Creating Interesting Characters

Happy Wednesday Scribblers, I hope you all had a great week. This week I thought we could talk about creating interesting book characters. Creating interesting characters is one of the most important aspects of writing a novel or a short story, especially in queer fiction. I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve read where the characters are bland and have absolutely nothing to offer the reader. Our characters are the ones who drive the plot, engage the readers, and make the story come alive. These are the people we need to cheer for and if don’t feel anything for them, then the book becomes drudgery to read. But how do you create characters that are not only believable but also memorable and original? Here are some tips to help with character development.

1. Start with a character archetype

A character archetype is a typical or universal pattern of behavior that represents a certain type of person in a story. For example, the hero, the villain, the sidekick, the mentor, etc. Archetypes help you define the basic personality, goals, and motivations of your character, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. You can use archetypes as a starting point, but don’t limit yourself to them. You can mix and match different archetypes or create your own unique ones. This is especially helpful when you are creating queer characters. You don’t want to land on stereotypes that can turn off your reader.

2. Give the character some flaws

No one is perfect, and neither should your characters be. Flaws make your characters more realistic and relatable, and they also create conflict and tension in your story. Faults can be physical, psychological, emotional, moral, or social. They can be minor quirks or major weaknesses that affect the character’s actions and decisions. For example, a character might be clumsy, stubborn, insecure, greedy, or impulsive. These shortcomings can also be sources of growth and change for your character throughout the story. I find this is really helpful in ensuring I don’t have perfect characters. I will even do this for my background characters.

3. Define the character’s goals and motivations

Every character, queer characters included, needs a reason to exist in your story. What do they want? Why do they want it? How do they plan to get it? These are the questions that define your character’s goals and motivations. Goals are the specific outcomes that your character desires or needs to achieve. Motivations are the underlying reasons or forces that drive your character to pursue their goals. These goals and motivations create stakes and urgency in the story, and they also reveal a lot about your character’s personality and values. What’s nice is these goals and motivations don’t always have to do with the plot of your story. You can treat them as significant as you want for the story.

4. Describe the character’s history

Your character’s past shapes their present and future. Their history includes their background, upbringing, education, relationships (good and bad), experiences, traumas, achievements, etc. All these factors influence your character’s worldview, beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, skills, fears, hopes, dreams, etc. You don’t need to write a detailed biography for every character, but you should have a clear idea of their history and how it affects them in the story. I also suggest that you keep a file on each of your characters with all this information for easy reference.

5. Allow the character to be vulnerable

Vulnerability is the ability to show one’s emotions and feelings without fear of judgment or rejection. And this is incredibly important for our characters, especially our Main Characters. It is also the willingness to take risks and face challenges despite uncertainty or potential failure. Vulnerability makes your characters more human and sympathetic, and it also creates opportunities for growth and change. To make your characters vulnerable, you need to put them in situations where they have to face their fears, doubts, insecurities, regrets, etc., and where they have to open up to others or themselves. I find this really important when I’m writing any kind of relationship.

6. Make your character a bit unpredictable

Predictability is boring. If your readers can always guess what your character will do or say next, they will lose interest in them and the story. To avoid this problem, you need to make your character a bit unpredictable. This doesn’t mean that you have to make them act randomly or illogically; rather, you have to make them act in ways that surprise or challenge the readers’ expectations. For example, you can make your character do something heroic or vulnerable; reveal a hidden secret or talent; change their mind or opinion; make a mistake or fail; etc. Adding in unpredictability to your characters is a lot of fun. I love doing this in my stories.

7. Do your research

If you want to create realistic and interesting characters and I cannot stress this enough, especially for queer characters, you need to do some research on the topics that relate to them. Or talk to people who live the life of your character. For example, if your character is a lawyer, you need to know how the legal system works; if your character is a musician, you need to know how music is composed and performed; if your character is from another culture or time period than yours, you need to know how people lived and behaved in that context; etc. Research can help you avoid stereotypes and clichés, and it can also provide you with inspiration and details that enrich your characters and your story. I find this helps me discover what a character’s vulnerabilities, goals and motivations are.

8. Steer clear of the biggest character development mistake

The biggest character development mistake is creating flat or static characters who don’t change or grow throughout the story. This can happen a lot. The more time you spend in fleshing out your characters at the beginning, the more interesting and exciting your characters become as you write their story.

Well, there you go. Here are eight ways to create interesting book characters. Did I leave anything out? Want to add to the list, let me know in the comments below. Until time have a great week.

Cover Art

Happy Wednesday Scribblers. How is your day going? You all hanging in there? I thought today would be a good day to talk about cover art and cover design. There are some authors, and for the life of me I don’t understand, that don’t pay any attention to the covers that are used for their books. I’m not saying this is all authors. In fact, I have a feeling it’s only a small minority, but lately I’ve seen some awful covers. I don’t know if these terrible designs have to do with the sheer number of self-published books out there, but dear lord, if these books are being pushed out by publishing houses, then they should be ashamed of themselves. Especially with all the wonderfully talented graphic artists and designers to pick from.

I’m not going to share the bad covers I’ve seen, because what I don’t like someone may love.

However, consider this a public service announcement to all authors out there. If you are self-publishing your book, please pay attention to the cover. An amazing cover is one of the best ways to market and sell your book. Now, unless you are an extremely talented artist yourself, then pay to have something professionally done. Book covers tend to start at $50 (US) and go up from there. I’ve seen some wonderful covers at this lower price point. However, like with all things the more you pay the better (and more customizable) the cover can be.

One sure fire way to ensure you have a great looking cover, is to do a search for the best cover art in your genre.  It’s amazing what will pop up and give you some great ideas. When it comes to cover design, really do your homework. If you spent months and years working on your book, then spending a week or two to find and acquire the perfect cover for your book is well worth the investment. Especially since this is your introduction to new readers. Everyone will judge your book by the cover, despite what we’ve all been told.

Here is a link to a cover designer, Sleepy Fox Studio, I’ve used in the past (and I’m not getting anything for this, I only wanted to share one resource out there, but there are several artists who can do wonderful cover art for your book) click here.

What are your thoughts on book covers? Do you care what the cover looks like? Have you ever been put off from buying a book because of the cover? Or worse, have you ever bought a book based on the cover then hated the book? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have a great week.

Guest Post - Three Ghosts by Kevin Klehr

Happy Wednesday Scribblers. Today I’m happy to have Kevin Klehr back to talk about crafting stories and how what might be a great idea may not work for your story. No matter how many times you rework the tale. Kevin uses the example of from his newest short story Three Ghosts. Which is out now.

My new short story, Three Ghosts, took four drafts to write. This is partly because I’m a perfectionist, and partly because an idea my husband suggested really appealed to me.

I’m one of those authors who loves to include plot twists. I’m a plotter and carefully work through my outline to throw my readers off course. So, when my husband, Warren, suggested a uniquely weird ending to this story, I naturally weaved his idea in. And as this is no longer the ending to the story, I can share it with you.

The story is about a ghostly couple, Tim and Carol, and their spirited gay friend, Alexander. Every time a shooting star is scheduled, they choose a house with the best vantage point to haunt, always making sure the residents aren’t home. But this time the inhabitants return unexpectedly, and they just happen to be Alexander’s ex-boyfriend and the ex’s new lover.

Toward the end of the second draft, Alexander is on Carol’s psychiatrist’s couch relaying the story we’ve just read. Neither are ghosts, and Alexander is under the illusion his other analyst is Carol’s husband, Tim. Carol tells him yet again she is not married. We also find out the story which was just presented has other twists.

The final scene features Alexander being analysed by Tim who also points out he is not married because Carol doesn’t exist, and that he is the only psychiatrist Alexander is seeing. Then more twists are uncovered.

In the third draft, I ditched the scene with Tim as the analyst and worked the final twists into the previous scene with Carol.

The problem was any version with characters suddenly turning into psychotherapists would have infuriated readers. I really wanted to make my husband’s idea work, and in a novel it could have. I would have dropped in moments where the real world would break in, leaving the reader guessing. But in a short story, playing with genre is risky.

The fourth and final draft has a sweet ending in line with this comedic short. Alexander is no longer suffering from delusions. And so far, one reviewer made a comparison to Noel Coward, and another loved the twists which are still in this story.

That’s the thing with storytelling. Readers come on a journey with you, and any detour you throw in must be carefully considered.

Thank you Kevin for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. I can and will admit that I’ve had similar ideas for stories I’ve worked on, however, I agree Readers would not be happy no matter how clever we think we are as writers. you can pick up Kevin’s new short story here. To learn more about Kevin and his writing you can find him here. Until next time have a great week.

Five Tips on Character Creation

Happy Wednesday Scribblers. I hope you are all having a wonderful week despite all the bad news. It seems things keep getting darker and darker. I have to believe the light will come soon. I hope we can all hang in there until then. This week I wanted to share a new writing tip with you. I realized I haven’t shared any writing tips in a while and I figured today would be a good day to do so. This week I want to share my five tips on character creation. Keep in mind this is going to vary for everyone, but these are my tips that I use for all my characters, when I’m starting a new story. Or, sometimes, I discover I need an additional character in the story I’m working on.

Let’s jump into it:

  1. Create a bio for your character. Think about all the general things that are important for your character. Name. Date of birth. Age. Astrological sign. Where they work. What their education was like. How old they are? What do they do in their free time? What scares them? What is their religion? Are they religious? Did they have a terrible experience with their faith? Do they have any goals? Giving your characters some goals is always a good thing. It makes the character more three dimensional and gives you an opportunity to either help them with their goals throughout the story, or makes them reevaluate the importants of their goals. Is your character likeable? Are they kind?

  2. What do they look like? Often what I will do is find an image on line of what I think the character may look like. An actor. A model. Even a cartoon character (I know weird, but true). If you don’t want to find an image, then describe the characters and write it all down; eye-color, hair-color, height, weight, do they wear glasses, are they fat, are they thin, etc. The more details you can write up about your characters appearance, the more real that character will become to you. This also has the added benefit of giving you actions you can do with your character as you write. If they wear glasses, you can have them take them off, put them on, etc. If they are thin or overweight, you might have them play with their clothes as they may not fit right. If they are tall, you might have them hit their head. If they are short, they might not reach things.

  3. Describe their family. Are their parents alive? Are their parents dead? Do they have siblings? Do they have an extended family? What about Grandparents? Is their family religious? Does the lack of faith or too much faith cause tension in the family?

  4. Where are they from? What is their race/nationality? This will help you figure out how they speak and if they have any kind of accent. This will also tell you how the world responds to them. People don’t always treat foreigners very well. So, if your character isn’t a local, then you have that to play and work with. Also, when it comes to how they speak, if they have an accent this will give you a chance for variation in your dialog.

  5. This last one may not be hugely important for everyone, but I find it helpful with my character's creation. What is your character’s sexual orientation and identity? It may never come into play, but it is another opportunity to learn about your character and figure out how the world interacts with them.

Bonus: I find it helpful to create a character sheet for each of my main characters. That way I can easily pull it up as I’m writing the story. I can also, quickly, add to it as the need arises.

Those are my five tips and one bonus tip on creating and getting to know your characters in your story. I hope this helps. Also, if you are looking for more writing tips, check out these past blogs. I chalked them full of advice and helpful tips and tricks:

Events (What you didn’t know, you need to know)

Creating Audiobooks – Why and How?

Writing Process and How Writing Works… For me Now.

What it’s like being an author in a small publishing house?

What I Look for When I’m Judging Books for Book Awards.

Book Editing; Overly Used Words, Filtering and Filler Words.

Word Police and Word Censorship.

What is the Hardest part about Writing a Book – The Marketing.

Well Scribblers that is all I have for now. I really hope you found this all helpful. Let me know if you have any character creation tips in the comments below. Until next time have a great week.

Events (What you didn’t know, you need to know)

Happy Wednesday Scribblers. Well, we’ve done it. We are back to attending local and distant events. It’s been wonderful to get out there and see people, make contacts, sign and sell books, and have fun. Over the last couple of months, I’ve been to a few local events with plans for more to come. Today, I wanted to talk about all the things authors need to know, when we plan for, and go to events. 

These are some fun pics from the events I’ve been at. 

As some of you may know, in my former life I did international and domestic events for a high-tech company. It was fun, but it’s a lot of work. So today I thought I would share what I’ve learned and forgotten about doing an in-person event. Keep in mind this is my experience, so what works for me may not work for you and your group. That said, look at all this information as suggestions and tips and tricks to help you out. 

Congratulations! You’ve decided to get back out there and go to a local book event, festival, book signing, etc. Here are some things to plan for and consider. 

Pre-Event: 

  • Create a Check List!!!!!!

  • Get yourself some business cards

  • Make a bookmark with all your social media info on it (you can use this as a free giveaway)

  • Depending on where you live and what you are doing, ensure you have a business license. This is important and easy to get from your local government. Also, depending on the city you are going to, you may need to get a seller’s permit for the day of the event. Some festivals will help you with this, but most don’t and it’s up to you to ensure you have everything you need in case the event management staff come by and ask you to show proof. It’s a pain in the butt, but a necessary evil. Luckily this doesn’t cost a lot, it’s more of a time suck.

  • Get yourself some bins or boxes to carry your books and all your stuff?

  • Get yourself a trolley or a cart so you can easily bring everything to your booth in one trip. Don’t have a cart get something like this (click here).

  • If you have a newsletter? Bring something so folks can sign-up to join.

  • When it comes to payments, people are leaning more towards Venmo and PayPal. Make sure you have QR Codes (you can get this from their apps, download the app if you haven’t already) for people so they can scan and pay you.

  • People use cash, so make sure you can make change.

  • Get yourself a cashbox or a flip binder to keep the cash in (or your pocket works too).

  • Keep your book pricing simple. Round up to the nearest dollar so you don’t have to fuss with change. Also, price your books to include tax so you don’t have to figure that out. For example, I sell my books at $15 and $20 and this price includes tax.

  • If you plan on taking credit cards, make sure you have everything you need to do that (Square works well and works with your cell phone, so it’s easy).

  • If you don’t have one, create an elevator pitch about your writing and your books. Here is an example of mine:

M.D. Neu is an award-winning Queer author of Sci-Fi, Urban Fantasy, and Paranormal stories who wants to tell epic tales that reflect our diverse world.

All stories are based on ‘What ifs’

All stories take place in the Bay Area

All stories have a diverse cast of characters

 Now for your Books:

  • Okay, so here’s the thing I’ve learned. You won’t have any idea what people will want to read, so if you are going to be there on your own, take all your books (5–10 of each depending on how many books you offer). If you have a book series, bring more of the first book in the series because folks will buy that (and maybe all the books in the series, but typically they will start with book one). Now also regarding your books, if you are going as part of a group, think about the others who will be there. You don’t want to be a space hog, so make sure you don’t make the group space all about you and your books. As authors, we need to support each other and help one another. A potential reader may not be interested in what you write, but they may really love something that the others in your group write, so talk them up. Because what goes around comes around and you’ll want them to do the same for you.

  • If you are going to a specific type of festival or conference, bring books that are in that genre, but bring some of your other works as well because people read more than one kind of book. 

Your Booth:

  • When displaying your books, invest in some book stands. Here is a link where you can find tons of different types get what fits your budget and will work for you. As part of the book display, invest in a tablecloth (or bring one from home) solid colors work best.

  • For each of your books, create a slip sheet that you can stick into the top of the book for folks to read (about a sentence or two), this way they don’t have to read the back cover if they don’t want to. This should be a teaser. Something to get them interested, but not bog them down. Here is an example of one of mine:

The world is changing quickly for Chris now that he’s part of the Immortal Community. The events of his past are finally behind him. But, true magic is gradually taking hold in the world and nothing in the Immortal community is what he thought. Now enemies must work together and longtime friends may not be trustworthy. Who is lurking in the shadows? What does this mean for witches, immortals, and humans?

  • Depending on the setup (if you are going to be outside) bring a canopy. Being out in the sun all day is rough and you’ll appreciate the shade. If you’re inside, a canopy can be a nice way to stand out.

  • If you have a banner or can get one, bring it, but you will also need twine or rope to hang it up (assuming that’s allowed).

  • A free-standing banner or sign is a nice marketing piece to have if it’s in your budget, but you don’t need one.

  • Swag. People love free stuff. You probably can’t bring candy or food (check with the event organizers) but buttons, pens, bookmarks, business cards, cards with a free download of your book, info cards about you and your books, you’ll be surprised what people will pick up and take away.

  • Clipboard. You want it to be easy for people to sign up for your newsletter.

  • Pens. Lots of pens (see the above about people taking stuff) It’s even better if your pens are branded.

  • If you plan on giving away anything or hold a contest, have a flyer with that information. You should put it into a plastic stand of its own so it doesn’t get messed up and people can easily see it.

Additional Items to make your long day better:

  • Wear comfortable shoes and clothes. You’re going to be on your feet 8–10 hours, so you want to be comfy.

  • Bring water and snacks. If you are there on your own, you’ll want to come prepared, even if you go with a group water and snacks are a big plus.

  • Bring a box, bag, or bin with these things; pens, pencils, tape, larger binder clips (to keep your table cloth from blowing away), paperclips, notepad, labels to price your books, extension cord (in case you can plug in for power), bandages, aspirin or Tylenol, markers, and any other small thing you think you may or may not need.

  • Smile and talk to people. This is hard, especially after a long day, but people won’t come up and talk to you if you aren’t engaging with them or smiling. Think about when you go to a store. Do you go up to clerks who aren’t smiling or look like they are too busy to ‘see’ you? You want to present as open and as welcoming persona as you can. Practice in the mirror. Trust me, it’ll help.

  • Be prepared to talk to media. Create a press kit for yourself on the off chance the media stops by and wants to chat. This does happen, so be prepared. Not sure what to put in a media kit check out this page here, this is what I have in mine.

  • We all want to sell all our books, but prepare yourself for the reality that you might not sell any books. This happens, which sucks, especially after all the money and effort you put into the event. Take a breath and remember you are doing this for the exposure.

  • Bring a charging rod or brick for your cell phone (especially if you are going to use your devise to take payments).

If you are going with a group of authors here are some things to keep in mind:

  • Try to set up shifts (2 – 3 hours) and have no more then 4 or 6 people in and around the booth at any one time. You don’t want it to look crowded. Sometimes having two people in the booth and two people outside the booth to talk to people works well.

  • Have an elevator pitch for each of the authors who are going to be in the booth so you have a cheat sheet for when you are talking to potential readers.

  • Break down all the books by genre and not by author (unless you want to) this way you can direct people to the genre they like to read and that way they can see all the book on offer.

  • Use your time outside the booth to go around and talk to other authors or vendors. Or go and get some food. Breaks are nice and it’s good to get away from the booth, if you can.

  • Don’t be selfish, you are there to as part of a team, put in the same amount of effort you want others to put in for you. If you need a break fine take it, if you don’t like talking to people, then see what else you can do to help. If you are there and only taking up space then consider doing your next event solo, because no one will want to do another event with you.

  • On the flipside, don’t make yourself a nuisance and don’t make the booth all about you. Step back and give others a chance to spotlight their work and talk to people. When you are in a group setting you all need to be there to support one another.

  • Most importantly come early and help set up, or if you can’t come early plan on staying late to help tear down and clean up. This really helps out.

This is not by any means a complete list of do’s and don’ts. What works for me may not work for you and all events are different. The above info is to help you think through all that goes into an event. They can be a lot of fun, but they are a lot of work (both before, during, and after) I hope this information helps, until next time, have a great week and Happy Pride 2022.

Creating Audiobooks – Why and How?

Happy Wednesday Scribblers. Over the last two years, I’ve taken one of my novels, T.A.D.-The Angel of Death, and two of my short stories, The Reunion and A Dragon for Christmas and had them converted into audiobooks (find them here). Typically, in larger publishing houses, this is something they will work with you on. Even my publisher NineStar Press will assist authors with turning their books into audiobooks. However, for many reasons, I went through the process alone and working through ACX I’ve launched three of my stories with three more in the works, all to be released this year. Today I thought I would share the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ as to creating these audiobooks on my own.

The ‘why’ has multiple layers, but the crucial factors to me taking on the process on my own, came down to three things; economics, timing, and choices. From the economic standpoint, if I were to have gone through NineStar Press to have my audiobooks created, there would be another party to split the already minimal royalties with: ACX, the narrator, NineStar Press, and me. That isn’t bad if you are selling thousands or tens of thousands of audiobooks. However, since my books and now my audiobooks don’t sell in those numbers yet, what I would have lost in royalties didn’t seem to make financial sense.

The next reason for me producing the audiobooks on my own is because of timing. As I’ve learned, working with a publishing house, books and audiobooks (and translations), takes time. A lot of time. And I wanted to see if I could speed up the process by publishing my audiobooks on my own. At first, I wasn’t planning on releasing my books on my own and I worked with my publisher to release them. However, because of many factors, the process dragged on and on. At first, I wasn’t getting any auditions (this took about three months) then we tried again and still no auditions (another three months). Finally, I found a narrator who would produce/narrate my story (The Calling), however there were issues. Leading to my third reason for producing my audiobooks on my own; Choice.

After searching for a year to find a voice actor to produce/narrate my first book The Calling, I found a talented, wonderful person to voice the story, however, because he couldn’t work under a Royalty Share contract (more on that later) so I couldn’t use him, if I went through NineStar Press. Disappointing for sure, as he was the only person to show any interest in doing the project. I ended up asking my publisher if I could produce the audiobooks on my own so I could use this talented person. They said yes. I took back my rights for my audiobook production and went to work on getting these audiobooks out there.

Hold up!

Stop the Presses!

Where is The Calling, you’re asking? We don’t see it as published yet, and you’ve been talking about this audiobook for what seems like years? Yes, that is correct, The Calling has taken a long time, this is for a variety of reason; first it sat waiting for auditions (about a year) and now it’s been sitting in production for a year. The reason for the delay in The Calling’s release is complicated, but the root causes have been the pandemic and other medical issues (all out of my control).

Now let’s jump over to the ‘how’. Creating an audiobook seemed, at least to me, to be a simple process. One, you find a narrator. Two, the narrator creates the audiobook. Three, you review the audiobook. Four, you launch the audiobook. Five, you collect the royalties. That isn’t quite correct. It’s not far off, but there are a lot of other steps involved.

When I started the process with The Calling using ACX (find out more here) I had the producer/narrator I wanted, which was a big help. Still, I had to figure out the basics of how to navigate ACX and what the steps were. Now, keep in mind there are other options to produce audiobooks Findaway Voices is another option (learn more here) but for me I went with ACX because they release the audiobooks on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes, which is where a majority of people get their audiobooks, plus the cost were minimal. Now, with ACX, there are four different options for production/narration of an audiobook; Pay for Production, you pay the producer/narrator for their work and you own everything once they deliver the product and you pay them (this is a costly way to go some producers charge anywhere from $200-$400[or more] per finished hour, a book that is five longs would cost you $1000-$2000 as an example, but you earn 40% of the royalties and you don’t have to share that 40% with anyone); Royalty Share Plus, you pay the producer/narrator a certain amount per finished hour and then you split the royalties (this isn’t as costly but can still be expensive say you produce a five-hour audiobook at between $100-$200 per finished hour, that five-hour book would cost you $500-$1000, however you split the royalty 20% for you and 20% for the narrator/producer); next you have Royalty Share, you pay the producer/narrator nothing up front, however you split the royalties 20% for you and 20% for them. Last, you can narrator the book yourself. You provide the audio files to ACX and you will earn the 40% royalties.

You will also need to pick whether you want to be exclusive through ACX or go wide. This will affect your royalties (typically taking them from 40% to 25% for non-exclusive, but the hope is you will sell more to make up the difference).

Okay, that was a lot, I know, but it gives you an idea of the choices you have with ACX for the production cost. For me I’ve gone two routs; I did the Royalty Share Plus (for The Calling) and I’ve done Royalty Share for T.A.D.-The Angel of Death, The Reunion, and A Dragon for Christmas.

Each of the options have their pros and cons, mainly your selection of producers/narrators. The more you pay, the more options you have in selecting a producer/narrator. I believe this held up finding a producer/narrator for The Calling, NineStar Press will only do Royalty Share, so the first two options weren’t available for me.

Once you decide on how you are going to compensate your producer/narrator, you then ensure you have the rights to create the audiobook by claiming the title in ACX. If all goes well, this should be easy. However, for me I had to contact NineStar Press and have them release the books so I could claim them under my pen name.

After you claim your books, you can post your book so it becomes available for producers/narrators to view in ACX search results. This is when the fun begins, because this is when you can select what kind of person you are looking for to produce/narrate your book. There are a lot of options.

Regarding The Calling, I wanted a younger male in his early thirties. For T.A.D.-The Angel of Death, I needed a male voice actor who could sound youngish and oldish as the story crosses a lifetime. With The Reunion, I wanted a man who could sound over the top flamboyant and serious. For A Dragon for Christmas, I needed a Latinx woman who could voice a young girl and end up as a young woman. Then, with Contact-A New World Book One, I needed an actor who had a vast range in vocals who could make three unique characters come to life and give a large group of supporting characters a set of unique voices.

After you go through these first steps, you then need to upload a script for the producer/narrator to read from. This can be the first chapter of your book, but if you have multiple point-of-view characters, create something so you can hear what the actor does with your characters. I did this for Contact-A New World Book One. I pulled a chapter from near the end of the book where all three of my point-of-view characters share a scene for the actor to audition from.

Once you post the script (and any additional details about the story for the actor to help them with the narration) you wait. This is also the place where you share with the producer/narrator how you plan to market the audiobook. This information helps you find the right person and hopefully someone who will also help market the finished product.

Auditions may take time to arrive, but you can speed this process along by going searching for ACX producers/narrators and sending them a message (assuming you like their samples) to audition for you. With the auditions you receive, you decide who you want. For me, this was pretty easy. I had specific voices in mind for my characters, so I waited to find the right voice (or a voice close to what I imaged) and went from there.

With your narrator selected you make them an offer (this is all the contract information that I’m not going over), but this is where you both sign your life’s away (or at least seven years, depending on which type of production you chose, i.e. Pay for Production, Royalty Share Plus, Royalty Share, or Do It Yourself). This is also where you agree on the timeline for the audiobook.

After the contracts are agreed on, this is when you upload the story and create your chapters and sections (if you are lucky ACX can typically pull this information from the book posted on Amazon). All you’ll have to do is verify the information is correct and maybe add or delete something that is wrong or missing.

Part of the contract includes a 15-minute sample, which gives you the option to see if the producer/narrator and you agree on the performance and you like what they are doing. This is also the time when you and actor work out all the kinks in character development. I found this fun. I spent a lot of time with my narrators on the characters and the story.

Chapter reviews come next. After each chapter is uploaded by the producer/narrator, you get to review the section, ensure the work sounds good, and there are no mistakes. This is a step you do not want to skip, as I’ve found several minor mistakes not only in the narration but in the writing. Now is the time they get fixed, so the story, when being told, sounds good. This also gives you and the actor a chance to hammer out character moments and voice nuances.

Are you still with me?

We’re almost finished.

Once all the chapters are loaded, do another review of the whole audiobook to ensure it sounds the way you want and flows smoothly from chapter to chapter. This is also the time to upload your cover art. You can do this at anytime once the audiobook is under contract, so the sooner the better, because ACX has to approve the cover design. Here I made the choice to go with my current covers (to keep the branding the same) which means I needed to pay NineStar Press for the updated audiobook covers (sadly you can’t use the same format cover you already have for your eBook or paperback, plus you need to include the narrator’s name, so for me having NineStar Press do this made sense) the cost was minimal and, for me, worth it.

As you roll to the finish line, if you haven’t been already thinking about the audiobook launch, you need to. Once you and the producer/narrator complete the audio files and once you pay the producer/narrator (assuming you did Pay for Production or Royalty Share Plus) the audiobook goes to final review by ACX. This can take up to a month (or so they say). Unfortunately, you don’t get a heads up when the audiobook is released, they will send you an email letting you know the book is now live this makes planning the launch a challenge, but what I did was contact some different marketing folks and set up launches after the fact, which worked out pretty well. I also contracted several reviewers. ACX gives you promo codes you can share with reviewers, which is helpful. You get 50 promo codes (both US and UK) per title and you can get more once you sell a certain number of audiobooks.

Here are a couple of places you can get audiobook reviews, but read their policy and procedures carefully:

Free Audiobook Codes: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/

AudioFile: https://audiofilemagazine.com/contact/

Audiobook Reviewer.com: https://www.audiobookreviewer.com/abr-services/expedited-revew-lk74b

The Audiobook Blog: https://theaudiobookblog.com/contact/

Dab of Darkness Book Reviews: https://dabofdarkness.com/about/

Audiobook Promos – For Authors & Readers of All Genres: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1014732691885069

Now that you have the audiobook finished, launched and out there, finally you get to sit back and collect the royalties. Assuming the audiobook sells, which means you need to keep up the marketing.

I hope this information helps with any questions you may have about the audiobook process. Keep in mind this isn’t everything and there are a lot more details that I didn’t dive deeper in. Overall the process, for me, has been positive and pretty cost affective. That’s it for this week. Until next time have a wonderful week.

Writing Process and How Writing Works… For me Now.

Happy Wednesday Scribblers, I hope you are having a pleasant week. Over the last several weeks, I’ve been working on several writing related projects. I’ve been doing auditions for my next audiobook. I’ve been listening to a current audiobook in production. I’ve been writing a couple of different articles that have been requested of me from some different online sites. I’ve been working with my author groups on planning some events for 2022. I’ve been finalizing some new promotional pieces. And the list goes on.

It’s an odd thing when you are working on unique items and see how your time splits between them, and it got me thinking about how things were at the start.

When I first started writing, I had the luxury of sitting back and working on a single story at a time. Once that one was finished, I would move on to the next one, while I put the first story through my writing group for critics and comments. That wasn’t quite how it always worked out. Sometimes I worked on a couple of manuscripts at once, but mostly, I worked on one story at a time. Now… that’s not how things work.

As an author, now with five books, two short-stories, three audiobooks, and two anthologies out, my writing time seems to drip away. Because you have to focus on addition writing related tasks. You have to work on editing. You have to work on marketing and PR. You have to work on getting your books turned into audiobooks (which I have four, five and six on the way). You have to engage with readers, plan reading events, work with other authors to grow your community. The list goes on. Everything I mentioned in one way or the other affects my writing process. Where I could once sit down and write a couple of chapters a week. I’m lucky if I get a chapter in a week. Sometimes it takes me a couple of weeks or even a month to get a chapter finished.

I’m not complaining and I love working on my author business and brand, but I miss the days of having characters come forward and say hello and start telling me their stories. It still happens, just not as much.

Additionally, and much to my dismay, I haven’t been adding general characters to my trunk of characters for future stories, which is a shame because I love that process. If you don’t understand what I mean. There was a time when I could sit down and write general characters bios and save them for later use. When I would need a character for a story, I could go to my ‘trunk’ and pull one out for use. It was a great way to have characters ready to go when I need them.

I still have characters packed away, but not near as many as I once had, and I haven’t added any in years.

These days, I have to schedule my writing times. I have to sit down with purpose and focus… okay, who am I kidding? I still get up in the middle of the night to write. Or I’ll get up early on the weekends and pump out a few thousand words. Then sometimes all I want to do is sit and work on my writing and my current story, letting everything else fall to side.

I love these days.

In the end. I still have novels coming out. I still manage to create and write whenever I have a free moment. And my characters still come and talk to me and tell me their tales. These characters of mine continue to even play nice when they aren’t getting the attention they deserve.

I think they understand better than I do. And they are a lot more forgiving than I am as well.

Overall, my writing process has both grown and changed over the years. Do I long for how simple things were at the start. Sure. That was a time of writing innocence for me. Now I’ve grown… dare I say matured, as has my writing and my author life. Perhaps someday, when I have a catalog of books out there as long as my arm, I’ll be able to pass on some of these more mundane tasks to an assistant or marketing professional and focus solely on my writing and creating new worlds for people to visit. That would be lovely. However, until that time, as I grow and move forward, so does my writing process and how it all works itself out. I guess it all a matter of juggling, where once it was only two balls, I seem to now have five or six. Who knew I could juggle?

Until next time, have a great week.

What it’s like being an author in a small publishing house?

Happy Wednesday Scribblers, I hope you are all doing well, and for those of you here in the US I hope you are looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday and the mad dash to Christmas and the New Year. With the end of 2021 fast approaching, I’m looking back at my writing career to date. I have so much to be grateful for and I’ve learned so much over the past few years. I thought I would share my experience and thoughts as an author from a small publishing house.

I started my official writing career in May 2017 with my first contract from NineStar Press. Getting that first contract was such an exciting time. I couldn’t believe the news. Someone other than my family and friends believed enough in my writing to want to publish my work. I still feel that way every time I get a new contract.

At that time, I had zero knowledge about the publishing industry. So, everything that happened after that first signing started my new education. Since then I’ve signed seven more contracts, and I’ve not only worked with NineStar Press, but with ACX (for my audiobooks) and with an additional publisher for a new short story that has been picked up to be part of a new anthology (more details on the short story and anthology coming soon). Also, I’ve worked with two different author collectives to self-publish two more anthologies. With each new contract and with each new book release, I’ve learned more and more about publishing. I’ve also created a list of things I like and I don’t like about the industry.

Being part of a small publishing house, you are expected to do a lot of work, not only writing, but you have to market your books, promote your books, advertise your books, find opportunities for you to showcase your work, spend a lot of time and money to build your following…

All these new tasks are daunting.

Everyone thinks that once you sign on the dotted line with a publisher, you are set; you get to sit back, write, and collect royalties. You get to go to a few interviews, maybe a book tour, but most of your time from then on will be you doing what you love… writing. That may be the case for some authors, but not the vast majority, including myself. Yes, I suppose you could just sit back and write, but don’t expect to make any money, unless you are lucky and hit the right mix of story and audience. As a member of a small indie publishing house you have to put in the work in or your much dreamed of writing career won't go anywhere. Small houses like NineStar Press do not have the resources for huge marketing campaigns or getting you on the speaking circuit. They don’t have people who will enter you in book competitions, get you on TV, radio, YouTube, or podcasts. In order to get into any of these things, finding these opportunities is up to you. Now they might have sources and they might point you in the right direction, but all the legwork that comes from you. Some, like NineStar, may even have a contract source for a book marketing professional, but even these services can be limited.

As an example, I was looking into going to Saints and Sinners (Saints and Sinners is a LGBTQIA literary festival held in New Orleans each year). Several authors who I’ve spoken with have said is a wonderful event and worth going to if you can. Eric and I looked into going and for the three-day event we were looking at a cost of about $3,000, and there are no guarantees that I would see any kind of return on investment, other than making contacts and getting to know people (which isn’t a bad thing). Going to this event is on hold for this year.

Keep in mind that is one event, and there are many book events throughout the year. Currently, I’m looking for literary events closer to home.

Because NineStar is a small publishing house, there is no way they could cover these costs, not only for me, but for any of the authors in their catalog, nor would I expect them to. Still, it would be nice.

What’s a small publishing house to do?

The advice all authors get is to keep writing and reading, build up your backlog of books. That is the only way to get better royalties and with better royalties comes the opportunity to afford to go to literary festivals like Saints and Sinners. Another must get those reviews. Reviews equal exposure and the exposure turns into money. This is why you’ll see authors begging for readers to review their works (myself included). When it comes to reviews, remember the author is not the only one looking for reviews. There are thousands of authors out there and there are only a limited number of reviewers. Some publishers will have a list of reviewers they work with, which is helpful. NineStar is building out that list, which will be a great help. However, finding review sites and people willing to review your work is mostly up to the author.

I have a small list of reviewers that I’ve created and with whom I contact when I have a new book out. Still, those few reviews aren’t enough. You need hundreds of reviews to be a blip on anyone’s radar.

Another avenue for authors to build a following and sell books is to get their works in all the local bookstores and libraries, this again is something the author has to do on their own, yes, the publisher will ensure your books are available for bookstores and library to buy, but as for getting your books into a local bookstore, that is up to the author. I have a list of LGBTQIA book stores I email and let know when I have a new book coming out. Some have been responsive, which is wonderful. Also, I have a list of local book stores who I contact as well, in hopes they will carry my books, or better yet, let me come and do a reading.

I’ve heard in large publishing houses they have people who will do this, which is wonderful. But again, small publishing houses don’t have that kind of capacity, which is a shame.

Being part of a small publishing house is a lot of work and with each new book title, you continue to learn more and improve on what you have already learned. As a small house author, you have to build up your network of followers and build opportunities for yourselves, because no one, not even the big five publishers are going to give you a pass on selling your work. Sure, they have more resources to do more, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t involved. I’ve heard having a book agent can help (but they will take a cut of your royalties) in all areas of marketing, but getting an agent, let alone a good, well-connected agent is challenging. I know authors who are much farther down the path of their author career with several more books out than me, who still can’t find an agent. Which is a shame because these authors are amazing.

Additionally, part of my publishing journey has included the realization that I have to spend a lot of my money to hopefully accomplish my dream of becoming a well-known career author. To date, I’ve spent more than I’ve earned… that’s right… let that sink in… as of the writing of this article, I’ve yet to turn a profit. That was something I never thought would be the case. This lack of profit is also why I have my full-time job and am lucky if I can publish one to two books a year (with the pandemic it’s been more like one book a year) which I will admit is frustrating as I have books written, but they are in the queue with my publisher.

Ah, that is another thing. As a small house published author, you have to have a lot of patience because publishing has its own time schedule. You may have two, three, five, ten books ready to go, but your publisher decides when they will be edited, proofed, have cover art created, and finally when they will be released. All decisions that are out of your hands, so patience is key. Patience is also something I’ve had to learn quite a bit of and I can admit to you all that I’m not a big fan. NineStar has offered to translate my books into Spanish, which is wonderful, however; patience. I have to wait for my turn for my books to be translated. I don’t how long this will take and I can’t even be sure having my works translated will ever happen (unless I pay for the translations myself). My problem is I’m used to working in a world where deadlines are created and we live and die by them. There are no delays. The world doesn’t stop moving for one reason or another. Work still has to be done and there are still expectation and obligations that must be met. Yes, there is some of that within these small publishing houses, but their time lines and their sense of urgency differ completely from what I’m used to or, if I’m honest, had hoped for. This isn’t one publishing house, this is the industry, even the big five, from what I’ve heard.

I don’t want you to read this and think that I’m not happy with being part of a small publishing house, because I’m grateful to them for the opportunities they have given me. I’m also grateful for the education I’ve gotten when it comes to publishing. Publishing is not as easy or as glamorous as you see in movies or TV. Being a published author means you have a lot of work ahead of you and you have to learn a lot, and become a lot if you want to make writing your career.

Given all that I’ve learned and all that I continue to learn. And all the hardships (which there have been many) being an author in a small publishing house hasn’t been bad. I can say I’ve enjoyed most of it. I’ve met great people and learned a lot. I can’t wait to see where this all goes and what else I’m going to learn. What do you think being an author for a small publishing house was like? Did you think it would be like this? Or did you have some other vision? I’d love to hear what you think.

That’s all for now. Until next time, have a great week.

What I Look for When I’m Judging Books for Book Awards.

Happy Wednesday everyone. I hope your week is going well. Over the past several years, I’ve been a book judge for multiple contests and believe me, I’ve read some outstanding books, sadly I’ve also read some not so great novels. Based on this experience, let me share with you what I look for when I’m judging books for a contest (this is completely different from reading for pleasure or even research).

To start, each book competition will have their own criteria for judging book entries. So, my suggestions and comments will be more general, to help you win awards and ensure you are presenting your best possible work.

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Categories. This seems simple, but honestly, putting your book in the wrong category is the biggest no-no I can give you. When you enter your novel in an award contest, make sure you submit your book to the correct category. For an example, if you write erotica. Enter your erotica book in an erotica category. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can enter the novel in Romance or, say, Sci-Fi, or Fantasy, or any other category (unless there is a sub-category for erotic stories like: Erotica-Fantasy). That is the quickest way for me, as a judge, to give you low marks. There are categories for a reason, so please do this for all your novels. If I’m planning on evaluating a fantasy story and you entered your Sci-Fi story in the fantasy section, I will not be a happy judge and you will end up with low marks.

My advice: check the category, recheck your story, ask a friend if they think your book belongs in the category you want to enter. If there are no categories that fit your book, then find another competition for your work. There are plenty or book competitions each year. Basically, don’t be lazy.

Editing. Okay, here’s the thing, we all make editing mistakes. If you have been a long-time reader of this blog, you know by now; spelling, grammar, and punctuation are a major hurdle in my writing. Believe it or not, each blog post has been edited and I use editing software to help catch mistakes. Still, there are major editing mistakes all over this blog (for me my blog is casual writing so I don’t sweat these mistakes too much). Errors happen and that’s fine, but if I’m reading your book for a competition and you didn’t take the time to have your manuscript edited (and this means professionally edited) then I’m going to nail you for that when I judge your book. If I can find mistakes in your work, then you clearly did not do any editing, and that is a big issue.

My advice: Self-publishing or traditional publishing or highbred… editing is key. Nothing will be 100% but do everything you can to ensure your product (yes, your book is a product and a piece of art) is as polished as possible. I may be more forgiving if you are self-published, but I will not give you a pass. And if your work is traditionally published, I’m really not going to give any slack. Basically, there is no excuse for sloppy work. Plus, you can find professional editors on line, always ask to see a sample of their work and ask them to provide you a sample edit of your work (one page or 500 words seems reasonable).

Novels, Novellas, and Short Stories. Know the difference. Pay attention to the length of your story. Novels are 50k words to 100k words, or 200 to 400 manuscript pages. Novellas range from 17,500 words to 40k words, or about 100 to 200 manuscript pages. Short Story length is always between 1,000 and 10,000 words, or roughly 3 to 30 manuscript pages. Why this is important is because as a judge I have certain expectation, if I’m reading Sci-Fi, mystery, fantasy, or urban fantasy stories I’m planning on something close to 100k words, if I’m reading romance I’m good with 50k – 70k words. I don’t want to read a Sci-Fi story that is only 10k words, unless I know ahead of time it’s a short story (which should be its own category). Submitting a short story or novella in a category that is clearly meant for longer books is a fast way to receive low marks.

There is nothing wrong with novellas and short stories. In fact, I love them, but they need to be entered in the correct categories and it’s up to the author to ensure that is the case.

My advice: Make sure you know what you are entering and what the expectations are. If you wrote a beautiful short story, enter your work in a short story contest, don’t enter the book in a category where you are up against full-length novels, chances are you won’t win. If the competition you want to enter doesn’t have a short story category, then look for another contest (there are plenty out there). You can also check in with the folks running the contest and see if they will add a short story category. They might not, but asking doesn’t hurt.

Write your story. There is nothing worse than reading a story that has been written solely for the mass market, but wants to be put up against other works that were created to tell a unique and different story. There is nothing wrong with mass market stories (again, I love them and I’ve judged several) and many of them are well worth an award. But if you’re writing a book for market, enter that novel in a contest designed for mass market books (there are several). Not all authors write the same thing, and many authors write stories reflecting their lives and their experiences. These works, in my opinion, are held to a different caliber in my mind, especially when I’m judging said works. We know the difference between a mass market book and something else, and I can assure you mass market books are judged differently and often much harder.

I don’t want to read about generic and interchangeable characters having generic and interchangeable stories. I want to read your story, something you created out of love. Mass market novels up against other works will get you nothing but low scores from me.

My advice: There are so many competitions out there why spam one contest with your work. If you write for market great, but maybe when looking for book award contests, find appropriate contests to enter. Personally, own voice stories rate and score so much better when I judge. Also, ask your friends, ask your publisher, ask your editor if they think your book would be a good entry for the competition you want to enter.

Know your audience: This is so important. If you write, as I do, LGBTQIA books, make sure you enter your queer fiction books in the correct contests. And conversely, if you write other types of stories, make sure you have entered your novel in the write category, don’t count on the contest organizers to sort this out. Many times, the organizers will kick back your book, or worse, enter the novel and let it fail. Yes, I’ve seen both. So, don’t risk putting your book in the wrong place.

My advice: Simple, pay attention to what you enter and don’t set yourself up to fail. Don’t rely on the contest organizers either, because they are busy and may miss something (it happens). As I’ve said, there are hundreds of book competitions out there. You can find the right fit for you and your masterpiece.

Here are a few lists of contests to look at (2021):

Reedsy. Click here.

The Novel Factory. Click here.

For LGBTQ books, do a Google search for: LGBTQ book competitions

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Wrapping this up. Keep in mind there are no right or wrongs when you write your story, but there are a lot of do’s and don’ts when it comes to a book award competition. Everyone believes their book is an award winner, and that may be the case, but if you want to save yourself a world of hurt (and plenty of money in entry fees) pay attention to what contest you enter. The most important piece of advice I can give you, and I hope you will take it to heart, is the ‘editing’. Nothing will do your work more harm than sloppy editing. Yes, professional editing isn’t cheap, however, you and your book are worth the investment. Good luck with your writing and your next book contest. I hope this information is helpful.

Well, that is all for this week. I hope you have a wonderful day and see you next time.

50 Amazon Reviews

Happy Wednesday Scribblers. Today I wanted to ask for your help. I’m trying to increase the number of reviews my books have on Amazon. Believe it or not, 50 reviews is a magic number for Amazon. But before I jump into that let me share a little something about book reviews and why they are so important.

Why are reviews so important to authors?

Many people believe that reviews for books (and reviews in general are not important or that no one actually cares about what you think of a product). That isn’t the case.

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When you write a review, you are helping others to decide if a product, or in my case my books, are something they will be interested in. They get to hear from someone other than the author or the publisher. They may not know you, but because you took the time to sit down and take a few minutes to talk about a product, they might buy they will trust you, because you are a non-interested party. You have nothing to gain or lose by leaving the review.

Leaving reviews provides honest feedback. For good or for ill, your voice matters. Research shows that people are more likely to write a review when they’ve had an ‘extreme’ experience (negative or positive). In these moments you can take the time to provide suggestions or feedback you get to say what you loved or didn’t like and ways to improve it. That said, we shouldn’t only write reviews when we feel strongly. We should take this time to share our thoughts no matter what, because if the feedback is constructive they will appreciate the review.

Think of a review as giving the product or author some love (sometimes tough love). We all want to know if our art is enjoyed, respected and appreciated. Sometimes what we’ve created hits the mark. So, let us know. Sometimes our works are way off base. Letting us know that too is important and shows you care. The only way for us to learn what works and what doesn’t is by our reviews. The more reviews we have, the better understanding we have as to what our fans and readers want from us.

Last, when you leave a review for a product (even a lukewarm review) you help get the products noticed given the work a chance to be seen by more people, and hopefully enjoyed by more people.

Now, why 50 reviews on Amazon? Here’s the thing with Amazon they are huge and they use logarithms to promote items, in order for these logarithms to kick in books need at least 50 reviews (click here for the article from HuffPost). What I’m asking is that, if you have read any of my books, please leave a review on Amazon even if you don’t want to give my books 5-stars. The process is straightforward and makes an enormous difference. Book reviews on Amazon are essential to building my brand as an author. The more reviews my books get on Amazon, the more people potential readers will see them.

I can’t stress who important leaving a review is, so I hope you will take a minute and help me out.

To assist you in leaving a review, here is a link to each of my books. First you will need to be signed into your Amazon account. Then all you have to do is scroll down and click on ‘write a customer review’ (the button will be under the ‘Customer Reviews’ in gray). Once there, simple leave a review, save the review and you are finished. Here are the links:

A More Perfect Union click here.

Contact (A New World Book 1) click here.

Conviction (A New World Book 2) click here.

The Calling click here.

The Called (The Calling Book 2) click here.

T.A.D. (The Angel of Death) click here.

A Dragon for Christmas click here.

The Reunion click here.

I can’t offer any incentives to you for providing a review, but perhaps I will come up with a special offer in my winder newsletter if all my books each have 50 or more reviews. Also, you don’t have to write an actual review you can rate the book (give the novel stars 1–5) so that makes the reviewing process even easier. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking a moment to help me reach at least 50 reviews for each of my books. One more nugget about your reviews, they help me market my books, I will often pull customer reviews and use them as part of my marketing. I often create graphics along with the reviews, so by leaving a review you are a major part of my marketing effort, which is kind of cool.

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One last note, for you this week. If you haven’t seen the news, this month Smashwords is offering 50% off on all my e-books. This is a great deal that you don’t want to miss out on, especially if you are short on cash and still need some summer reading and are missing a couple of my books. Find all my novels here.

Until next time, have a great week.

Am I doing too much, or not enough?

Happy Wednesday Scribblers, here we are another week into 2021 and these last two months feel so 2020, but you know what we are making progress and things are getting better. We need to keep our spirits up because we’ve got this. Look how far we’ve come and what we have already survived. Now if you recall, last week I shared with you some announcements (click here for the blog post) and that got me thinking. Am I doing too much, or not enough? I really don’t know.

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This last week I was a guest on WROTE Podcast, if you haven’t checked out the interview here it is for you to listen to, and really you need to listen to it.  We had a blast. However, Baz asked me a question that stopped me dead in my tracts; when do you sleep?

For a second, I froze, I didn’t realize until that moment how much I’ve been doing.  Let me break it down here, so you have some context:

  • I work full-time, Monday -Friday 7:30am – 4:30pm (that’s my day job)

  • I write part-time. Currently I have the following: The Called will be launching April 2021. I have Conspiracy-A New World, Book 3 with my Editor. I’m in various stages of three different works in progress: A Sci-Fi/Urban Fantasy mashup (55,000 words or 205 pages), an Alternate World Urban Fantasy (8,000 words or 33 pages), and an alternate world story (nothing written yet, but characters and story ideas laid out and set to paper).

  • I’m currently involved with two virtual cons; Rainbow Space Magic(RSM) happening March 12th – March 14th, which is an LGBTQIA Sci-Fi and Fantasy Con for readers and authors, check out the information here. IQARUS Book Con is a conference that features all kinds of genres of books and is open to anyone who wants to learn more about great authors, books and writing (happening May 8th) find out more here.

  • Then I’m part of a writers group Bay Area Queer Writers Association (BAQWA) that meets once a month, and we host virtual readings and other book related activities. You can find the group here on Facebook.

  • And for my writing, I manage my website and blog, a Twitter account, a Facebook Page, an Instagram account and now my YouTube channel.  All of which take time to provide and create content for.

  • This doesn’t include any other virtual events (or public events when aloud)

So, yes there is a lot going on, and yes, I’m busy. But here is the rub, what does all this translate to, honestly, not much. If I’m being completely honest, book sales are stalled out and a lot of the time I feel like I’m spinning my wheels; not getting anywhere.

Another author buddy of mine, commented, “with all you’re doing, your book sales should be through the roof.” My response was, “not so much.”

I guess, what this got me thinking is that maybe I’m not doing the right things. Maybe, I’m spreading myself too thin. I’m not sure. All the books and videos I’ve read and watched about being an author and engaging with people say to make it easy for people to find you, to engage with readers where they are. Well, my audience is everywhere. Readers have found me from all the places I’ve mentioned.

What do you think? Am I doing too much? Or, not enough. Do you have suggestions or ideas? Of everything I mentioned above what resonates with you? Do you enjoy the book readings I post on YouTube? Do you enjoy my blogs? What about the content I share on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook? Would you rather I not do any of that and focus on pumping more stories out, keeping in mind that I’m at the will of my publisher so even if I wrote a new story every six months the books are still going to take a year or more to publish.

I will admit, I get tired and I seem to be going every day. In fact, today, I have two zoom meetings, one about RSM and the other my BAQWA group. Then tomorrow I have a meeting with the folks who are working on IQARUSBookCon. However, on the flip side I know several other authors who do way more than I do. They are amazing. These authors pump out the books, engage everyone on social media, have huge followings which leads to great sales. They are incredible and that would be an excellent goal to have.

I do want to make one thing clear, I’m not trying to complain or whine, well maybe a little, I understand how blessed I am. I only want my books to be read and enjoyed. I want to know that there are people out there who love my work as much as I do. I really don’t do all this for me (well I write the stories for me). I do all the social media, the events, cons, etc. for you and to help others like you find my novels, so everyone can, hopefully, enjoy the works and see themselves reflected in the stories. After all, everyone wants to be seen and heard. And we all want to be the hero of our own story.

There you have it, Scribblers, that is my writing world in a nut shell this week. Thank you for taking the time to read this and to continue to support me. I’m curious, what do you think about all this? Let me know in the comments below. Please consider sharing this post on your social media sites, it really does help, as does clicking on this little heart below. Until next time have a great week.

Tips for Getting Online Sites to Publish Your Work by Patrick Bailey

Happy Wednesday everyone. This week I welcome Patrick Bailey to my blog to share his tips for getting online sites to publish your work. If you have an idea for a blog post that you would like to share, contact me and let’s chat about it. I’m always open to guest bloggers.

Check out one of my other guest blogs by Thao Nguyen on The 10 Best Covers of 2020 (So Far).

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So, you want to get published online. You’re in good company. According to some estimates, nearly 200 million people want to publish. The chances of publishing a book seem like they’re one-in-a-million, but those odds are substantially better for those looking to publish your writing to online sites or portals.

The difference between a successful online writer and aspiring one can involve a few very simple tips. Here are some tips that could give you a fighting chance in the submission and online publication process.

Follow the submission guidelines.

One of the easiest ways for online publishers to weed through the onslaught of submissions is to quickly verify whether the writers have followed the publishers’ submission guidelines. The guidelines often encourage you to download a sample of the publication to see the type of articles it publishes, but the publication might also request you to incorporate specific formatting and stylistic features.

Note if the publication only accepts submissions during certain times of the year, or if it’s requesting submissions based on scheduled themes throughout the year. For example, if the publication is accepting submissions about inpatient alcohol rehab, the editor will not accept submissions covering other topics or subject areas.

Proofread.

Another common reason why editors reject work is that the submissions have problems with grammar, spelling, and/or usage. When a submission is riddled with errors, the editor or reviewer may assume that there are deeper, more systemic problems with the submission.

Beyond accuracy, the submission could have issues with clarity or coherence. The messy work could point to lapses in understanding or judgment and could hint at a relationship that could be thorny and unproductive from an editorial point of view. If it’s impossible for you to proofread your own work, ask a friend or colleague who can honestly and thoroughly review your work prior to submission or hire the services of a professional editor.

Target Your Audience.

Yet another important part of reviewing the submission guidelines is determining your audience. Who are you writing for and to?

Your target audience may be a person in his or her forties who is planning a great adventure. Or it could be a 20-year-old individual who is looking for addiction treatment options or other medical assistance. The audience you’re writing for could be your best friend or your worst enemy. It’s essential to know your audience so that you can craft your writing style in a way that will meet the needs and desires of that demographic.

Polish Your Query.

For many submissions, your query letter is the first impression the editor or reviewer will receive regarding your writing. Until they read your query, you are just one of the many writers who are hoping to capture their attention. So, try to do that.

You need to carefully incorporate tidbits from the submission guidelines to demonstrate that you know what editors and reviewers want, but then you must show them that you have the level of expertise that makes you the best person who can deliver on the topic.

Hook Your Reader.

Hooking your reader is part of the query, but you must take that compelling force of words through to the submission. You must inspire your reader to sit up and take notice, but you also need to make your case so intriguing that he or she is enticed to read to the very end.

It’s like hooking a fish. After you’ve caught it, you have it where you want it. Then, you have to reel it in and close the deal with your words.

Make the Organization Clear.

You’ve probably seen all sorts of clever techniques that relate to organizing your writing. That might be great when you’re an established writer with a string of editors who are waiting for your next submission. But when you’re making your first submission, the organization has to be clear and concise.

Instead, focus on making sense. Yes, the editor and reviewer might guess what you’re up to when you take poetic/creative license, but to make your submission stand out, make your organization clear. Your editors will thank you.

Speak with Your Own Voice.

Here, too, you might have a wonderful sense of mimicry and inspired creative diction, but when you’re submitting a piece for publication, write it in a straightforward way. Let your own voice shine.

Let your editors know that you have something to say and say it. Don’t leave the editor or reviewer guessing what you’re trying to do. Worse yet, don’t let them think that you’re trying to steal another’s voice.

Be Honest with Yourself.

How would you assess your article? It’s sometimes easy to be so relieved when you’ve finished a submission that you send it in right away. You don’t let it sit for a while. You don’t review the guidelines. You might even neglect another round of proofreading.

Remember, though, that writing is not something that can be rushed. It takes time and effort. Sometimes you need to take a step back and be honest with yourself. Is this submission something that you’d like to read? Is it good, maybe even great? How could it be better?

If you were the only person in the world who was submitting your work for publication, you might not really have to worry about quality. You may not even care what people think. You’d be a shoo-in.

But, you’re facing steep competition to have your work published. You’re competing against some of the most brilliant and creative minds in the world. Your work can’t just be good. It has to be great. Is your submission up to par?

Sources

lunchticket.org - On the Importance of Following Submission Guidelines

emeraldgrouppublishing.com - Proofreading Your Manuscript

umgc.edu - Online Guide to Writing and Research

stlcc.edu - Hooking Your Reader

unr.edu - University Writing & Speaking Center

Book Editing; Overly Used Words, Filtering and Filler Words

Hello Scribblers. Another week has flow by. As several of you have probably noted, over the last several weeks I’ve been buried in the editing process.  In fact, I just finished and sent off the first round (or pre-edits) to my upcoming novel the sequel to my duology of The Calling, titled The Called. The book should be coming out March 2021.

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This particular around of editing has been long and arduous, not because it’s hard, but because this round of editing involves getting rid of overly used words, filtering words, filler words, etc. And I want to know what you think? What are you looking for in a properly edited book? Do you even care? Let me explain what these all mean and you can tell me your thoughts.

Now what are these Overly Used Words I mentioned? Some of them are:

Really

Actually

Very

Just

Shrug

Because

There are more of course (a lot more) basically overly used words are common words everyone uses all the time. So, when we write we tend to use them too much and have to go back into our works and remove them. Authors have to figure out ways to rework sentences to either eliminate or replace these words and phrases. Sometimes the change makes sense, other times the change doesn’t. Still the process takes times. One chapter can take several hours to edit. The outcome of these edits can make the story much better.

There are times when word choice is made for dialect reasons or to remind readers you are in a certain character’s point of view and the author is showing you their mind set.

Think about the words or phases you use all the time. For me I use “just” and “really” all the time, even when I’m thinking. If suddenly, those words were gone would I still sound like me?

Recrafting chapters and sentence structure to address specific words can be a slippery slope and needs to always be done with caution and for good reason.

Overused words aren’t the only item that needs to be addressed during editing. Filtering Words or Phases is something that all authors are asked to address in their writing. Filtering words include:

Saw

Heard

Thought

Could

Watched

And many more. These words, like the overused words, can slip up readers, or separate the reader from the story. Instead of saying; “Marc heard a loud bang off to his left.” The sentence may read better as; “Marc startled at the crash off to his left as his stomach flipped and his palms became damp.” With this change you have a greater sense of what Marc is feeling you are more in his point of view and the phasing is much richer and interesting.

Making these adjustments to one’s story tends to help the stories flow, however like with all editing, making these changes takes times and can dramatically change the story the author is looking to share with the world. In some cases, despite these changes making the story more richly worded, they can also increase the word count making the story longer than it may need to be.

Filler Words such as: was, that, and it always need to be addressed and edited out whenever and wherever possible. These changes will allow for a more descriptive story.

One of the big writing no-no’s is adverbs, basically anything ending with ‘ly’ nothing will spin an Editors head faster than an adverb, luckily for this round of ending I didn’t have anything that got dinged.  However, there are still a few more rounds of editing to go.

So, when you are reading a book and you stop because you are hung up by some crazy turn of phase and wonder why the author didn’t write. “Said” instead of this long description about how the character reacted, you can rest assured that at some point the author did write ‘said’ but was asked to reconsider the words use and create something that offers the reader more description and detail. Or, to be fair, the author may have changed in on their own…we do that too.

Now that I explained these editing/writing ‘rules’ with you. What do you think? Do you care? Well, why you should care is because, as I said at the start of this blog post, this round of editing took me close to four weeks. This is the first round; their will be at least two more rounds of editing. Which leads me to the point that books take time to write and time to be properly edited, so keep that in mind when you wonder why a good author only publishes one or two books a year.

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Want to learn more about the writing process? Interested in finding out more about the writing journey check out these posts:

Mother of Words – By Claire Buss Check it out here.

On Reading – by Joyce Hertzoff Check it out here.

Why I Write and How the Stories Come to me? Check it out here.

What are your thoughts on all this? What do you think about the editing process? Would you rather an author pump out a new book every month, to hell with the quality of the writing? Or, do you want to read a novel that is accurately edited and know that every effort to make the story its best possible self has been made? I would love to hear what you all think. Do filter words bother you when you read? What about overused words, do you notice them? What are your thoughts on adverbs? Please remember to drop me a heart/like letting me know you stopped by. If you want to help support me and my writing efforts please consider sharing this post on your social media platforms to help keep the conversation going. Until next time I hope you stay safe and have a great week.

Am I Really a Fraud and a Failure?

Wow! A new month, October no less. This time of year happens to be my personal favorite. However, these past few weeks a blanket of sadness has covered me and my family as I have lost my sister, Dawn, to cancer. It has been a challenging time, and each day has both highs and lows. These past few weeks have seen more lows than highs, and I have taken many moments to stop and ponder my writing and what I’m doing. I debated quite a bit about this blog post, but I finally decided I would post it and share some of my thoughts about this writing adventure I’ve been on.  So, here we go.

This month is special as back on October 23, 2017 my first short story was published by NineStar Press. The story in question, The Reunion, it’s my first short story and if you aren’t familiar with the plot here is the brief blurb:

It’s been twenty years since the quiet Midwestern town of Lakeview was struck by tragedy. But every year on the anniversary of the event Teddy returns home for ‘The Reunion’. Lakeview, like Teddy, has secrets and not all mysteries should come to light.

This time period was special for a different reason a darker reason, it was also around this time that we learned that Dawn had a cyst on her neck that needed to be removed. We would find out later that it was cancer.

This is me with my sister Dawn. I often say that my husband, Eric, is my biggest supporter, and he is, however, Dawn was my fist Champion and Protector.

This is me with my sister Dawn. I often say that my husband, Eric, is my biggest supporter, and he is, however, Dawn was my fist Champion and Protector.

When it came to my short story, I remember being thrilled. Of course I told Dawn, and she was as excited as I was. I wasn’t able to believe that anything I wrote would ever be published. She of course never doubted me.

I still have these feelings two years later, but now she is no longer here to remind me that I am good enough.

With The Reunion coming out I knew I had one more short story coming out in December 2017, A Dragon for Christmas (which was dedicated to her and my niece), and in January 2018 my debut novel, The Calling would be launched. So much was happening, and it was crazy roller coaster ride. At the time I had a group of wonderful people around me helping me work through planning a launch party and helping me set up all the back end details that are associated with being a Writer. With these amazing people including my sister and the rest of my family, I could be more excited.

It was great.

Fast forward to today and here I am, I have four novels out, and two short stories. I’m currently working on the edits for the next novel in my A New World series Conspiracy and I’m working on the edits for the sequel to The Calling. This is all amazing. I’ve accomplished something that hundreds, if not thousands, of people are never able to do, and I’m grateful. I count myself as a lucky man.

But as I mentioned, Dawn isn’t physically here to share in my joy anymore and that is difficult.

By now you are probably wondering why the title of this post is called Feeling like a Fraud and a Failure. Well, because if I’m honest I feel like a fraud and a failure, since October 2017 I’ve learned a lot about the writing and publishing world. I’ve also learned about and met so many amazing authors who tell these stories that touch your soul, and here I am writing fluff. I’m not complaining, I love my stories and I love the writing I’m able to share with people, however, my writing is mind candy, it doesn’t really do anything for you, it’s enjoyable for the moment and just as easily forgotten when you are finished.

I think part of all this, has to do with the loss of Dawn, I know she is still around me spiritually. She is still, of course, cheering me on, but I miss being able to call her and talk to her on the drive home. Somehow talking to her reminded me of my specialness.

I never set out to be a serious, hard-hitting author who tells stories that make you think. I’ve only wanted to write stories that are fun and take you on an adventure.

Now, I sit here wondering why. Why not write something profound? Why not write something with meaning? Why not write something that will change the world? Why not write something that makes a difference? The answer I come up with is that I’m a fraud. I’m not a real author, real authors write those kinds of stories, but I don’t. I’m the empty calories you enjoy for the moment then when you’re finished you wonder why you ate that candy at all.

I think, as writers, we all want our work to have some kind of meaning. Some kind of impact on people or on society. Part of my writing journey has been listening to other authors share their stories some write to make a difference, some write to be famous, some write to make money, some write for fun.

Why do I write?

I like to think I write to tell good stories that people can relate to, but looking back on what I’ve written I wonder are they good stories that people can relate to? Are they anything more than just a random collection of words on a page that a few people will enjoy? Does it matter? Mostly, I wonder why I feel like I’m a fraud and a failure when I’ve accomplished more in my writing in the last two years than most people will every accomplish?

Dawn, was older than me and I always wanted her to be proud of me. I know she is, I saw it the last time I went to visit her and brought her copies of my books and she cried, because she was so excited. I know she supported me in what she shared on Social Media about me and my silly little collection of words.

Please, forgive this whining and this moment of reflection I don’t want anyone who reads this (all five of you, including my husband) to think I’m unhappy or ungrateful, because I’m not. I wake up every day look at the copies of my physical books sitting on their little stands and remind myself of what I’ve accomplished and how blessed I really am.

I think, today, as we are getting closer to my family’s private memorial for my sister, all of this is hitting me hard, because it’s all becoming more and more real to me.

Thank you for letting me share this. I shall step out of the light and move on to brighter topics and continue to remind myself of what I’ve done. I won’t just be doing this for me, I’ll be writing for my sister too, because I can’t let her down, she has faith in me and my writing and that is pretty powerful, well, at least to me. Tell me do you ever feel like you are a fraud or a failure in what you do? Do you have moments of doubt and indulge in a little self-pity? Do you have someone in your life who reminds you to keep following your dream? Share your comments below and let me know that I’m not the only one who feels like this.  In the meantime have a great week and see you next time.

Podcasts and More

Here we are, it’s Wednesday again Scribblers. I hope you are having a great week. This week, I wanted to give a shout out to some of my favorite podcasts. If you don’t listen to podcasts you need to start, they are fun and a great way to keep up with the topics you find most interesting. I also love that they make my commute to the office and back home bearable.

Here is my list of favorite podcasts in no particular order:

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WROTE Podcast: WROTE is a weekly podcast where the hosts Baz and Vance chat with guests about LGBTQ storytelling in all genres and mediums. However, there podcast isn’t just about LGBTQ storytelling, they talk to all kinds of LGBTQ content providers and consumers.

What I love about Vance and Baz is how lively the conversations are. You can tell they have fun with their guests. You never know where they conversation will go, but you will have a great time getting there. I can’t tell you how many wonderful new authors I’ve learned about thanks to this podcast. Each podcast is about an hour which is nice.

Find the WROTE Podcast here.

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The WritesCast Network: This podcast is a writing-podcast collective for writers, by writers, with the mission to gather all of your favorite writerly audio on one convenient RSS feed. The Writescast Network started with the R. R. Campbell writescast, which features author, editor, and agent interviews full of writing wisdom from storytellers across the globe. They have expanded to include Biblio Breakdown and Novel Approaches, both of which are more craft-intensive.

R.R. Campbell and his co-host Sione Aeschliman are intelligent and great to listen to, as a writer, I find myself agreeing with a lot of what they share and taking mental notes on how to improve my writing.  As a Reader I love R.R.’s one-on-one conversation with authors, it’s a great way to find out about books and new authors I wouldn’t have heard of otherwise. The Writescast Network episodes are about a half hour and the indebt writing conversations on Novel Approach last bout an hour. Both are high quality and very informative.

Find The Writescast Network here.

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GayTalk 2.0: The Ultimate PodCast: Is a group of three friends that come together every Monday to provide listeners with hilarious commentary on all the current events of the week.  The hosts sit around the table with cocktails in hand bringing the latest on art, current events, news, music, and other topics that impact the LGBT community.  The show consists of several segments that are chosen to provide listeners relevant, current, informative content with a funny gay twist. Most topics discussed on the show are those that closely affect the LGBTQ+ community. The hosts don’t shy away from any topic; Sex, politics, alcohol, addiction, fetish, gossip, celebrities, or tragedy. They cover it all.

The banter, oh my goodness the banter. Tom, Chris, and Nick (or Trish) are funny as hell. These guys are great. I may not always agree 100% with them, but if you are looking for conversations on current events that are discussed with a lot of heart (and seriousness when applicable) then you have to check out this podcast. I can’t recommend them enough. This podcast hovers around an hour to an hour and a half and it’s worth every minute.

Find GayTalk2.0 here.

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Queer Words: Conversation with queer-identified authors about their works and lives.

That really sums it up, Wayne Goodman is charming and welcoming to his guest, who are all authors. Wayne will have them answer a few questions and then do a reading from one of their works. It’s another way to find some amazing books and learn about some fantastic authors. The podcast typically goes anywhere from twenty to thirty minutes.

Find Queer Words here.

You really need to check out these amazing podcasts, they are always a wonderful break from your day-to-day.

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As a reminder, this week I have two events coming up. First, Friday (August 16th) at 7 p.m. I’m going to be part of a Meet the Authors event here in San Jose at the Billy DeFrank Center.

I’ll be joined by the amazing J.Scott Coatsworth, the outstanding SA ‘Baz’ Collins, and the brilliant Jeanne Marcella.

Find more information by clicking here.

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Second, this Saturday at 11 a.m. I’ll be live on Facebook with A. F. Stewart for their live stream Between the Pages. We’ll be chatting about my Sci Fi series and my upcoming work. Check out the details here.

A lot is still going on. I hope you check out these podcasts they are all top quality and every entertaining. I learn a lot from each of them and wouldn’t miss a week. Do you have any favorite podcasts? What do you listen to on the drive to and from work? Let me know in the comments below. In the meantime have a great week and see you next time.

Why I Write and How the Stories Come to me?

It’s kind of funny, to think about these two questions. Why do I find it funny you may wonder? Because I get asked this by people who’ve known me a long time. Friends I’ve known for years and family members who have been around my whole life. So, I get a chuckle out of the question right before I freeze and can’t come up with an answer.

Today, I figured I would try to answer these questions here in an honest and intelligent manner.

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When I was a kid I didn’t read very much. I’m dyslexic and reading was, and still is, a challenge for me. I hated reading and writing, but I loved telling stories and talking. I could make up crazy stories off the top of my head and people would listen–which was cool. It distracted folks from the dyslexia and helped me not feel like I was stupid or ‘retarded’ like some kids called me. Plus, I’ll be honest, I enjoyed the attention.

As I got older and had to read and write more for school, I forced myself to find books I liked. I needed the practice and to improve my reading speed if I would survive in school. In High School I got lucky, I had amazing teachers who introduced me to literature works, some good and others not so good. They also took the time to help me with my reading and encouraged my writing.

I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for some of my amazing English teachers. To them I say thank you.

During this time, I slowly (very slowly) realized I was attracted to boys. Not girls like all my guy friends. This was in the 70s and 80s when there were no openly gay men or women even when I found Stephen King and Star Trek, I loved the worlds they created, but still no people like me. When I found, Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice it was the first time I saw two men together raising a child. Are they a gay couple? If you believe the subtext they sure are. A messed up gay couple, but there it was in writing for the first time in my life. It was amazing.

Then AIDS hit and I remember hearing how gay equaled AIDS, and AIDS equaled death. What does ‘gay’ stand for? Got AIDS Yet. This ‘joke’ bothered me then and bothers me now. However, what AIDS did, after hundreds of thousands of gay men died, was, for good and for bad, it gave us the tragic gay character. I wanted to change this. I needed to change this. So now, I create strong characters that anyone can relate to, that happen to be gay. My characters needed to be so much more than gay! Gay would not be the focus. Which leads me to the second thing I noticed especially in gay fiction. Almost everything I found and still find is gay romance or gay erotica novels. There is nothing wrong with that, but, for me, I wanted more out of my characters. I needed to create something different that would appeal to everyone.

I wanted to see a gay character attack the Death Star and blow it up, be an Officer on the bridge of the Enterprise who had a partner on ship, be the married couple that have to deal with a paranormal attack on their family, and have to flee in the night with their kids, as coffins blew up out of the ground around them. I wanted to see heroic gay characters save the realm and have the audience cheer for them in the theater. No one would bat an eye at the fact that the person the characters were saving weren’t someone of the opposite sex. I wanted to see real gay people living in all these fantastic worlds. That’s why I write.

How do I get these gay people to live in exciting worlds? Well the ideas for my stories come from all around me. They come from family and friends. I see something that will happen and it will spark an idea, a ‘what if’. Most of the time my ideas start off as the characters talking to me in my dreams. They will come introduce themselves and tell me who they are and what happened to them. When I wake up, I make notes and start from there.

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I know it sounds bizarre to speak about characters talking to you, but for me that’s how it works. It’s not always just the main characters either. I’ll get background characters or secondary characters who will come forward and tell me about themselves. That happens if they’re not happy with how I’m handling them in the story. I remember I had one secondary character furious with me and wouldn’t quiet down until I heard what she had to say. What I ended up discovering about her made me fall in love with her and now she’s one of my favorite characters to write about.

Okay, so that is a bit about why and how storied come to me. As always if you have questions leave them below in the comments section. Don’t forget if you know someone who might enjoy my novels or my writing you can share this post by clicking the ‘share’ button below. Until next time have a great week.

Word Police and Word Censorship

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Happy Wednesday Scribblers. If you are here in the U.S. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. If you’re checking in from elsewhere around the world I hope you had a great week. Now we march on to Christmas and to the New Years, I thought I would talk about something I have mixed feelings about. Word Police and Word Censorship.

As a writer, words are important and words have power. With a few strokes of the keyboard excellent writers can make you laugh, they can make you cry, and they can even make you angry. With that kind of power, authors have a responsibility. For me, I appreciate when my Editor or my Beta Readers question my word choice. When they highlight something and say, “You may want to change this.” or “Wow! That is harsh, are you sure you want to say that?” When they do this, I stop and check what I’ve written to see if it fits with the character or with the emotion I’m trying to invoke. Sometimes I change it and sometimes I don’t.

How we say and use words is just as important. As a Human Being, I never want to intentionally hurt someone with something I’ve said and if do. I expect the person to politely correct me if I miss speak. It is a moment of learning and a moment of decency we can share and grow from. Where I take issues, and I don’t believe I’m the only one, is when people try to censor words. Or, censor someone from expressing themselves because you don’t agree with the words they are using. Not everyone has the same vocabulary. Not everyone has the same upbringing. Not everyone has the words to express themselves professionally or politely. To come after these people because you don’t like their word choice is wrong.

Words, in general, only have the power we allow them to have. If you get offended by the use of a word, you give that word, and by extension, that individual power over you. Why? Why are you doing this? Why are you letting someone hurt you because of a word they use. Yes, words hurts. I understand that. I’ve been on the receiving end of some very hateful words, did it make me happy to hear those words? Of course not. But, I didn’t allow that moment, those few seconds, to ruin my day or my life. Again, I understand that words can hurt people and we need to think before we speak.

Where I want to make the distension here is when people take offence to the use of a particular word.

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Recently, I was in a meeting where the word ‘picnic’ was discussed. There was a conversation about how we can’t use that word because of where it came from, the argument was that ‘picnic’ came from when people would gather for a lynching by caught slaves. After a quick search online this was debunked (here is the link). However, by now the damage was done and people were upset. It’s a word, and the reference was false, yet word has been censored and we are no longer able to use the word ‘picnic’. Why? It’s just a word. But because someone might be offended the word is now censored.

Why do this? Why add to the hate? Why make things worse then they already are?

Another example of world policing is the phrase ‘illegal alien’ or ‘illegal immigrant’ these words have been removed from several media sites and in ‘polite’ conversation because of its negative connotation. The new word of choice is ‘migrant’. I understand why we are doing this. I’ve heard the arguments ‘people can’t be illegal.’ In theory I agree. People cannot be illegal, however, their actions can be. Again, why does this matter? Why are we censoring words and phrases for these generic terms that have no meaning?

Let’s keep throwing gasoline on an already touchy subject, by attacking people for using the wrong words when trying to discuss the issue. Makes sense to me. Not!

Now we have this push for pronoun use. If you don’t call an individual by the right pronoun you are disrespecting them and treating them as less than. I understand if you want to be referred to in a certain way that is your right and people should respect that. I respect you for having the courage to be yourself. You are braver than a great many people. Where I have take issue is these people will scream and yell at people for not using their chosen pronoun. This is especially upsetting when it happens to the older generation, who may not fully understand what the issue is. It’s not that these people are monsters or trying to disrespect you, it’s that they don’t have your point of reference or understand your point of view.

There are other examples I can point to as well, but I’m sure I’ve already upset people for my lack of sensitivity. Which isn’t my intent. The comedian Patton Peter Oswalt has an amazing standup bit about this subject on one of his Netflix Specials (I can’t remember which one, they are all really good). What he boils it down to is; It’s not the people who don’t speak politically correct we have to worry about, it’s the ones who know all the correct, polite terms who we should fear.

I agree with him.

Next time you get offended about a word, phrase or pronoun someone is using as yourself a couple questions: Are they trying to hurt me? Will this ruin my day? Is this a moment to educate them? Do I want to give this word or phrase that much power over me?

Well Scribblers, if you’re still reading this, haven’t yet unsubscribed to my mailing list, or gone on to give all my books 1-star reviews I thank you for hanging with me today. Allowing me to share my thoughts with you. I appreciate it. I would love to hear what you have to say on the matter. Do you agree with me? Am I completely off base and out of touch? Am I an insensitive prick who should be burned at the stake? Let me know in the comments below. Until next week have a great week. Remember, you can share and like this by clicking on the ‘share’ and ‘like’ button. It really does make a difference.

What is the Hardest part about Writing a Book – The Marketing

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Recently I was asked; What is the hardest part about writing a book? Without hesitation, my answer was marketing. This is something I’ve been thinking a lot about. I’m not the only one either. Most authors consider marketing in one form or another. Especially after your book has been out for a while. Sales start to drop off and all the excitement of the launch has worn away. So now what?  How do you continue to get your book noticed?

There is no one answer and things can be even more challenging for non-romance gay books.

Here’s the thing. How do you market a non-romance gay book? Gay Romance is a huge market and everything gay seems to be lumped under that umbrella. Last week I found out that my book The Calling is 96th on the Best Gay Vampire Book list (click here), which is part of Best M/M romance featuring gay vampires… um what? I thought my book was a vampire book, not an M/M romance.

Don’t get me wrong, this is exciting and I’m so thankful and grateful especially since I’m a new author with only a few works published. You can find them all here. This free publicity is amazing and I’m hopeful it will be helpful as well, especially with marketing.

However, anyone who has read my book knows it isn’t a gay romance. That’s not what I wrote, yet that is how it is classified. This is a bit of an issue because there is this thing called false advertising and I never want to be criticized for that.

How do I market a non-romance gay book?

I did a Google search asking that question. All that comes up is how to market a gay romance and if straight authors should write gay romance. It definitely defeated the purpose of the question.

So, I went back to the Vampire lists, and I found other lists. Such as Best Vampire Books from “New” Authors, (click here). The Calling is 482nd. Go me! One of the other lists that made me chuckle is Great Vampire Books that Aren’t Twilight (click here). The Calling is 382nd. Also, The Calling is 23rd on the January 2018 MM Releases list (click here).  So, I’m using this news to create a bit of a buzz about my book. I’ve sent out a Facebook post to see if I can get more people to vote for The Calling on those lists. On May 1st I sent out an email blast to my subscribers to see if they would vote for The Calling on these lists.  All to move my book higher on these lists.

Notice, I’m only talking about The Calling and not A Dragon for Christmas or The Reunion. That is because I’m trying to figure out what works so I can duplicate it for these books. This might also be an issue. Should I be marketing all three together?  I’m not sure.

Now back to these Goodreads Lists. Why are they important (or why do I consider them important)? Because to be lumped in with such books as; Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles), Dracula, the Sookie Stackhouse Series, ‘Salem’s Lot, and, even the Twilight Series? Tells potential readers that this book has substance. It also means that The Calling (and soon to be The Calling Two) even though they have a gay main character are of the same caliber as these amazing works and not a vampire sexcapade. This is a difficult stigma to break considering that Gay Romance and Gay Erotica are so popular. It is also what most people imagine when you mention you write LGBTQA Fiction. Ugh... but that whole topic is for another day.

Why these lists, well they are some of the best free marketing, they can help drive sales, and they get my book noticed.

The Calling being number one in any of these categories or being in the top 100 allows me bragging rights and is something I can advertise. Trust me, I will be.  Right now I’m working on ads to capitalize on these lists and this news.

Some additional marketing strategies I’ve been doing: Getting more reviews. Lining up interviews and speaking opportunities. Having fellow Authors on my Scribbles Page. Trying to be more engaging on Social Media (not talking about my books but other topics). Joining Author Groups were we share ideas about marketing and public relations.  

So, yes, the hardest part about writing a book is the marketing. It’s not the writing or the publishing (although both take time and are a lot of work).

Do you have any suggestions on ways to market non-romance gay book? Do you know anyone who loves vampires and witches send them the link to my book (click here)?  Let me know what you think in the comments below.  Until next week have an amazing week.

Self-Promotion… Ugh Must I?

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I’m a pretty outgoing person.  I can talk to most people and I don’t tend to sit in a corner and study the house plants at a party.  People tell me I’m interesting and well spoken. For only being an active author for about a year now, I’ve got a pretty good platform on Facebook, Twitter and of course my website. So, why do I dread self-promotion?  Why can’t I pick up the phone (yes, people still do that) and call people and talk to them about my book?  Why can’t I make cold-call?

Back in October I did a post on Self-Promoting When you’re a Writer. Check out the post here if you missed it. The purpose was to give suggestions on ways to promote your book or books.

Now I need to step up my game. This week I needed to do two things I dread. First, I had to craft a query email to be sent out to a list of fifty bloggers and websites to ask them to review my book, The Calling. The book’s been out for almost two months and the buzz has started to wane so it’s time to get going on my second round of marketing and PR. Also, this week I had to make a cold call to a news producer about a potential interview they want to do with me.

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Neither task was complicated and on paper it shouldn’t have taken up much time, but it did.  Especially when I went to make the phone call.  I dreaded having to pick up the phone and talk to them. I tried to be as prepared as I could for the call.  When I finally got around to making the call, I ended up leaving a voicemail. Sadly, the message I left… yeash.  I wanted to delete and redo the whole thing (that wasn’t an option).

Proud that I completed both takes I took a breath.  Luckily, I received some very positive responses to my emails and in the next few weeks I have a planned interview for a local GLBT Magazine Talk Show.  It should be fun.

Now as I sit here, I wonder why self-promotion is so difficult not just for me but for everyone. Is it because we believe we’re bragging and bragging is bad?

I suppose, but there are things that I’m really proud of and I have no problem talking about them. Okay that isn’t a 100% true I’m told I downplay things too much, but I’m getting better.

Is it that we’re afraid of being told no?

That’s a valid fear, but I’m told ‘no’ a lot (you should see my stack of rejection letters). So, why should that make me go into a panic attack when I need to promote myself and my work. Not to mention everyone else who has gone through the creative process we all get told ‘no’ a lot. Yet, from what I’ve read we all freak out about our own promotion.

Then there is the fact that sales is hard. Not to mention we don’t like salespeople and we don’t want to be like them. Perhaps, we hold ourselves back because of that bias?

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Possibly, but I know a bunch of nice salespeople who don’t leave you with the creepy used car salesmen impression. So, I’m not sure about that one.

As you can see, I’m left with more questions than answers.  I did a bunch of digging around on the internet to see if I could find some helpful answers.  I found two articles/blogs.  

One is an open discussion about self-promotion (an article from 2014) the dialog was good (even though the information was geared more towards art and artists) I was relieved to read that others experienced the same issue.  You can read the blog post here.

The second one I found was from FastCompany and they made two suggestion that seemed reasonable (again this one is more geared for the self-employed) and worth a shot.  You can read he full article here.  It’s not a very long read so it’s worth a view.

What I enjoyed about both of these articles is that they offered some solutions that anyone could use. So, if you’re a writer reading this, or just someone who is trying to get noticed at work or by someone special I think you can get some good takeaways from them.

What I’m going to remember for the next time is that I need to work past the ‘yuck’ and make it happen, because no one else is going to bang my drum for me.

Until next week, enjoy your weekend and let me know your thoughts below on self-promotion.  Got tips or tricks for dealing, please share them.  Given what I read online and what I went through I think we can all use the help.

Writer’s Newsletter vs. Writer’s Blog

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Over the last several month’s I’ve heard that all authors must have a Newsletter. Something for the writer to send out to their readers and fans that gives them insider information on the writer and the author’s works. I thought that was the purpose of my Scribbles Page (my blog).  Plus, with the blog we get to interact with one another.  You can ask me questions and I can respond.  Which I like.  So, really, ask me questions and leave me comments I want to chat with you and hear what you have to say.

Anyway, I did a little digging around on the subject, and I found tons of information on how to write an interesting Newsletter and I found tons of information on how to write and interesting Blog.  What I didn’t find was a difference between them and if one is better than the other.  They are both about getting more information into the hands of your readers/fans and to tell them what is happening with your works and with you.  All of which is great.

While doing my research on this topic, I came across this great blog post about the pros and cons of a newsletter and blog. Check it out here. What I like about the post is that it doesn’t say one is better than the other. It does mentions why you would use one over the other and how to use each. There is a clear slant to using a Blog, but I like what Anne has to say about Newsletters especially when it comes to controversial content:

“Some content is safer to put in an email than out there on the Web. People who write about size acceptance or feminist topics are subject to horrific trolling and bullying and often prefer to use a newsletter. Ditto some medical and political content and erotica.”

All excellent points and considering how sensitive some readers can be, I can see why content providers would want to keep it to a Newsletter. Instead of the blogger putting that kind of information on their blogs.

What I appreciate is that she addresses having both, and how that may cause both fatigue on the writer’s part, but also on the subscriber’s part. Information overload is what I call it.  Some call it spamming. Either way it could be a bad thing for everyone.

The second article I found (a little older it came out in 2015) talks more about the benefits of a Newsletter over a Blog. However, what this article mentions is that some writers are taking their blog posts and turning them into a newsletter. This seems like a good idea if you provide a lot of content or have some amazing information about your upcoming book that would be better suited for a newsletter.

One thought from the article I appreciated was, “One place everyone still frequents multiple times a day is their email box, so savvy writers are beginning to take advantage of the captive audience that email provides. But far from creating the hated spam that fills our daily email, writers are creating email newsletters that replace or augment weekly or monthly blog posts and keep readers interested in their books and personalities.”

You can check out the article here

Now, I’m not sure I agree with the ‘spam’ part. I worry that more than one email a week is spamming someone especially if they are nice enough to share their email address with you.

There are clear benefits to each. If you’re an author let me know what your thoughts on Blog vs. Newsletter are.  If you’re a fan/reader, tell me what kind of communications you enjoy. I’m curious, as well, to what your thoughts are on how many emails per week from one source is too much?

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When it comes to Newsletter vs. Blog, for me, I’m more about the blogging than the newsletters. A newsletter feels outdated (I did newsletters for a couple of start-ups I worked for back in the late nineties early two-thousands. We stopped because the click through rates continued to decline and people were unsubscribing more than subscribing). I figure, at present, I’ll keep going with what I enjoy and can manage.

I’m curious at were you all weigh in on the subject.  I’m not saying it’ll change my mind, but who knows.  Maybe, I could throw together a quarterly newsletter or something of the sort. If there is enough interest.

This week I have three fun updates for you:

  1. Last weekend, Live N in the Mix, interviewed me for a local cable access TV Show. Stay tuned for more details.  I’m not sure when it will air, but I’ll let you all know when it does.  I may even post the interview here on my website.

  2. On November 20, 2017, I’ll be part of the NineStar Press Author Take Over day.  It will be an all-day Facebook event.  I’ll be on from 8-9pm (PST).  I’ll be giving away three $10-NineStar Gift Cards and two autographed copies of, The Calling once it’s released in January 2018.  You must stop by on November 20th to see how to win. Check out the details about the event here.

  3. Lastly, this week I have a guest Blog on NineStar Press Blog. I talk about Why I Write and How the Stories Come to Me. You can check it out here.

See you all next week.