shovel snow next winter. The other for a nephew's son. Made me fell a little old but he's the last one in the immediate family for a few years.

Writing is going pretty good and I'm finally catching up on the outside work. I'm wearing my hiking boots to do yard work to protect that darned ankle. Looking forward to Killjoys coming back on the SyFy channel this Friday.

I'm avoiding all talk of politics on this blog and on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Mostly because like most of the would, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. No wonder people are intrigues by so many post-apocalyptic stories and why we love the super-heroes genre.
"An eye for an eye ends up making the whole world blind." Mahatma Gandhi

And a disturbing fact for today. 25% of all vegetables consumed in the USA are french fries.

Do we really have to wait almost a year for Game of Thrones? Will Martin ever finish writing the book series? Do you even consider french fries as a vegetable? Have you read any of Sullivan's books?

Christine Rains: Marketing Different Genres

I'm so thrilled to have Christine Rains here today to talk about marketing. Every writer wants to know more about that. If you been any where in the blogosphere the last few weeks, you're run into her Dice & Debauchery tour. Christine is not only a writer, she's a very busy mother and an amazing time management person. I'm not getting the day off. Please check out my post about planning for April Madness over at the A to Z Blogging Challenge Home. How does she get so much done? Here's Christine:

Thank you for hosting me today, Susan. It's a pleasure to be here.

Marketing is one of the most difficult tasks as an author. But marketing several books from different genres? It can be overwhelming. Some days there isn't enough ice cream in the world to make it bearable.

Over the past several weeks, I've been touring for my contemporary erotic romance series, Dice & Debauchery. This is my first adventure with this genre, and I've had to learn new marketing tactics along the way. At the same time, I've had to continue marketing for my other books.

Two different genres with two different audiences.

There are two ways to do this successfully:

1. Use a pen name. Separate your different genre books with distinct identities. Create independent websites, Twitter accounts, and Facebook pages. It's double the work, but it will allow you to build a solid readership in each genre. This is good to do because sometimes when an author crosses genres, she turns some readers off.

I debated using a pen name when I wrote my Dice & Debauchery series. I went back and forth about it for a few months before I decided to take a chance and use my real name. This is why I went with the second marketing strategy.

2. Market the author instead of the books. What do you do best as a writer? Do you have lovely prose with flowing descriptions or are you clever with twisting the plot? Find that one thing that applies to all your stories and use it as a base for your marketing.

My author tagline is: “Twisting the tropes.” In all my stories, I take popular literary devices and themes and turn them on their heads. I love to surprise readers with these unusual twists and turns.

All my books are character focused and contain romances too. So when I went from urban fantasy and paranormal romance to the Dice & Debauchery series, I still was in a similar realm. I understand that not all my readers will want to read erotica, but there are those that do enjoy my stories from both genres. They're all just different aspects of me as a writer.

If you write in different genres, what type of marketing strategy have you employed?

Blurb:

Geek girl Morgan Reid has been to many conventions, but none that had her wishing it would never end.

 Dressed as their characters from the online game Steampunk Quest, Morgan and her best friend meet the other players for the first time in real life. Morgan's attraction to the gorgeous Dean Bradley is immediate, making it difficult to breathe in her tight corset. Even after a few dice shattering orgasms, she doesn't believe this can be anything more than a con fling. But Dean is making her feel things she's only read about in books. Can Morgan let go of her cool-headed logic and allow herself to fall completely for the perfect geek guy?

 About the author:

Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She's married to her best friend and fellow geek living in south-central Indiana. They have one son who is too smart for his parents' own good and loves to pretend he's Batman. Christine has four degrees which help nothing with motherhood, but make her a great Jeopardy player. When she's not reading or writing, she's going on adventures with her son or watching cheesy movies on Syfy Channel. She's a member of Untethered Realms and S.C.I.F.I. (South Central Indiana Fiction Interface). She has several short stories and novellas published. The Dice & Debauchery series is her first contemporary erotic romance.

Please visit her website  and blog

You can also find Christine on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Goodreads.

 Purchase links:

Amazon    B&N   Ellora's Cave 

Thanks, Christine. There's always a lot of discussion about whether to use a pen name or not. You have the best reasons for not that I've heard. What does everyone else think? With all the social media insights, can a writer hide behind a pen name any more? What is a good reason to use one?

Tom Olbert: Evolving as a Writer

It is my pleasure today to introduce Tom Olbert, a fellow Musa Publishing speculative fiction author. Tom has experience with multiple publishers and has learned a few thing he learned along the way. He's going to share his journey from short-story writer to novelist.

Writing fiction (specifically science fiction and supernatural fiction) is pretty much all I ever fantasized doing as a kid.  I knew all along that was my (calling? Passion?)  Those words always sound a bit lame to me, but you get my point.

And, much to my amazement, I actually started producing stories people were willing to publish, and (more startling still) pay for.  Since then, it’s been an evolutionary journey.

Writing short stories for science fiction magazines was simple enough.  If they liked it, they bought it.  The contract was signed, the check cashed, and my job was done.  But, as I’ve gone from being a short story writer to a writer of novels and novelettes I’ve had to grow as a person, not just a writer.  Because being accepted by book publishers meant entering the strange new world of promotion.  Like all writers, I had to learn that yes, it was the writer’s job not only to write, but to promote the book once it was out.  (“No, dummy; books don’t sell themselves,” I had to tell myself.)

As a guy who’s passed the half-century mark and is still adapting to the modern world of rapidly advancing communication and social media, I had to learn as I went.  Not only was social media a new concept to me, but on a more basic note, so was promotion.  I’ve never been one of those people naturally inclined to come right out and sell themselves.  I’m the type that likes to work and produce, but not sell or market. Now, I had to be both.  If I was going to take a serious stab at writing, I had to grow as a person, technologically and socially.

The first state-of-the-art book publisher to handle one of my titles was Eternal Press.  They took me in hand, showed me the basics of setting up a blog and gave me tips on how to survive in the modern world of fiction.  Since then, I’ve learned to participate in author’s loops and online events, and scrounge and beg for online reviews and guest posts.  It’s been both fun and intimidating. I’ve often felt like a clumsy outsider trying to fit in.  Like anything else, you just have to fit in as yourself and contribute as best you can.   Groups are great (LinkedIn, FB, etc.) because you get to hear from other writers in your genre all the time and get their eye view on a number of issue we all have to deal with, including marketing. Author links and authors friended on FB are also good ways for picking up tips on good review sites.

Musa Publishing, my most recent publisher, has been extremely supportive and helpful, providing a capable and dedicated marketing expert who nudges me in the right direction and hunts for reviewers and bloggers willing to take me on.   It’s always good to feel you have someone in your corner, as long as you know you have to do your part, too.

The tips you get from other writers and bloggers sometimes differ, even to the point of being mutually contradictory.  Some tell you to be controversial in blogging, others say to play it safe.  Some say to go after reviews, others to concentrate on guest posts and interviews.  Everybody has a piece of the larger picture; you just have to find your balance.  Just as you have to budget your time to include promotion (blogging, social media, networks, and anything else you can find), and of course writing.

We all dream of writing the next “Hunger Games.”  And, we all fear that what we want or need to write about may not resonate with the reading public.  The important thing is to get it out there.  You’ll never know until you do.  And, the journey of self-improvement is worth it in itself.

Tom's Blog

On Facebook

Long Haul by Tom Olbert

 Desert Flower by Tom Olbert

Black Goddess by Tom Olbert

 Thanks, Tom, for guesting on my blog today and giving me some extra writing time. Does any part of Tom's journey sound like yours in your writing career? Has your publisher helped you along as Tom's has? Do you have an example of contradictory advice you're received about blogging or other social media when it comes to promotion?

Promote Me by Me

I guess my greatest weakness as an author is in the promotion of my work. I really have a difficult time pushing my work, spreading the news and talking about my books. Some writers manage to promote their work in non-offensive but effective ways on their blogs, on facebook and other social media venues.

The Heir of Futhark, book #4 and the final novel in The Futhark Chronicles, is still in the major edits stage, but I have plans to do a better job with this release. I've been watching and learning. I hope.

The first three books in the series.

Timing can be important for books this time of year. My former publisher, the one I reclaimed my rights from for this series, had scheduled each book to be released January first for four years in a row. Is that a good time? Are people pretty busy on that first day of the year. Hangovers? Bowl games? Parties? Resting before returning to work the next day?

How about right after Christmas? All those new eReaders, tablets and other personal electronic devices are yearning for something to download. Why not one of my books? So is the Christmas season a good time to have a book released?

Or are people too busy from Thanksgiving until after the new year? Are potential readers spending their money on gifts for others and not buying books? Or can some good promotion convince them to spend a little on themselves?

Do you think a particular time of year is a good time to have a book released? What do you think of a holiday release? A New Year's Day release?

Oh yeah, I meant to say in this post, buy my books. See, I'm getting better at it.

If You Want Easy...

If you want easy, play Wheel of Fortune. If you want challenge, play Jeopardy.  Not every night, but many evenings, three or four members of our family sit down and watch Jeopardy on TV. My daughter cleans up on the art categories thanks to her AP art history class. My husband is a retired history teacher and has an unfair advantage. Most of the family has some sports knowledge and I specialize in science and health issues. It's fun and competitive, but it's not easy. None of us would beat any of the champions on our own, but we do pretty good as a team.

The challenge of the game is what makes it fun. Having played sports through most of my youth and young adulthood, the contests I remember are the ones where we had to work for victory. Getting to the top of a mountain is more rewarding than climbing the hill in my backyard.

This is my monthly pep talk to myself.  Being a successful writer will be that much more fulfilling for the struggle I've endured to get there.  It's not easy to write a novel.  It's hard work to edit and edit and edit it.  It's time consuming to promote and build a platform.  For me, coming up with stories and plots is the only easy part of the process I find easy. The rest is work, hard work.  But hopefully the end product makes it worthwhile.

What part of the writing process is easy for you? Do enjoy the challenge of the business or does it overwhelm you at times?

Game Plan

Excitement is slowly growing.  The countdown is starting in my head.  Beyond the Gate, Book #2 in The Futhark Chronicles, will be released January 1st.  There is so much to do.  This week I'm doing a final read through and kudos to my publisher.  I'm a third of the way through and have found only one typo. 
I had a little phone conference last week about promotion with the Paul and Bridgett from Medallion.  They gave me some great ideas and answered tons of questions for me.  I put some things together already and am working on a few more.

One of the first things I'm working on is a blog tour.  I've never done one though I've visited the blogs of many fellow writers in support of their tours.  One of my questions was when to start it.  Right before the release of my book?  Right after?  How many blogs?

Another thing I've finally set up was my author page on Amazon.  I'm still working on my page for Barnes and Noble online store and Goodreads.  I wonder if anyone ever visits those.  Will it bring me more readers, more sales?

I also have a few short stories in the works I'll be offering for free in various places.  I'm rather excited about the two I've started.  Both are prequels to The Keepers of Sulbreth and will delve deeper into the events that shaped a few of the secondary characters in The Futhark Chronicles.  I know people who've read the first book in the series will be interested in the short stories but will such things draw in new readers?

I'm also compiling a list of reviewers and hoping I can place this second book with more of the fantastic bloggers who regularly review books.  Many of them have hundreds of followers.

I read every blog I find on promotion and networking.  I've read the posts of many talented authors and agents but I'm still unsure if anything I'm doing is reaching prospective readers or only other authors.  Have you found any of the above mentioned promotional plans particularly successful as an author?  Have you discovered or investigated a new author from any of the promotional gambits mentioned? 

Book Signings: Victory or Crash and Burn?

Tomorrow I'll be going to my fourth ever booksigning. Currently only three of my books are in published and I'm still waiting on my author copies of one of those. So I'll only have two books available for this signing, The Greater Good and The Lesser Evil. A Ruthless Good is also out in print, but I haven't received any copies yet.

This is my first book signing involving my fellow Pennwriters and at an outdoor venue. I'm quite excited about the expected crowd and hopeful I'll see better sales than at my previous signings. So today I'm packing my 'stuff' with cautious optimism. I'm driving an hour and a half to reach the farmers' market in Hellertown, PA. At the least, I would like to earn my gas money back and hand out lots of promotion material.

I'm using the boxes my sons brought home from their college bookstore orders. The sturdy cardboard boxes were constructed to hold textbooks and have handles so they're perfect. But I have many more things to organize and stow in some handy-dandy carry baskets. I have some bookplates a friend in CPRW had made for me. I have the beaded bookthongs I designed and made myself. I sell them for four dollar apeice or give them away with a book purchase. It's a good deal. Then I have postcards/book markers from Vista print with my book covers and website information on front and back. Of course, I need my pens and my sales record book. Then is my little tin with mints in, not chocolate since we're outside, that I'll sit out if there's room on the table. I'm gathering one and five dollar bills from my husband and children so I have change to give to all those happy customers.

I'll pack a bottle of water or two and some Rolaids for my heartburn. It always shows up at these events. What am I forgetting? What clever ideas will I learn from my fellow authors as they do their brand of promotion? Any suggestions on what else I might need?

Promotion Dollars

I was quite excited this week when I googled my forthcoming book from Medallion Press, The Keepers of Sulbreth, and found the retail catalog they send to booksellers online. I've heard they do a great job with it from someone who works in a bookstore. On my books page in the publication, the promotion my publisher will do for the book was listed. Among the venues listed were the online and print editions of Publishers Weekly. There were a few more places where they will promote my book upon its release. How thrilling for me.
My romances are published by wonderful small publishers who deal mainly in ebooks. All the cost of promotion are my own. With no advance how do I decide how much I should spend on promotion? This was especially true with the very first ebook I had published. I didn't know if my royalties would be in the thousands or the single digits. Yet if I didn't do any thing for promotion, I was assured of low sales numbers. And where could I turn for guidance? Even fellow authors are reluctant to talk about numbers when it comes to expenditures and profits.
Another difficulty is how to measure the effectiveness of my dollars spent. Sure I can check the hits to my website that come directly from a site where I'm doing promotion, but do those hits translate into sales? So far I've refrained from buying ads in major romance magazines like The Romantic Times. But with my first fantasy novel coming out next January, I'm tempted to join fellow authors in an ad appearing in the Realms of Fantasy magazine. Should I or shouldn't I?
It's a dilemma for sure. I wonder how authors in my situation decide what works, what doesn't and how do they decide how much to spend?

Back in the Day

I had comitted myself to doing a lot of promotion this weekend including updating my website. I only work on my website from my desktop. I also had some big plans of designing some business card size promotion for pre-ordering The Keepers of Sulbreth, now that it is on Amazon. I vowed to visit all my usual blog haunts everyday and perhaps discover a few more.
Well, Thursday my daughter and I were watching a Lifetime movie on demand, one of Nora's, while I visited some blogs, and Kapow! The ondemand movie went off and so did my internet. I thought it was minor clitch but after checking my desktop and my son's laptop I discovered we had no internet. Two hours later, three times getting cutoff, Verizon told me my router took a fatal dive. I was not happy. They promised to sent one right away but with the holiday that means I won't get it until Tuesday.
So here I am at Borders, checking my mail, doing a quick blog and thinking I'm wasting an entire weekend of promotional time. So, quite dangerously, I started thinking. Is the internet all there is to promotion? Is that all I can do? Isn't there more to promotion than blogging, yahoo groups and facebook/twitter? While at Borders, I picked up the newest copy of Realms of Fantasy. It's filled with glossy book ads. I know it can be expensive, but many authors use it to promote their fantasy and science fiction books. Other magazines such as Romantic Times offer another expensive venue for advertising. So I wonder, back in the day, before the internet, how did beginning authors get the word out about their books? I know some newspapers will run a small blurb, but what else it out there?