News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #47…
#258: New book release! You’ve already seen the excerpt (last Monday). Watch for the release—real soon now. With Teeter-Totter between Lust and Murder, I continue the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series.” The sleuths of The Midas Bomb and Angels Need Not Apply will embroil you in action and suspense yet again. As a mystery novel (my first), it is a dark probing into the nexus the crime underworld sometimes enjoys with the rich and powerful.
Chen is arrested for the murder of a senator in circumstances that seem to leave no doubt of her guilt, but Castilblanco helps prove her innocence. With this new crime novel, I continue the saga of your two favorite detectives as they and their companions fight the corrupting influence of the illegal weapons trade. You can read this book for free (and its companion book, The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan, also a 2013 release) by offering to write an honest review of the book for Amazon (or anywhere else, for that matter—see the note on reviewers’ responsibilities below)—query through my contact form at this website.
#259: 5-star reviews for some of my books! Thanks to Serenity for 5-star Amazon reviews of The Midas Bomb and Angels Need Not Apply. Also to Scott, for his review of The Midas Bomb, another 5-star review. To avoid the risk of mimicking Sally Fields in her now famous Academy Awards speech, let me just say that I take great pleasure in knowing that my writing brings enjoyment to some people. That’s why I write—for your enjoyment as a reader and my enjoyment in writing the books for you. Remember, the books mentioned here are just the first two in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” (see above).
Erstwhile reviewers—people who are willing to write an honest review of one of my books in exchange for a free copy—are always welcome at least until my miniscule budget per book runs out. Even better, if you buy and read one of my books for whatever reason, write a review—every review helps people understand the plot, characters, and settings, information that I cannot put into simple advertising blurbs. Of course, just telling your friends and relatives also helps! Moreover, if you drop me a note and say why you bought the book and why you like it, I’ll be happy to hear from you. Or, why you didn’t—maybe I just missed something. (This is a very subjective business—it’s hard to make every reader happy.)
#260: “Writers on the Move” series of guest blog posts. The Montclair Film Festival ended last weekend (see my review of it last Tuesday). I targeted some ads to the Festival audiences. I’m reporting on the results in Writers on the Move. Give me a few weeks to research the impact of these ads. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Will it make a difference in book sales and readers? Or, just increase the number of visitors to my website? I’ll be candid with the answers, no matter how painful.
#261: Recommended blogs and websites. I have a few listed on my “Join the Conversation” webpage, but I would like to talk here about some that get a bit deeper into the writing business, even if the discussions are a bit like the old hanging around the water cooler (i.e. fun as well as informative). Other necessary conditions to qualify here is that I have personally participated in discussions there (most of the time I’m just a lurker), and that the discussion is civil—too many discussion groups degenerate into shouting matches. Maybe that’s a sign of our times, but I don’t need any more helpings of ranting and raving. (Some discussion groups on social networking sites like FaceBook and LinkedIn reduce to this, if not to authors hawking their books.)
Poe’s Deadly Daughters—a blog for mystery lovers. Most of the participants are women, but these ladies can write. I’ve learned a lot about writing in general and mysteries in particular just by reading current and past blog entries. The general business of writing is also discussed. Men, swallow your misogynistic pride and visit this site.
The Kill Zone—hosted by eleven top mystery and thriller authors. This site’s main mission is outreach to fellow writers of suspense, but the discussion often crosses genres to cover issues related to the general business of writing. My poor eyes have trouble with the black background (why do people choose this?), but I’ve found the site entertaining and educational.
Nathan Bransford—this fellow’s blog features the big picture, giving fellow writers a balanced perspective on the general business of writing, whether self- or traditionally published. A good activity for any ex-agent when he or she realizes authors don’t need them so much anymore (especially newbies frustrated with traditional publishing), this site has a wealth of info—a bit hard to negotiate. I still haven’t progressed beyond the lurker stage here because of the wealth of information.
Preditors & Editors—I don’t always agree with the entries into this Angie’s List of services for writers, but it’s the first place you should check when you’re trying to check if a service is reputable. They diss Infinity Publishing, for example, but the only problem I’ve had with Infinity is cost, but if you’re still into pbook self-pubbing is a reasonable solution, especially when you consider the freebies that come with your book order (a professional cover, for example).
These sites should be on your favorites list, the first two for mystery and thrillers and the last two for general information. I don’t recommend or support blogs or websites that require you to be traditionally published, have so many Amazon reviews for your book, or establish a Google account (mostly an annoyance on the “personhood verification” part of some commenting software). You should avoid active participation in these and limit your visits to lurking.
#262: Other recommendations. There are newsletters ad infinitum (although they were more common before the web—remember those days?), but I follow just three. One, “The Book Marketing Expert Newsletter,” more focused on book marketing per se, is put out by Author Marketing Experts, run by Penny Sansevieri. You can subscribe right on their home page.
The second is Dan Poynter’s “Publishing Poynters.” Much of his newsletter is dedicated to Dan, but he also goes out of his way to re-post advice from other contributors as well as offering services to authors (like a chance to request reviews, for example). His humor section is always fun! Sign up at his website.
The third, “The Writers Network News,” is put out by Bobbie Christmas (love the name) and is a bit more general. Anyone can sign up for a free monthly issue of Bobbie’s newsletter, which is full of news, markets, and tips for writers, by going to www.zebraeditor.com and clicking on “Free Newsletter” at the top of the page.
For example, this month Bobbie offered the following tidbit: Don’t you hate to hear about all the free or inexpensive Kindle books, when you don’t own a Kindle? No problem! Download one of Amazon’s free Kindle apps to start reading Kindle books on all your devices. The Kindle app is available for every major smartphone, tablet, and computer. With the free Kindle reading apps, you can buy a Kindle book once and read it on any device with the Kindle app installed. For more information, see Amazon.
Now this is right on Amazon, but I never saw it before. Bless Bobbie for bringing it to my attention. While Nook owners still might complain that they don’t have a file appropriate to their e-reader, if they have any of the mentioned devices, they can still read your .mobi files from Amazon. I’m tempted to forego old Smashwords and focus on Amazon. What do you think?
#263: Speaking of blogs…. A major discussion point in many book blogs and discussion groups last week was Patterson’s call for government bailout of the publishing industry. I loved Todd Ritter’s piece in Algonquin Redux where he states: “James Patterson bemoaning the state of the publishing industry is a bit like King Midas bitching about a gold shortage.” Mr. Patterson’s writing factories bring in close to $100 million per year.
I’ve written in this blog about the government’s “too-big-to-fail” bailout policies that saved many Wall Street banks (but not all of them) and the Detroit auto industry. Maybe Patterson is thinking of his own writing enterprises, which, when scaling previous government bailouts to the publishing industry, he wants to be in that too-big-to-fail category. (For more info, just google “Patterson’s publishing industry’s bailout,” and you will have more than you want on this topic.)
In libris libertas….
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