Lara Ward Cosio's Blog, page 5

On envisioning success

I read an interesting article about award winning science fiction author Octavia E. Butler  writing "of her success years before it happened."  

It's specific for her own success as well as how she will give back ("help") others. She also repeats two mantras: "So be it!" and "See to it!"

I love the idea of spelling out your specific vision of success. I think, if nothing else, it serves to clarify in your own mind exactly what you want so that you can strive toward it (rather than flail at some amorphous goal). 

What disappointed me is reading this (as is usually the case), was the comments attached to the article. They were predominantly negative, berating the idea as fantasy and modeled after "The Secret." So many were quick to try to knock down the author's intentions with  her notes and it was just a little depressing. I don't know that I'll ever understand what compels people to go out of their way to be negative and to begrudge someone else their success. 

I do know that Butler's pronouncement was a wonderfully realized vision of what she wanted and who she saw herself to be. And she certainly didn't "wish" it into being. She worked for it, as the "See to it!" mantra implies she would.   

I'm thinking of my own vision of success with writing. When it's ready, I'll put it down in writing and "see to it!"

A tale of two (novel) covers: the sequel

When I posted a while back about trying out a slightly different version of the cover for Playing At Love, I obviously had reservations about the primary concept. As much as I love the image of the guitar player, it just doesn't tell the whole story. It trended too hard toward a "rock star romance" when I feel it's much more of women's fiction with the emphasis on deep character development and relationships.

I had long admired the work that  Ebook Launch did with cover design and finally reached out to them to see if I could convey what I was looking for. They came back with two slightly different versions but both were top notch. One was a sort of Tiffany blue/green and the other was a burnt orange/red. The orange/red was immediately striking but the blue/green was the one that quickly won for me. It felt so clean and modern and the color really drew me in. It had the right mix of alluding to the musical elements in the book AND the romance (with the guitar heads forming a heart shape). And above all, I could quickly see that this would give me a way to brand the whole series. Now I'm anxious to get the next one started!

I think what this shows is that if there is any doubt that the cover isn't quite reflecting what you want, don't be afraid to make a change. I'm glad I did.

 

 

Oh, the places your characters will go!

I'm deep into writing the second of the Rogue Series Novels, Tangled Up In You, and have been having so much fun with the characters unique experiences.

In this novel, characters hike in the waning light of a sunset up behind the Hollywood sign for a romantic adventure. They journey on a train through snow-covered mountains and over one-hundred year old limestone viaducts on their way to St. Moritz where they enjoy the breathtaking spectacle of snow polo. They get a glimpse of the natural phenomenon of bioluminescent phytoplankton that sets the nighttime Australian ocean waters aglow. They casually view great art work at the São Paulo Museum of Art. They have a outdoor dinner picnic on the steps of the Place du Trocadéro in order to enjoy the lights of the Eiffel Tower.

The places these characters go is so much fun to research and conjure that I actually envy them! 

A tale of two (novel) covers

I fell in love with an image of a guitarist on stage long ago and knew that I'd use it for the cover of Playing At Love. I have two versions of it. One is very straightforward, no frills. The other has a tighter focus on the guitarist and more ornate fonts. 

The first feels like it is steering away from being a "rock star romance" or any other category romance, and that's why it appeals to me. With the tagline, there is the hint that even with the "serious" font, the novel has a love story.

The second feels more polished and stylized, and that's why it appeals to me. The font is suggestive of this being a romance, but it's too "genre" which is good because this is definitely not a category romance (see: What it is not).  

I've read that if you should feel free to change your cover (at least on the e-version) to see if that changes the sales. 

I'm going to experiment again and change the e-version to the "no frills" cover and see what happens. 

Writing the next in the series

So, the first in the Rogue Series Novels, Playing At Love, is done and available in both print and e-versions on Amazon. And now it is time to finish the next novel of the series, Tangled Up In You. 

This novel actually goes back in the history of the characters of Gavin and Sophie to show how they met and why they are so tied to each other. It also develops the love triangle with Conor, the aftermath of which is dealt with in Playing At Love. I'm 54,000 words in and have a self-imposed deadline of early March to finish the first draft. I've used much more outlining with this novel than I did with the first one. It's at once helpful and a hinderance to have the structure so laid out in advance. I find that knowing what each chapter is going to involve makes the idea of writing feel like a chore, but then when I actually get to it the characters do what they always have done - take on a life of their own and surprise me.

I think Tangled Up In You will be about 200k words, so I've got plenty more work to do. And as much as I love it, it is work - as any fiction you're serious about should be.

Stay tuned... 

An experiment with KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited

Before publishing Playing At Love to Amazon and others, I had researched KDP Select where you make your book available as an e-version ONLY to Amazon. This would make it free to those with a Kindle Unlimited subscription, and thus theoretically makes those people more inclined to give your book a chance. After an initial period, you have the option to run special promos for your book that you aren't otherwise able to make. This is a plus in the marketing area.

But it also puts all your e-version eggs (so to speak) in one basket, giving Amazon the monopoly on your book. This is the main argument against KDP Select as far as I can see, but as someone struggling to get any foothold with sales, I thought this would be, at the very least, a worthy experiment. I'm not locked in forever to the KDP Select model, so I will go with it for the time being and see if it helps shake loose any new readers. 

  I'll report back on the results of this strategy in the coming weeks. Until then, happy reading!

Goodreads giveaway for Playing At Love

Just  this past weekend, I packaged up four copies of Playing At Love and mailed them out to the four winners of the Goodreads contest I had run for just over three weeks. It is my hope that each person enjoys the novel, of course. Once they have enjoyed it, perhaps they will recommend the book to their friends and write up rave reviews. 

But I'm a Goodreads newbie, so I really don't know how much stock to place in these things. It was a bit of an education along the way to see how many people signed up for the contest. The numbers jumped most quickly when the contest was first begun and when it was winding down, despite my my best efforts to drive traffic toward it with Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram postings.

I also saw that some people added it to their "to-read" list. That is a great perk of the contest, though I do wonder about some people who have north of 20,000 books on their "to-read" list. I mean, I am honestly pleased as punch that there are such voracious readers out there but it would be a bit disappointing to be added to someone's list only to get lost in the flood of other books. 

Ah well, another reminder of how much is out of your control when you self-publish. 

Tagline/logline for a novel

It's very American to want to distill a product down to a choice few words in an effort to both get to the point of a thing, as well as tempt the consumer to want to know more.

Even as novels are supposed to be the enduring area where development beyond the all-pervasive 140-characters Twitter-verse is encouraged, taglines are expected. 

It's also known as the "elevator pitch." Basically, if you were on a short elevator ride and wanted to describe your book to someone unfamiliar with it, how would you do so in a compelling and brief way?

So, you've just completed your novel and painstakingly pared it down from 120,000 words to 106,000. Now, go ahead and create a single line that encompasses all the magic you've created in that novel. You're a writer, it should be easy, right? 

Wrong. The process forces you to remove all nuance and character development, which after pouring your blood, sweat, and tears into your work is pretty painful.

I have two "go to" taglines I use for Playing At Love, and they are most useful (where else) in Twitter posts:

Playing At Love: A novel with music, heart and a splash of romance
Playing At Love: Sometimes you have to go down the wrong road to find the right love

Neither, of course, even begins to hint at the nature of the main plot, let alone the subplot. Both deal with mistakes made in love, weaknesses acknowledged and eventually forgiven, all with a musical and globetrotting background. Hmm...you can see why I'm not very good with a tagline. I'll keep chipping away at it and maybe find the one that will resonate.

 

What it is not

As a writer trying to get her work published, a major step is determining your book's category. 

Is it Young Adult?
Is it a Thriller?
Is it Fantasy/Paranormal?
Is it Women's Fiction?
Is it Romance? If so, what subgenre?

The advice is to go ahead and pick the category that most closely fits your work.

Okay, so I decided that since there is a love story in Playing At Love, I will push it into the Contemporary Romance category. And I scour the internet for similar works and the agents that represent them. After months (MONTHS) of pursuing the traditional method of publishing by sending out query letters that I hoped distilled the engaging essence of the book (pushing the Contemporary Romance angle) and getting just a little hope without any payoff, I decided to self-publish.

The decision meant disappointment that I wouldn't get the validation that having an agent and (hopefully) a "Big 5" publishing house would represent. It also meant I wouldn't have the marketing support that route would offer.

Daunting, to say the least. But it was also freeing, as I could - perhaps to my detriment - now describe Playing At Love in the terms that I feel better encapsulate the story lines. Because, it is not a straight category Contemporary Romance. And though the main characters are part of a rock band, it is not a Rock Star Romance (a subgenre). It's not technically Women's Fiction (or Chick-lit) since the main character is a man (and it's not necessarily light and comedic).

Playing At Love has always been hard for me to categorize. Maybe because I'm too close to it. It's ultimately about relationships - both love relationship and friendships. It's about the ways in which we hurt and heal each other. It's about what it takes to move on in life. But yet, it's also got glamorous rock band and fashion model settings which is just plain fun as the characters jet around the world and have grand experiences.

So, now my novel is available as a printed book on Amazon and as an e-book there, too, as well as on several other platforms (Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo). Yay! It's thrilling to have it completed and available. At the same time, it's incredibly difficult to get it noticed. 

For now, all I can do is continue to work on the next in the series, Tangled Up In You. I will hope that my efforts here and there at self-marketing do something to lift it from the pile of so many other aspiring authors. But the odds are long. At least I can say that I have written the book I wanted to write and that I know what it is not as much as what it is. And I love it.