Cynthia Harrison's Blog, page 71

My Own Little Heaven

Terri Giuliano Long has been doing a fun thing this week on her blog. In celebration of love, she's asked guest bloggers to post on various forms of love. She asked me! It was an honor. In my woefully inadequate marketing research, I think they call this something. Cross promotion? Maybe. Anyway, I chose to write about my love of language in a post I called "My Own Little Heaven."  The promotion part is my bio at the end. So it was very nice of her to give me this opportunity. She's also doing some giveaways, so if you are the contest loving type, check it out.

On my own progress, finally got the three chapters polished. Now my goal is to get a synopsis and cover letter done and send the entire thing out to an editor who has asked to see more of my work. All of this by Saturday. I can do it. Of course I can. I want to have that package mailed before I go on vacation.

Simmering Pages

I know now, after reading and re-reading my Writer's Block page, that my version had elements of numbers 1, 2, and 3. Tension, Indecision, and Fear of Failure. The remedies are Relaxation, Clarity, and Confidence. I think there was an element of clarity that I didn't mention in that first Writer's Block tangent, and it's important.

(When I wrote the Writer's Block instructions, way back in 2008, I'd never had writer's block, and wasn't sure why I decided to write about it. Something urged me to write it, and although I knew nothing about it except what I'd read, and what my students described, I just went ahead and did it. It was like automatic writing, or as close to that as I've ever been. But then, I always feel, when the writing is going well, that I'm just transcribing what's in my head and have absolutely no clue as to how it got in there.)

So. Clarity. This really speaks to revision, which is what I'm doing now. The solution for Indecision is different with first draft and revision. I was ready to just go into first-draft mode again, that's how stuck I was yesterday and the day before that and the week before that. But I sat down and immediately worked out the two main problems, or points of Indecision. It was like my unconscious needed time to simmer. So, sometimes, with Indecision, all you need to do is be patient for a week or two. Be patient and try to write morning pages to keep the writing muscles flexed and ready to go.

At first I was patient, but finally I got concerned enough to look up my old posts (I originally wrote the Writer's Block page as three or four posts) and work my way through them. I gave them a page of their own so I could consult them anytime withoutt using the search feature. And consult I did. It got me going with the Relaxation and Confidence and I  decided I could live with Indecision until it sorted itself out. What got me to the page was this thought: "Just write anything. Then read it and see if it's good."

So I did and it was and I'm cured! LOL. Really, what I mean to say here is that sometimes you just have to be patient and let the mind work your plot points out. Not patient for a year, but a week, maybe two. Things will look very different after simmering awhile in the drawer.

Fixing Writer's Block

How is this for irony? In 2008, I wrote a series on the top ten causes of writer's block and how to overcome them. I had to go back and read my own recommendations so I could pull myself out of this slump in productivity around the WIP. It's working for me and I hope, when or if you ever need it, it works for you.

Marketing the Mike Wells Way

I've written here before about Mike Wells. This guy not only writes great books, he effortlessly markets them in a way that reminds me of the Victorian era when Charles Dickens owned a magazine and put out a chapter at a time of his latest book. Readers couldn't wait for the next chapter. All novels were originally serialized. Each of Jane Austen's titles appeared in several volumes.

Wells does something similar. He breaks his books into series. I just finished the delicious Lust, Money & Murder series and I have to say, I would have no problem marketing this way. It is easy and it tells no lies. Plus I am already sort of doing it, because every book I write has a sequel. My cliffhanger endings are not as suspenseful as Wells's but then I'm writing relationship novels and he's writing mysteries and thrillers.

The way Wells does his marketing thing is to give the brilliant and compelling first book in the series out for free and then charges $2.99 for each of the next two, equally excellent, installments. Or you can buy all three for $4.99 which will save you a buck, because I swear you will not be able to resist reading the rest of the heart-pounding series.

Wells is good with the details, whether he's talking about high fashion or the goverment's money printing process. His characters have chemistry and their quandaries are exciting. He deals equally well with plotting and pace. That's why it is impossible to resist the little line at the end of book 1 that says "buy book 2 here." And so on.

This is by far the easiest to execute marketing idea I have come across since I started trying to sell my novel. What excites me is that the novel I'm selling now ends on a sort of cliffhanger. It's a "happy for now" ending that I had to add to, because I wanted to know what happened to my characters next. And you can bet that as soon as I finish that book, I'm hoping readers will want to know what happens next, too.

 

Closer

Final galleys came yesterday. On page 127. Only found one tiny mistake! What I find most unbelievable is that I still like my story even after endless edits. That has to be good. Right?

Confessions of a Conference Junkie

I remember reading an essay by Anne Lamott in Salon years ago saying she felt horrible being paid to attend writing conferences where agents and editors and speakers all promised what she feels cannot be delivered: a book contract.

My reaction to that, as a conference junkie from way back, was at first shock, then horror, then acceptance. I'd been to enough conferences to know that I am never going to be the golden one who signs with an agent on the spot or whose workshop leader says "I have to send your pages to my editor." I'd heard of those things happening, and even saw it once or twice. But, mostly, I know that I will come home from the conference having learned all I could, including that conferences don't equal contracts.

In her essay, Lamott shared some dire statistics about writers. Most published writers need another job to support themselves. Writing doesn't make you rich or famous or even published. What she didn't know then that we understand now is that writing CAN and DOES get you published. But not usually rich or famous. And yes, if you need to support yourself, most writers will have to find another way to do it. Writing in the dark or at dawn or during a particularly boring meeting.

My first writing conference was way back in the 80s. I've been to one almost every year since then. I know they're not going to make me published. I'm already published! What I got out of conferences was exactly what I needed: writing friends, writing skills, writing saturation. Most of my friends are not writers and total immersion in real life of a whole bunch of writers is like being in heaven, with ink pens.

So now I'm planning a conference for the historic Detroit Working Writers. I'm chairing this event, setting up workshops and checking out caterers. For the past few years, since I've been published, I've been speaking or giving workshops at conferences instead of participating as an aspiring writer. But I like to sneak into a session or two just to fill myself with that feeling of thirty or forty or maybe even a hundred beating writer hearts in one room.

This is taking some time away from my WIP. It's okay though because it is so much fun. Unlike Lamott, I feel like I can put together a conference that will help people become writers, the way conferences helped me learn the skills I needed to succeed. And that whole publishing thing? Easy as pie these days. Here's the proof.

Meaningful Marketing

The best marketing tool I used for my writing manual was to give it away free on Kindle for a week. It is still in the top ten of one list (adult education) and #100 in "writing skills" and "creativity" is #48. So not only does the give away help, but tags do, too.

I used Amazon all the time before I got a Kindle or became an Amazon author. Many times I'd use tags to search out books. For authors, it's easy and free and it works. Another marketing move I will make again. I will also give away frees book again.

And how did I learn about the free book concept? Twitter, or rather a Twitter pal, Mike Wells. So those are my three top marketing tips, easy and effective  for introverts like me. #1 Give Away #2 Use Tags #3 Find and emulate Twitter Tribe.

I have another marketing strategy I have learned just by being on Twitter. It's something I see all my favorite Twitter people doing. Instead of saying "buy my book" they choose a great line from a review and tweet that. I should be doing that. I am on Twitter a lot and I hardly ever do any marketing there. I am all about finding writers (and others) to connect with, books to read, gathering helpful links.

So today I'm going to find some good quotes for my novel and post them on Twitter. The other thing I'm going to do is use TweetDeck to post messages when I'm not even on Twitter. Everyone does that too. Will let you know how that turns out for Sister Issues, which is right now lagging seriously behind Your Words, Your Story. 

 

 

 

 

 

21st Century Classroom

When I started writing, I idolized writers like John Updike, Erica Jong, Raymond Carver, Margaret Atwood, and Alice Hoffman. I still do. I have always loved to write, and when I started writing those first tentative novels, I assumed my career, if I was lucky enough to have one, would be something like they had. On a much less grand scale. But it would work the way their careers did. They wrote the book and their agent and publisher and publicity agent did the rest.

That is all I wanted. Just to write. Very 20th century thinking. Little by little, just about the turn of the century, I became aware that publishing was changing. I was right in the middle of what seemed like a revolution. I blogged so I wouldn't be blown away by the new winds. In real time, I found it difficult to keep up. I still mostly modeled myself after literary writers, publishing stories and poems in magazines. But my novels weren't literary. They weren't romance or any other genre, either. I saw genres come and go and stay way too long and still could not find a place in the tornado of novel publishing.

Finally, an editor took me in hand and showed me exactly how to write a romance. She had me cut a subplot, create a meaty conflict, make the hero more alpha, soften the heroine, let the reader in to their emotional lives. Then, after I'd done all this, she offered me a book contract. That book contract happened when I thought I'd finally found my tribe among the indie contingent.

So I decided to go ahead and self-publish my indie novel (which is not a romance) to Kindle while signing a more traditional contract with The Wild Rose Press. The first thing I noticed is that my indie novel went public way before the traditional, still unpublished novel. I like the speed and ease of indie publishing. I don't like making my own covers, promoting my own books, or formatting my manuscripts to Kindle.

One thing these two deals have in common is that promotion is all down to me. I'm slowly learning the marketing ropes with the help of a wonderful community of indie writers I have found on Twitter. Yes, Twitter! Who knew? Not me. I'm still learning. And I'm learning mostly from indie writers I found on Twitter, my 21st century classroom.

The Paris Notebook Cover!

I'm so excited! Just got the cover for The Paris Notebook which means we are getting close to a pub date. Plus I love this awesome cover by the very talented Angela Anderson! The main character is a teacher, so she put an apple on the books! Too cute. And she also used my favorite color: pink! I know. So many !!!!s

The Business of Being a Writer

There is something so charming about the image of a writer insulated from the world, creating fantasy towns and people in her mind. But if you've been a writer for any length of time, you know those charming moments are rare. You may also know that there is more to writing, when you really get serious about publishing your work, than writing.

Submitting my work to editors and agents was the first non-writing hurdle. I had to learn to write non-fiction things like cover letters and synopses. Linda Gardner has a great lecture series on writing a synopsis in her writers' toolbox. Learning to articulate your story from a one line pitch to a full out proposal is only the beginning. The real work starts when you're published. Congratulations and get ready.

Now that I am a published writer with two books available, more writing business has been added. In a word: marketing. This blog, which I still think of as a fun way to vent about the non-charming aspects of writing, is a marketing tool. I've seen "blogging" listed as the #1 marketing tool for writers. That was happy news since I was already doing it and it is (for me at least) fun.

Although I'm not working on my novel for the next few days, I am still working at the business of being a writer. This weirdly includes grocery shopping and menu planning for my critique group meeting here tomorrow. I was in critique groups before I was published. It's not always comfortable, but I don't see how writers do without that feedback, especially indie writers like me.

The other huge business writer thing in my life that you'll be hearing more about, I'm sure, is the 2012 conference for my writer's group, Detroit Working Writers. If you live in Michigan consider joining DWW, which has been around for over a hundred years. You will get a great rate at the conference.

I am chairperson of the conference. This turns out to be fun and also intense work but so far only in short spurts. For the past few days the executive board and conference committee members have been finalizing our plans to present to the membership. I kept track of 5o or so emails regarding revisions to be made to early draft of documents.

Not only are we having a conference in September, but we are holding a state-wide writing competition with some pretty nifty cash prizes.  You do not have to be a member to enter the contest or come to the conference. Writing groups are great for networking and conferences even more so. This is marketing 101. Every person at that conference will receive a gift bag with a copy of my writer's manual (and other good stuff like chocolate) in it. That's layering marketing on marketing.

So I guess I don't suck at marketing so much after all. Although I have yet to do a blog tour or post a guest blog, I am active on Twitter and getting comfy on Goodreads. Turns out I adore Twitter and spend way too much time on it. Not marketing, making friends who are also indie writers. But there's a subtle sort of marketing going on whenever and wherever I post about writing. It's not in your face BUY MY BOOK but you get to know people and like their blog and before you know it, you're buying their book. At least that's what's happened to me.