Riley Adams's Blog, page 213

On Following Advice

I think I drive my kids a little crazy sometimes.

Frequently I'll be driving somewhere in town and wonder how my GPS would tell me how to reach our destination. I know how to get there. But I wonder if my route is really the most efficient way.

So I punch in the destination and the GPS lady drones on, telling me which turn to take. "Take a right on Sar-deez Road North," she orders.

I very rarely follow the GPS lady's advice.

"Mom," my son will say through teeth that sound gritted, "why didn't you make the turn that she mentioned?"

"Oh, there's way too much traffic on that road. It'll be bumper to bumper. And there are stoplights practically every ten feet. The GPS lady doesn't know that. I'll just go straight and we'll get there faster."

"Why then," asks my son, very reasonably, "don't you just turn off the GPS? Her voice is annoying. And you never follow her directions anyway."

But I don't turn it off. Because sometimes she gives me an interesting alternate route that I hadn't thought of. Some days there's an accident or a delay of some kind on my preferred route…some sort of roadblock…and I need a different direction to follow.

You can see where this is going. But this is how I look at first reader advice—whether it's advice from a critique group or a friend or family member.

Your first readers may give advice that's very useful. Or they may give you advice that you just listen to, thank them for, and completely disregard as you continue on your own course.

Sometimes you may get conflicting suggestions from different critique readers. I've heard several writers talk about how confusing that can be and how they aren't sure whose advice they should listen to.

But then there are those helpful nuggets of advice that can put your story on a new and different course when you've hit a roadblock.

Ultimately, you should listen to your gut when you write your story. You usually know the best route to take with your book. Take the alternate course when it makes sense or when it's more efficient. (Editors, of course, are a different story. I make a point of always following their suggestions.)

After all—ultimately, you're the one behind the wheel.

How Does Social Media Sell Books?

A question I frequently get, and which I heard a lot this weekend at the Cape Fear Crime Festival, is "Does social media sell books?"

Many writers worry about spending time away from writing. Between the demands of job and family, it can be hard to even find time for writing. They want a good reason to invest time in social media.

What does social media give a writer? A platform.

Platform: When a writer has a healthy platform, it indicates to an agent or publisher the size of the potential audience that the writer can reach, promotion-wise, on their personal network. Or, as former literary agent Nathan Bransford put it:

Platform is the number of eyeballs you can summon as you promote your book.

The important thing, of course, is not to over-promote to this network you've established. That's the fastest way to lose followers. A subtle approach is always better.

Your platform leads to a certain amount of name recognition: Let's say there's a writer named Bob. Bob worked for years writing a book, edited for ages, crafted a query, honed a synopsis and his publishing dream finally became a reality. Now his book is on the shelf and online with thousands of other books. What makes Bob's book stand out from the others?

He did write a great book. Is it his reviews? Not too many readers follow reviews, though. Is it his back cover copy? His cover art? Those things do help…but what can help more than anything is name recognition for the book title or author or some recognition of the cover art. I've had readers email me that my book almost jumped off the shelf at them because the cover and my name were familiar—their eyes went right to it.

I've done the same thing myself. I took my daughter to the book store into the children's and YA area in early December. She asked me to help her find a book—and we were in a rush, needing to get to another event. "Could you pick one out, Mama? I can't decide," she said. I scanned the shelves and one of Janice Hardy's books seemed to leap at me. "Here you go," I said. "Let's give this one a go. Ms. Hardy is a great writer." And off we went to the register.

Have I ever met Janice in person? No. I know Janice from the blogging and Twitter world. She writes amazing posts on the writing craft. Would I have gone right to her book—bypassing hundreds of other attractively-packaged children's books that were nearby-- without knowing Janet online? I think eventually we 'd have discovered her wonderful books…but it would have taken us a lot longer.

I've heard writers worry over the fact that their social media is only reaching other writers—who are also promoting their own books. The only way I can answer that is to say that I've had very healthy sales and nearly sold-through my advance on pre-orders alone for last summer's release. Who knew about my book before it came out? Writers did. They might have bought the book to support me or because of curiosity or because they thought a family member or friend might like it. But I believe that my strong numbers were nearly completely due to writers.

With social media, unless you're tracking clicks over to a buy link, you may not have data to directly tie in your social media efforts to your sales. My data is limited to reports of sales that I've gotten from my network (messages from followers that they'd purchased a book), and sales in general.

But I believe that building a platform through social media results in sales. What's more, my agent and editors believe it, too. These days, in fact, agents and editors will likely consider a writer's platform as part of the overall package that includes their writing talent.

I know several of my regular readers have had great success with social media promoting. I know that even aside from promotion, that we all get a lot from our online network of writers. What is your impression of social media promo, either from what you've observed or what you've tried?

On the Social Media Shift for Promo

Like everything in publishing, book promotion is changing.

Because I spend so much time online, and am surrounded by blogging, Facebooking, and tweeting writing friends, I don't even think about social media being revolutionary in any way.

But there are still lots of writers who haven't made the leap to social media promoting. I met some of them this weekend.

When I blog about social media—its ability to reach a large number of people for (basically) free—I'm just preaching to the choir…because y'all are all online.

So I don't really know about these other writers unless I meet them face to face—they're not networking online.

They're still talking about creative ways to approach book signings. They're talking about tours and postcard mailings and posters.

Which, of course, is all still part of promotion…but doesn't have nearly the scope that social media has.

When was speaking on the Cape Fear Crime Festival promo panel on Saturday, I mentioned that I found book signings ineffective. I recommended spending that time developing a blog or opening a Facebook or Twitter account. There were a few writers in the audience who looked at me as if I'd grown horns on my head.

A couple of people told me later they didn't really even know where to begin with the social media world.

So I promised to blog on it. :)

Here's my take on getting started:

Blogging: I think this is probably the best way to get introduced to social media. The blogging habit comes fairly easily to writers and it's not too hard to learn a blogging application. Blogspot is Google's free blog program, and WordPress is another popular blog host. It doesn't really matter which you choose.

The important thing is to regularly update your blog (you can choose daily or weekly but I wouldn't space it any farther apart than that) and to interact with other bloggers. You can find great blogs in the blogrolls (sidebars) of active blogs. What do you blog on, if you're a writer? You can choose to blog on the writing life, writing in general, books you've read, movies you've enjoyed—basically it's your choice. It takes a while to really find a niche and get into the writing groove, but it will come.

Facebook: I think this is the second best way to make connections and start building a platform. The learning curve is fairly low and, once you're on, it makes pretty good sense. The way that conversations work on Facebook looks like a real conversation (unlike Twitter, which is a bit more scattered.) Facebook is where writers interact and network. Where can you find writers? Look up any writer who is active online (I'm Elizabeth Spann Craig Author) and go to their friend list. Click on their friends and just start asking people to friend you. I promise that 99% of these writers aren't expecting you to really know them for them to accept a Facebook friendship.

Twitter: Twitter is sort of the icing on the cake to me. If you're already blogging and Facebooking and picked up on it well and are looking for another social media outlet, I'd pick Twitter. The learning curve is just a little steeper for the application…its method for interaction is a little unnatural, I think. What I love about Twitter is the resource sharing and the fact that the messages are always short and punchy. When you read as much as we all do in a day, short can be sweet. Twitter is also a favorite application for agents and editors, and there is lots of industry information being tweeted.

I'm interested in what y'all have to say about this…do you think this order makes sense to someone just starting out, who is wanting to get their feet wet? I could be persuaded that Facebook could go first instead of blogging. What do you think?

********

Tomorrow I'm going to address the next question I got from folks about social media—how do I know this sells books? :)

Twitterific

Here are writing links that I've posted to Twitter for the past week.

My addition this week is an efficient method of locating resources on writing topics when you need them—via the Writer's Knowledge Base search engine and software engineer and writer Mike Fleming's ingenuity. The links I tweet (which are writers' blogs, agents' and editors' blogs) all are added to the engine to make it easier for you to access the information you're looking for.

Running Our Races & Becoming Winners: http://dld.bz/KmEd

Finding Commas in All the Wrong Places: http://dld.bz/KmET

How To Create a Writer's Resume: http://dld.bz/KmEH

Format Your Novel for Submission: http://dld.bz/KmE8

How to Choose a Search Friendly Domain Name: http://dld.bz/KmEn

How to Write a Synopsis When You Have Lots of Characters in Your Story: http://dld.bz/Ga9J

On The Importance of Failure: http://dld.bz/KmC6

Self-Publishing–The "American Idol" of the Publishing World: http://dld.bz/KmCw

Backstory: Relevant Information or an Inconsequential Event? http://dld.bz/KmB7

Creating Emotion in the Reader: http://dld.bz/KmBq

What question does your book pose? http://dld.bz/KmAK ./

Neuroscientists try to unlock the origins of creativity: http://dld.bz/KmAh

Creating Futuristic Vocabulary: http://dld.bz/Km9B

Why one writer chooses to write: http://dld.bz/KmAa

Shakespeare, SpongeBob, and the law: http://dld.bz/Kmxk @helengunnar

The New World of Publishing: Cash Flow: http://dld.bz/KmvC

Writer's guilt: http://dld.bz/Kqc3 @JulieeJohnsonn

7 Signs Your Blog is Bound to Fail: http://dld.bz/JZ7p

The Elements of Fiction—The Basics & Beyond: http://dld.bz/KmeT

Give your supporting characters more dimension: http://dld.bz/KkZ6

Best Articles This Week for Writers 2/4/11: http://dld.bz/KkJp

Roundup of links on self-editing: http://dld.bz/K

Victims aren't sexy: http://dld.bz/KnJN @tawnafenske

Why Support Other Writers? http://dld.bz/KmKp @ajackwriting

Tips for crafting dialogue: http://dld.bz/KmaN

Why editors may ask you to combine 2 characters: http://dld.bz/Gkud

Changing priorities and character growth: http://dld.bz/KmNy

Revising: How To Avoid Staring Into The Great Black Abyss: http://dld.bz/KkVp

How to Mingle at Publishing Events: http://dld.bz/KkUC

Are Book Editors Paid Too Much? http://dld.bz/KkKq

How to Avoid Head-Hopping: http://dld.bz/Kmj4 @JamiGold

Duties of an Editor & How Editors Help Writers: http://dld.bz/KmgK

Thanks so much @JoanSwan for featuring the WKB search engine on your site: http://dld.bz/Kmw6 @hiveword

Thoughts on proofing ARCs: http://dld.bz/KkHx

Why Writers Can't Have Too Many Sacred Cows: http://dld.bz/KkWE

The 4 Most Common Mistakes Fiction Editors See: http://dld.bz/KkJa

A freelancer question answered: "What should I charge for writing blog posts?" http://dld.bz/JZ7e

Eschewing Formal Language: http://dld.bz/JZ6T

An agent on how explicit sex scenes should be: http://dld.bz/JZ6G

Do You Blog Just Enough To Hate It? http://dld.bz/JZ6C

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Quick Change Chicken http://bit.ly/hD0kjH @CleoCoyle

Fiction and non-fiction--not so different after all: http://dld.bz/JZ66

The Race for the Future: http://dld.bz/JGSN

The pet peeves that add dimension well-known crime fiction sleuths: http://dld.bz/JTnZ @mkinberg

The importance of fact-checking: http://www.andrewjackwriting.com/2011/02/check-your-facts/ @ajackwriting

Tips for effectively opening your story: http://dld.bz/KeT7 @bluemaven

When the Inner Critic rears its ugly head…: http://dld.bz/JTpx @messydesklife

Literary elements to get familiar with: http://dld.bz/JZ4Y

Depth of Character: http://dld.bz/JZ4V

Is speculative fiction poised to break into the literary canon? (Guardian): http://dld.bz/JZ4N

5 considerations when using adjectives: http://dld.bz/JZ4M

26 Ways to Enhance Your Blog Content: http://dld.bz/JZ4z

How to Achieve Balance Between Your (God I Hate This Word) Platform and Your Writing: http://dld.bz/JZ4j

Creating an Attention-Getting Proposal: http://dld.bz/JZ37

Building a Story: Grids, Mapping and Outlines: http://dld.bz/JZ2X

How to submit writing craft links you think should be in the writers' search engine: http://dld.bz/Kb9x @hiveword

Pitching Genres: What the Heck do I Write? http://dld.bz/JZ2R

SFF and the Classical Past, Part 3—Heroic Romans: http://dld.bz/JZ2P

Are you a post pirate? You'll want to read this: http://dld.bz/JZ2J

When the Book Is Finished…Tips for Surviving the Post-Novel Mourning Period: http://dld.bz/JZxN

5 Writing Rules You Should Break: http://dld.bz/JZw5

Writing And The Mixed Blessing Of A Day Job: http://dld.bz/JTmT @thecreativepenn

You're The Artist—It's Your Job To Write What You Love: http://dld.bz/JGSh

Writing Blogs, Search Terms, and Our Corporate Overlords: http://dld.bz/JGRA

Doing A Whedon: When To Kill Off Major Characters: http://dld.bz/JGS6

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Bacon Cheddar Guacamole Grilled Cheese http://bit.ly/gqyvfq @CleoCoyle

Google Updates Google Reader, But Did Anyone Care? http://dld.bz/JGRm

Books vs. Music: http://dld.bz/JGPM

The Good News? Writing Never Gets Any Easier: http://dld.bz/JGQ6

Superpowers of the grammatical subject: http://dld.bz/JGQ2

Being Fictional: http://dld.bz/JGQb

Writing the Ending--2 tips to help you get to 'The End' - http://dld.bz/JSHg @jhansenwrites

Digital Book World: E-Books and Libraries? No Problem, Panel Says (Publishers Weekly): http://dld.bz/JGMn

3 Layers of 'Layering' in Fiction: http://dld.bz/JGMf

People Process Information Best In Story Form: http://dld.bz/JGMc

Grammar Police! That vs Which: http://dld.bz/J8ha

15 Minutes To Sanity: How One Writer Balances Housework And Writing: http://dld.bz/J8gJ

How Writing Careers Are Like Snowflakes: http://dld.bz/J7Vm

What is it really like to be published? http://dld.bz/J7Vd

Blood, Sweat and Words: How Badly Do You Want This? http://dld.bz/J7U3

Tips for writing action: http://dld.bz/J7Uu

"Wowed" by the Yanks, UK Indie Booksellers Motivated to Start Selling E-books: http://dld.bz/J7Ua

Ten Things to Help Writers Save $: http://dld.bz/J7TQ

Description Passages, Part I: Setting: http://dld.bz/J7Ax

Ten Twitter Blunders Writers Make: http://dld.bz/J7Aj

15 Scalable SEO Strategies for Newly Launched Websites: http://dld.bz/J7zW

Your First Draft is Allowed to Suck: http://dld.bz/J7z6

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Shrimp Pasta http://bit.ly/ePcsFo @CleoCoyle

From the Basement to The Attic: Remembering the Past and Creating the Future: http://dld.bz/J7zz

What's Your Excuse For Not Writing? http://dld.bz/J7sZ

The "Common Sense" Mistake That Makes Your Writing Lifeless: http://dld.bz/J7zq

7 inspiring writing quotes from 12 books: http://7quotes.webs.com/ @quotes4writers

5 Billboard Taglines That Advertise Errors (And A Quick Punctuation and Spelling Brush-Up): http://dld.bz/J7yZ

How to Choose a Writing Critique Partner (and Some Links for Finding Them): http://dld.bz/J7wC

8 New LinkedIn Features Worth Exploration: http://dld.bz/J7wp

10 Ways Authors and Publishers Fail on Twitter: http://dld.bz/JGFC @JanetBoyer

Launching a virtual book tour: http://dld.bz/J7vD

The Protocol For Following Up With Agents and Editors: http://dld.bz/J7tg

Have you tried it? The better-than-Google search engine for writers: http://dld.bz/Hnnn @hiveword

Anatomy of an Effective Blog Post: http://dld.bz/J7sK

Thoughts on different types of promo: http://dld.bz/JGGs

Learning to Say "No" to New Writing Commitments: http://dld.bz/J7sG

Dos and don'ts of public readings (National Post): http://dld.bz/J7sw

Why You Should Avoid Bright, Shiny Ideas: http://dld.bz/J7rY

Designing Books for a Digital Age (NY Times): http://dld.bz/J7rR

Is Doing a Blog Tour Really Worth It? http://dld.bz/J7r3

Querying The Cliché: http://dld.bz/JvQ6

What eBook Reading Apps Should I Use on the Laptop? http://dld.bz/JvQ4

Ten of the best walled gardens in literature (Guardian): http://dld.bz/JvQt

Freelancers--Why Your Article Ideas Aren't Working: http://dld.bz/JvNR

10 Places to Find Blog Inspiration: http://dld.bz/JvQp

How a Blogger Without a Blog Became a Blogger to Watch: http://dld.bz/JvQg

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Groundhog Day Giveaway: Six More Weeks or Not? Comment to Win from Cleo Coyle http://bit.ly/erdksP @CleoCoyle

Writers Obsessed with Writers; Fancy Magazines (Paris Review): http://dld.bz/JvPv

Rethinking Rights in a Transmedia World: http://dld.bz/JvNs

Building writing routines: http://dld.bz/JvMG

5 areas to help authors consider their personal State of the Union: http://dld.bz/JvMk

How to Turn Your Photos Into a Graphic Novel: http://dld.bz/J73Q @GalleyCat

For Agents, Timing is Everything: http://dld.bz/JuB7

Do You Need To Write Short Stories? http://wp.me/pyMqx-c3 @ajackwriting

The Perils of Literary Profiling (NY Times): http://dld.bz/JuBx

Ten tips for taming a beastly to-do list: http://dld.bz/J7AF @tawnafenske

Best Tweets for Writers (week ending 1/28/11): http://dld.bz/J79T

How to Download Word Files to Your Kindle: http://dld.bz/JuBj

Researching the historical novel: http://dld.bz/J7tG

3 Author Marketing Secrets From The Grateful Dead: http://dld.bz/JuBc

5 tips for establishing your characters: http://bit.ly/gehQX3 @p2p_editor

Borders Won't Make January Payments, Either, And They Aren't Paying Rent: http://dld.bz/J7xk and http://dld.bz/J7x7

Is the age of the critic over? (Guardian): http://dld.bz/JuAZ

A useful resource for describing settings, emotions, shapes, textures, and more: http://dld.bz/J6JG

5 Solid Ways to Get Traffic to Your Blog: http://dld.bz/JuAU

When you're introducing a character, make a good first impression for the reader: http://dld.bz/J6FA @elspethwrites

Freelancers: Jack of All Trades, Master of None? Seven Reasons to Specialize: http://dld.bz/JuAS

When and how often you should communicate with your publisher: http://dld.bz/JuAQ

Bookshops reply to the ebook threat: http://dld.bz/JuAJ

Poetry: a beautiful renaissance (Guardian): http://dld.bz/JuAA

"Am I a Writer Yet?" – Paid, Professional, Published, and Other Benchmarks Defined: http://dld.bz/JuAt

5 things one writer wishes she'd known before querying: http://dld.bz/JuAm

Some observations on erotica and gender: http://dld.bz/JuAg

Librarians--don't give up: http://dld.bz/J32R @LesaHolstine @Brad_Parks

The Purpose of Science Fiction: http://dld.bz/Ju9z

Being a Brand: http://dld.bz/Ju8u

10 ways to grow your Facebook following as an Author: http://dld.bz/Ju7U

Mythpunk: http://dld.bz/JvQJ

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Skillet Caramelized Pear Cake http://bit.ly/e7mOTf @CleoCoyle

What it means to be 'pre-published': http://dld.bz/Ju76

Eliminate Distractions to Increase Writing Income: http://dld.bz/Ju7a

How to Write a Query Letter: http://dld.bz/Ju6n

Tips from Alan Rinzler on how to untangle a plot: http://dld.bz/JxDv RT @inkyelbows

How to revise your novel if you can't get into it – take time to dress the set again: http://dld.bz/JrdY

Tips for having a blog tour: http://dld.bz/JrdR

How to work with the 4 levels of transition in a book: http://dld.bz/JrdK

Twitterific--the week in tweets: http://dld.bz/JvFR

What Literary Agents are Reading (Huff Post): http://dld.bz/JrdE

MASTER Recap of 2011 Writer's Digest Conference: http://dld.bz/Juvj

What happens after your query is sent: http://dld.bz/JnmR

Celebrity Death Match–Author Edition: http://dld.bz/JnmD

Is Science Fiction Getting More Conservative? http://dld.bz/Ju7m @PajamasMedia

How Creativity Wins Friends And Influences People: http://dld.bz/Jnmy

How to Avoid Being Fooled by Bad Writing Advice: http://dld.bz/Juva

A Good Metaphor is... : http://dld.bz/Jnmx

40+ Creative Manipulations to Feast your Eyes: http://dld.bz/Jnk8

Parents--nice list of books to hook a reluctant reader: http://dld.bz/JtGj @pragmaticmom

Myst. Lov. Kitchen: Happy Cake http://bit.ly/hMjTHW @CleoCoyle

Graphic Noir: A Random Sample: http://dld.bz/JnjY

19 Posts on Creativity: http://dld.bz/JnjG

Writing scared--how writing can create anxiety...and might cure it (New Yorker): http://dld.bz/Jrc5 @bookbench

Successful Writers Produce: http://dld.bz/Jnjx

The overlooking and discounting of clues by sleuths in crime fiction: http://dld.bz/JqZW @mkinberg

Organizing for a Conference

Today, I'm attending the Cape Fear Crime Festival in Wilmington, NC.

This will be my second visit to this conference. I really enjoyed it the last time I attended—there was a nice camaraderie between the authors, I enjoyed the library location, Wilmington is pretty and walkable…and I'm not too far away to drive.

As soon as I find out the time for my panel, I make the hotel reservations. If I have, for instance, an 8 a.m. panel and I've got a drive that takes hours, then I'll stay the night before the panel instead of the night following it. Or vice versa. Helps to save a little money.

If the hotel I'm staying at doesn't have a free continental breakfast, I'll usually take something that doesn't have to be refrigerated that I can eat for breakfast. I'm a big believer in breakfast. :)

I do always try to have either lunch or supper or both with other authors…it's really where I have the most fun and have more of an opportunity to visit.

I keep all my receipts in an envelope so I'll be prepared at tax time.

If I'm traveling on the same day I'm attending the conference (like I am today), I wear something that won't wrinkle too badly. I like jersey knits for that. I wore linen once…ha! :) I don't know what possessed me.

As I mentioned in a previous post, it's a good idea to come prepared with giveaways—bookmarks, business cards, small giveaways. I've seen authors bring personalized note pads, luggage tags, lip gloss, computer monitor cleaners….just all kinds of swag. I usually don't go really over the top with stuff because it's hard to tote around—and because it's expensive. But at Malice Domestic, I did bring potholders with a BBQ theme that had my business card tied on to them.

I make sure to bring water (just in case the organizers don't provide it.) I'll bring a nice pen to sign books with, and I find out what the set-up is for book sales. Sometimes an independent bookstore will be in charge of book sales---and sometimes I'll need to bring my own books and small denominations of cash to make change with.

I'll prepare in advance if I know my panel questions ahead of time. I try to stay on track with the question and have succinct answers. I have a tendency, actually, to be too succinct, so I try to plan for elaboration of my answer, if I need to (if the moderator is glaring at me, for instance, because of my brevity. :) )

If it's a conference where I'm staying for a couple of days, then I will need to plan some down time in my hotel room. Otherwise, I tend to get a teensy bit on edge if I spend a whole lot of room with other people—even very nice people. And, although I'm very introverted in nature…I try to be outgoing at these events. In fact, most people who have met me think I'm outgoing. :) I'm apparently a great actress. There are several folks that are going to Cape Fear that I'm really interested in meeting…so I really will be outgoing today.

Are you planning on hitting any conferences this year? Have any tips?

Changing Priorities and Character Growth

I was talking to another parent the other day and thinking about how even small goals and priorities change with time.

When my daughter was a brand-new baby, my number one goal was just to keep her in clean bibs (spitty baby.) I'd go buy bibs in bulk and find the right size—big enough to keep her from ruining her smoked dresses, but not so big that you couldn't see the smocking (this was also around the time that I started writing my first book. I think the bibs started boring me. :) )

Shortly afterwards, my number one goal was to keep my toddling daughter from losing her lovey, Dirty Baby. Losing Dirty Baby was a complete and utter nightmare. I would do anything to keep from losing that dolly. The child couldn't sleep, eat, or do anything but wail unless Dirty Baby was in her arms. I ended up buying another baby doll just like that one and dirtying it up myself just in case we had a catastrophe and needed a substitute. I tell you, I was obsessed with Dirty Baby's well-being.

Then there was my ongoing attempt to get rid of my daughter's pacifier. She and I ended up sending the pacifiers up to the Guh-guh fairy up in the sky. (Yes. I tied several pacifiers onto a huge bunch of balloons and sent them up into space so that the Guh-guh fairy could redistribute them to babies who still needed binkies.

As my daughter grew older and went to elementary school, obviously, my goals and priorities changed and became broader and less focused on the day-to-day. And I became a bit more focused on me and what I wanted to do since I had a little extra time. That's when I started pouring more focused energy into both my writing.

As I look at the last nine years, I can see tremendous change in as far as what my personal priorities are.

What about our characters? It's important to know what our characters want…we hear a lot about that. But what about character growth that causes changes in characters' goals? As we get older, we experience change (jobs, finances, marriage, divorce, children, empty nests, etc.), and our wants, needs, priorities, and goals change.

Sometimes our goals and priorities can change rapidly in response to an abrupt change of circumstances; a catastrophic financial burden like a family member's expensive medical problem, a grown child who moves back home, an aging parent, etc.

Obviously, this can also bring conflict or even changes in a character's outlook on life. Think about the main character in the classic movie It's a Wonderful Life. His priority was always to go off and see the world—until reality in the form of various family and community responsibilities forced him on a different track. So you could even have the character's dream and the character's reality be in conflict with each other.

Do you know what your character wants? Has what your character wants changed at all, or could it?

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Also—I have an announcement to make. :) I just signed a contract for a new, three-book mystery series with Penguin's NAL imprint under my own name. The series is set in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina and the first book (which I'm currently writing) involves a murder that affects members of a quilting guild in the small town of Dappled Hills. Thanks to Penguin and to my agent, Ellen Pepus, for the opportunity!

Answering a Few Questions about the Search Engine

I've gotten enough emails and DMs on Twitter that I thought I should probably run a short post answering some questions about submitting posts for the search engine, etc.

First of all, thanks so much to everyone for their support! Mike Fleming and I have been really overwhelmed by the blog posts, the tweets, the Facebooking, and the encouragement. Thanks so much to everyone!

The content for the search engine is coming from the links that I've tweeted. Each week, new links will be added to the engine from the posts I've tweeted from the previous week. So basically, Twitterific is going into the search engine.

I've had quite a few questions from writers on how to get their content added to the search engine. I'm usually looking for craft-related, industry-related, social media, promo-related, or writing inspiration posts. I love posts that are easily skimmed (as opposed to a block of text--most writers are working with short amounts of time), have great content, and can be helpful to many writers.

I'm scanning over 1500 blogs…and it's easy for me to miss a great post. I'm trying to spend only an hour a day reading posts, so I'm reading them very quickly. What's most likely to make me accidentally skim over a wonderful post is a misleading title, an intro that doesn't relate to the rest of the post, or a truncated post in my Reader (the whole post doesn't show up in my Reader and I have to click "read more"…leaving my Reader and opening another window to do so.)

Have you got a great post on the writing craft—even something in your archives? Feel free to email me at elizabethspanncraig (at) gmail (dot) com or to shoot me a DM on Twitter (@elizabethscraig). Not sure your blog is in my Reader? Please send me a link and I'll add it.

Thanks so much again, everyone, for the amount of support you've given us and the ideas you've had for the search engine. We're hoping it'll be a tool that's a quick, easy way to connect with resources. And please let me know in the comments or by email, Twitter, or Facebook (Elizabeth Spann Craig, Author.)

Finding Interesting Characters

Living in suburban Charlotte, NC, I don't meet a wildly different array of people in my usual, everyday life. Everyone is, of course, different from each other (different talents, different personalities, etc.). But we've all got more in common with each other than not.

Most of the people that I see on a day to day basis are other parents. We interact with each other through our children's activities. Some go to work, some volunteer. We go to book club, out to dinner, to church, or to the movies. We visit while waiting to pick up our kids from Scouts, art class, or drama. We tidy our homes and do yard work.

There are slight variations on the same theme.

And then I went to the guitar store.

The guitar store visit was necessitated by my son's interest in taking lessons. My husband has an 1980s-era Kramer electric guitar,which he'd already stopped playing by the time I met him in college.

So we walk in, holding the (very old) guitar case. And I have a feeling we looked just as exotic to the tattooed, pierced, black-tee-shirted people in the guitar store as they looked to us.

"Wow," my husband said. "We're old. And boring!"

I agreed with him.

"Well, let's drop off the guitar with the repair guy and leave," he said.

But I was more interested in hanging out and watching these folks for a while. They were so different. And different is always good when I'm collecting character traits and mannerisms.

I don't think my husband was as thrilled at hanging out in the guitar store as I was. "You've got rock musicians in your next mystery?" he asked with some degree of surprise.

No, I definitely didn't. But that's the nice thing about creating characters—you can take little bits and pieces of people and meld them together to create a new person. It sounds a little Frankensteinish, but it works well. It does help, though, to see some different kinds of people from time to time.

Unfortunately, the guitar store made staring at people difficult. There wasn't a café area where I could watch them and listen to them without being too obvious. I lingered as long as I could before we finally left.

Even if I don't use the people I've seen, the experiences tends to inspire me. It gets my neurons firing to see all the different possibilities of character appearance and personality and dress and manner.

I haven't done any really good people-watching for a while and I think my well is running dry. Starbucks isn't doing it for me (more of the same suburban types.)

Does people-watching help you add a little color to your characters? And—where has the watching been good, lately?

Thoughts on Different Types of Promo

There's always an active discussion somewhere—writing forums, comments on blogs, conversations on Yahoo groups—about the different types of promo for writers and what works best.

I think the reason why the discussion is so lively is that not everything works for everyone.

I've been asked a lot recently, though, about what's worked for me with book marketing. In fact, I'm going to be speaking at a panel this weekend on the topic at the Cape Fear Crime Festival.

For the record, here are the different things I've tried and how I thought it worked:

Book Tour: I actually enjoyed this, despite the focus on public appearances. I think the reason I enjoyed it is because I was touring with several other authors…and staying with Molly Weston, who was very hospitable and fascinating—she's organized tours for tons of authors. Ordinarily, though, this is the most expensive form of promo and unless you have a pro like Molly organizing it…it could be a flop.

Bookstore visits: My least favorite. I'm usually asked a lot where the restroom is or where the travel section of the store is. I would recommend putting candy and small giveaways on your table—and smiling a lot. You might want to have a nice glass of wine with an understanding friend afterward. :) Or you might love bookstore visits—your mileage may vary.

Social media/branding: You won't be surprised that this is my favorite, I'm sure. :) It's free and can reach a wide audience in a variety of ways. It can be subtle instead of pushy. And it provides a way to network as well as to market. On the downside, it will suck up all of your available time if you let it. Most authors like Facebook and blogging best…I also like Twitter.

Blog tour: I love blog tours. You get a chance to interact with a different group of readers, the blog host gets a chance to take a short break, and your book's hits on Google go up. It's important to be organized with blog tours—know where you're supposed to be and confirm it with the host a couple of times. Be sure to check in with comments during the day. You'll want the tour to be long enough to be noticed, but not so long that blog tour fatigue sets in (for you and your readers.)

Postcards: I've done a postcard drive before to bookstores and libraries. I found it fairly expensive, but worthwhile—I checked the before-and-after of my book at libraries (my primary target) on WorldCat and could see the number of libraries carrying my book increase. As far as independent bookstores? I'm just not sure if it worked or not…I couldn't really get any data on it.

Calls: I've made promo calls to bookstores to see if they're carrying my book and to ask them to carry it, if they didn't (this was for my smaller publisher…the larger one had covered the bases pretty well.) I'm really not a phone person, so I went off a script after making sure it was a good time to talk to the CRM (community relations manager) at the store. I didn't enjoy making these calls at all…but I did get my book on the shelves using this method.

Contests: I do a good number of these on the Mystery Lovers' Kitchen blog. Expense—it's up to you. You could give away one of your ARCs, an author copy, or something that ties in to your book (I've done barbeque related supplies before.) We've noticed on the group blog that it's better to have shorter contests—ones that go on for a week or even just a day seem to do better. You'll want to make sure you include the cost of shipping in your costs when you're deciding how much you want to spend. And you'll also want to decide whether you'll open up the contest to international readers (which I usually do.)

Bookmarks and business cards: These are really just a must. You'll want them to give to people who ask about your book, or to put on the promo table at conferences or panels, or to have at your book signing, or to hand out at festivals. I've ordered them from different places (Iconix and VistaPrint) and I've made them myself using Microsoft Publisher and Office Max. But you've really just got to have them. Readers do seem to love them—I get emails from readers who ask for them.

Appearances/panels: It's definitely harder, as a mom, for me to get to appearances at conferences, festivals, and panels—but I'll definitely make them if they're regional and not too expensive for me to get to. I do seem to sell books when I make appearances.

Book clubs: I enjoy talking to book clubs. They're really going to be one of the most successful venues for writers because of the number of people reading your book…and because they usually provide a receptive audience. The ones I usually get invited to are friends of friends types of events. I've enjoyed all the ones I've gone to…and I have a couple on my calendar already this year. I know authors who have given away door prizes at these and that seems to go over well. It's also a nice opportunity to get people on your email newsletter list.

As a reader, I've bought books (and continue to) by authors I've gotten to know through social media. I've bought books when I've attended panels and was interested in the authors who spoke at them. I've only occasionally purchased a book at a store because I saw an author there (that's hit or miss…it might be that they've written a genre I'm less-interested in reading.) And I'll admit I've not been swayed by postcards, bookmarks, or tours. But that's just me.

If you've got a book out, how are you approaching promo? What's working for you? If you're a reader, have you ever purchased a book as a direct result of marketing?

Multitasking—Not as Efficient as it Seems

I used to be a pretty good multitasker.

Maybe I was too good and got overconfident. I started juggling even more at a time.

Three times last week, though, I was in a real-time conversation with someone—twice via Twitter and once on the phone and I completely messed up.

The last time I messed up, I was proofing something I'd written (blog post, not my book), talking to my husband (not, I'm sure, very coherently), listening for a weather update on the television so I'd know what the children should wear for school, and messaging a writer on Twitter.

I got a returned DM on Twitter, "Sorry?" the tweeter said. "That link doesn't relate to our conversation."

Really? I frowned and looked at it. Sure enough, it was truncated gobbledygook from something else I was working on.

I apologized to the guy I was tweeting saying, "I'm working on 20 things at once."

He was nice enough not to say, "And doing none of them well." :) But I bet he was thinking it…and so was I.

I stopped everything I was doing, and focused on the one priority I really had at the moment. And that was the point that my morning started going smoothly.

Some things I can multitask. I can vacuum and write a book in my head. I can cook supper and come up with a blog post. I can exercise and work on plot lines.

Where it seems like it goes haywire for me is 1)when I try to interact with people and do something else simultaneously and 2) when I do more than one thing on the computer at once.

One thing I've never done is multitask around my children. They deserve my full attention—besides, kids will call you on it. But everyone else deserves my full attention, too—including my poor husband who has probably gotten completely used to incoherent sentences from me.

So here's a new resolution for me—one thing at a time, if at all possible. And if I'm having a conversation with you, I'll pay full attention (that means no writing the book in my head when we're talking! Even if I think you'd make a nice character for my book.)

Are you a multitasker? How is it working for you? Are there some things you can multitask better than others?