Bill Conrad's Blog - Posts Tagged "publishing"

When people find out that I’m an author, they immediately ask, “What’s your book about?” A reasonable question and I cheerfully answer, “It’s about a 500-year-old woman forcing an author to interview her.” The people seem to understand this premise and their next question is, “How did you come up such a far-out idea?” I tell them that I thought up my concept up a long time ago and worked on it for many years until I had the confidence to write about it. They then say, “I have always wanted to be an author. How did you go from your idea to a book?”
That is a complex answer. In my first three books, I mentally modified the story hundreds of times over many years. When it came time to actually write them, the words just flowed. However, that approach created a big problem. When my beta reader (mom), editors and book helper read my story and they had big concerns. The basic plot had several major issues. In just about every area, I was missing the motivation. A big part of this missed motivation was the “critical decision.” This is when a character decided to do something and the author has to pull their thoughts out of the characters heads. For example, “Bob killed Fred.” Why did he do this? What happened afterward? How did Bob feel about his actions? What did he tell people? Well, I just kind of assumed that the reader had been paying attention and magically knew what was in Bob’s head. Oops.
Overall, I was missing was the basic flow of a good story. A character gets into trouble and then either get’s out of trouble or they don’t. When I’m writing, I like to resolve issues as quickly as possible. A character simply cannot remain in indeterminate trouble over several chapters. I guess that’s a part of my engineer personality. Everything I have control over in my life is neat and organized. The problem with a logical approach is that it doesn’t build conflict and sustain the reader’s interest. Readers like to have a good long read about how a conflict starts and then have their hand held through the resolution. That is how a good writer builds a great story and this is the difference between a news report and a novel. One is presentable and the other is enjoyable.
Not all stories have to have deep conflict in order to be great. The book, The Zen and Art of Motorcycle Repair has a very basic story. A dad takes his son on a motorcycle road trip. There’s no controversy, adventure or radical concepts. However, it is an astounding book that everybody should read at least once. Why? Because of the way the simple story flows. This book goes far over the top to expand the characters and their motivations in a very mellow way. The plot builds over several chapters and then slowly settles with a gentle conclusion.
There is a genuine art to developing a flow within the plot. There has to be an overall plan and I have only recently begun to formalize that approach. I do this with an outline that allows me to really craft the story. With a basic outline, it’s much easier to tie story elements together over multiple chapters. For example, a person can have a mysterious health issue for the first 90% of the book and then get it resolved at the end. Readers generally like this approach when they read a story. However, I still prefer to get the major issues resolved quickly. The good news is that using outlines is helping me resist this trend. The bad news is that I still hate when a character is in trouble.
The next book I’m going to work on is a spy drama. This sequel to my third book Cable Ties (in the editing process now) and the overall plot while straightforward has many elements. I’m going to try to have a few unresolved conflicts, open-ended questions and other areas that leave the reader confused. I’m also working much more on the motivation behind each of the characters to give the reader a better perspective.
The problem with this new book (which is still in the outline stage) is that the plot isn’t too strong. While there are some really good ideas, I’m not sure it will hold the reader's interest. Overall, it’s a messy plot without a core focus. I have been going over the plot for a while and come to no revelations. I think the overall problem is that there is no central adversary with a central agenda. However, this is often the case with real-life spy stories. This type of story is about one big government organization versus another with thousands of individual people making their big goals happen. Their overall plan (with regards to spying) is to keep their country safe and ahead of the other country. I am trying to keep it real with a focus on the many little people who are diligently doing their job. The important part of the plot behind this book is to weave through the characters’ lives. They are going to have real dilemmas and have to work hard to resolve their conflicts. For me, the worst part is going to be that I am forcing myself to make this happen over several chapters. I still have a lot of work to do before I start writing. The outline needs a lot more tweaking and I know that I need to make several big changes. That’s why this book is still at the outline stage for the last 6 months.
What will my future plots hold? Well, I have many ideas that I want to explore. I also have wondered about a book of short stories. One of them is a great idea about time travel involving Amelia Earhart. The good news is that I am getting much better at crafting the overall story. The bad news is that I still want to solve my plot too quickly. Got to work on that.

Books often try to break new ground to gain the public’s interest. Just about every single plot concept/type has been tried and every character type has been explored. The result is that it’s getting harder to be unique and really stand out as an author.
One of the ways that an author tries to stand out is by writing about a controversial topic. This generates buzz and excites readers. It also benefits society by bringing exposure to these unspoken topics. For example, writing about a character that has an alternative lifestyle. Initially, this shocked readers and was considered very taboo. When I was growing up in the 70’s, I remember the big controversary about men wearing small earrings and the huge significance of their outrageous choice. Is it on the left or right side? Since that time, many authors and the media have had characters with alternative lifestyles. Now, this very controversial topic doesn’t raise an eyebrow and men wear all kinds of earrings without a second look.
An example of a very old controversial topic is scary monsters. When Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein came out, it was explosive. People were afraid to go to sleep because scientists might have created a monster out of body parts. At the time the book came out, this concept was truly terrifying and it generated a huge amount of interest. Now, the concept of a scientist sewing a monster together out of random body parts is timid and evokes little interest. Unfortunately, this added exposure eventually makes controversial topics bland and authors must keep trying to push the envelope. That is both the power of the press and its curse. Topics such as this are longer special. The result is that a book that focuses on an outdated controversial topic will no longer automatically sell due to shock value.
For me, I take the opposite approach and try not to write about controversial topics. My biggest controversial topic is in my second book, Kim and Gabe Survive which is now in the editing stage. In that book, I write about a 17-year old female and a 34-year old male who get together. Originally, her age was 15 and this writing choice wasn’t intended to evoke shock, but instead, it was an important part of the plot. After talking to some friends about my book, their negative opinion of her age made me uncomfortable. I felt there was no other choice and changed her age from 15 to 17. The result was that it deluded the controversy. Well, in my opinion, it made the story less dramatic. Did I bow into the pressure that society places on a writer? I caved in without a whimper! Honestly, it was just too uncomfortable. I wanted my work to stand out because it was a good story and not because it was controversial.
My conservative personality has always put blinders on my life. However, there’s another aspect to my personality which wants to avoid criticism like, “That was a terrible book. A 34-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl. How shameful!” While some writers would live for stirring up this very kind of trouble, that’s not my personality. Is that bad tactic for an upcoming writer? Tragically, yes it is. A writer needs to be bold in order to make an impression. Really good writers have figured out how to write about a controversial topic in such a way that they get positive reviews. For example, the book 50 Shades of Grey had a plot full of controversy. The result was great sales and a movie deal.
In my case, I do my best to push the envelope while remaining conservative. For example, I wrote several intimate scenes in Kim and Gabe Survive. I did my best to do craft these scenes in a dignified manner and tried to focus on the passion, emotions and inner thoughts. I couldn’t bring myself to deeply describe their naughty body parts, outrageous exploits, and lusty emotions. My description was very basic and wouldn’t have even been a footnote in 50 Shades of Grey. However, their intimate interactions were critical to the plot and in my humble opinion, the scenes [the concepts surrounding the scenes] broke a very small amount of new ground in the writing world.
In my upcoming third book, Cable Ties, my story involved FBI agents. I have never met an FBI agent and I did a lot of guessing as to what their culture was like. I put a lot of effort into making the story exciting and relevant. However, my efforts with regards to the FBI were not supposed to be controversial and I treated them as dedicated people who were diligently doing their job in a professional manner. The problem is that in writing a book about the FBI, I may have messed up a critical aspect of how an FBI agent actually conducts themselves. This may have unintentionally made my work controversial by my lack of direct experience. Accidental controversy is something that most authors try to avoid. Granted, any publicity is good publicity. In my case, the FBI was simply a basic plot device and the last thing I want is a comment like, “This book trashes the FBI. What an awful story!”
So where does my lack of controversial topics ultimately leave me? Well, I will probably always go out of my way to avoid controversy in my writings (and my life.) This conscientious choice of avoiding all types of controversy was present from a very early age. Does this mean that my books will never be bold, take risks or push the envelope? Tragically, yes it does. To me, this aspect of my writing is just fine. I can sleep at night knowing that my work isn’t upsetting people. In some ways, I wish this wasn’t the case. But that’s my choice and it’s a choice I can live with.

One day, I told my wife that I wanted to write a book. At the time, I was unemployed [I was actually part-time employed] and generally not doing a lot with my day. My wife replied, “It will be fun to see what you come up with.” That evening, I began writing my first book.
In retrospect, my family considered me to be a writer from that point forward. For them, not much had changed. My daughter went to school, my wife worked and I sat in front of my computer. If I hadn’t decided to write, I still would have been in front of my computer researching/writing up business ideas/plans or perhaps playing video games. Makes me wonder if I could have created a business. The choices we make…
Occasionally, I would ask my wife questions about medicine or about a woman’s perspective. My daughter would ask what I was doing and I would cheerfully describe what I was writing about. However, my wife and daughter didn’t probe too deeply and overall, they took a hands-off approach. Writing is an introvert/personal process anyhow.
What I didn’t do was draw story content from my own life. This meant taking great care to make sure that my plots weren’t thinly veiled versions of me and my family members. There were a few stories and personality traits that I borrowed, but I believe that a book should stand on its own. Otherwise, my books would be “The Conrad Adventure Series.” Boring! Granted, in my second book, the main character was an Engineer… In my defense, it was a plot element. A very weak defense.
The months passed and my efforts paid off with my first book. My family was excited by my accomplishment and there was a lot of buzz in our household. A touching moment occurred when my daughter read the dedication and realized that she was important enough in my life to be mentioned. Of course, she was!
The buzz soon faded and our household returned to normal. I still sit at the computer while silently writing. I still occasionally ask my wife about medicine and she recently told me how a unitary catheter works. Ouch! My daughter ignores me when I am writing while she watches YouTube. Now, she has a new distraction in the form of a bird named Tiki. Its tweeting is becoming an issue. On a side note, the bird likes classical music. Strange. Or a new plot device?
Now, don’t get me wrong. My family is my first priority and if there is an event, chore or problem, they come first. I’m not one of those obsessed people where writing is their only outlet. My den door is open (unless my daughter’s bird is incessantly yapping) and they are welcome to come in at any time. Writing is something I do because it’s fun.
Overall, writing consumes time that I probably should be spending with my family. To them, this is my hobby. Just as my wife likes baseball and my daughter likes YouTube. I could just as easily spend the same time playing video games. Or I could start a new hobby like amateur radio or golf. Writing is probably cheaper. Granted, I have spent a lot on editing/self-publishing.
The overall answer to this deep question is that writing takes up time. My wife and daughter certainly don’t introduce me as “Bill the author” and I would never put that title on a business card. If my next book makes some marketing inroads, then there might be some changes, but I doubt it. To me, this revelation comes as a surprise. I would have expected that writing fiction would’ve dramatically affected my life because it was such a change from Engineering. Reality turned out to be different.

Side note: My twentieth blog! Yay!!!

When I think of an editor, I picture an old person hunched over a desk with stacks of paper in massive organized piles. They magically know how to spell every single word, have the entire thesaurus memorized and they have all the knowledge in the universes. Just like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator, they find every single mistake and they never sleep.
In some ways, this far-out description is true. Editors do find most mistakes and they are relentless in this effort. However, they are much more than that. They check facts, look at flow, move sections around, check logic, change descriptions, delete junk and make comments.
Authors write from their single perspective and this is the really good editors take over. For example, an author might use the word “trippy” 5 times on each page. Of course, this reads just fine to the author. The editor would see this tick and reduce this word use. The result is that the reader isn’t annoyed by word overuse. This is part of an overall effort to develop a universally appreciated document.
This example also highlights a major failing of programs like Grammarly. An author could write trippy in every sentence and as long as it’s grammatically correct, all would be fine. One of my habits is to describe something and two sentences later, I describe the same thing again. I’m not sure why I do this, I guess, it’s my logical nature. Programs like Grammarly would never catch this mistake. I have read many posts about how editors are now obsolete because of programs like Grammarly. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Editors also have to look at the structure, flow and overall tone. They might delete sentences, move them around and add comments. For example, “Expand this section. More about the motivation. This doesn’t make any sense. Unnecessary, consider deleting.” They also check facts and logic. For example, “WWII ended in 1955.” A simple mistake like that would really upset readers. Programs like Grammarly will never be able to know what to do with a sentence like that. Does this story contain an alternate reality where this is a true statement? Is this statement from a student that incorrectly answered a question? Or is it a genuine mistake? Either way, it’s essential to prevent major mistakes from reaching the reader's eyes.
There is, of course, a downside to working with an editor. First, they make me depressed that my grammar isn’t better. They also bland the overall tone. An author might write a great colloquialism, “Dis is a funky-fresh day. Yo!!” The editor changes it to, “This is a nice day.” To me, their efforts take away the edge, but the result is much more universally understandable.
To me, the worst part of working with an editor is when they confront you with the fact that something just isn’t working. You have failed as a writer and it’s a really hard pill to swallow. My only condolence is that in life, the hardest lessons are the most important.
It is essential to locate a good editor. I looked up many reviews before selecting one. Editors are people and they have quirks, strong opinions, ethics and they make mistakes. To further complicate matters, an author can work with 2 or 3 of them. One editor thinks a sentence should read one way and the other likes it another way. The author turns into a rag doll that is just trying to get a book out.
Another difficult part of working with an editor is that they are expensive. Typically $40-75 per hour. As a self-published author, this expense represents a major burden. However, to be taken seriously, good editing is essential.
There are some ways to reduce editing costs. The first is to self-edit a lot. This means going over your work at least 20 times. The second is to show your work to friends. Even if they don’t have a writing background, they can be extremely useful. You want comments like, “This section doesn’t make any sense. Why did Bob leave the house? You keep saying trippy.” These comments are gold mines. The result is a more powerful document that the editor can better apply their skills instead of mucking about with trivial stuff.
Editors are a writer’s best friend. They make the difference between a rabble of words and a polished document.

When I wrote my first book, I needed to give the main character a great background from the 1500’s. Specifically, she needed to have a humble childhood foundation to allow her to become a powerful woman. Many years ago, I came across an astounding Smithsonian website featuring 3 part color photographs from the 1800’s by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collectio...
These early photographs have been painstakingly restored to show breathtaking images of Rural Russia. I used these photographs as inspiration as I pictured my main character growing up in this simple time. In the sequel, my other main character goes searching for her all across Russia. Then in my third book, there are Russian spies. It is clear to my readers that I have a lot of Russian influence in my character development.

Did I intentionally concentrate on Russians? To me, I thought it was a random choice. However, when I took some time to think about this fact and it’s clear that I do like Russian characters. I like their inner strength, their culture, and their vast country. As for the people, I treat them as reserved, intelligent and very perceptive.
What about the Cold War and communist aspect? I generally tread lightly in this area. My characters regret their negative past and have moved on to new challenges. For modern Russian culture, I view it as transforming into something new and powerful. This epic transformation contains a lot of great material and in my third book, I use this transition as a backdrop for the entire story.
I think it’s important for a character to have pride in themselves. When I think of a typical Russian, I picture a strong person with a deep connection to their heritage. I think this gives them tremendous inner strength. Russia has had many accomplishments and their influence is vast. In looking back on my writings, I like all of my Russian characters because they come from a rich culture that’s instantly recognizable. It’s clear that my writing will contain future characters with Russian backgrounds. In writing this blog, it is also now clear to me why I have so many of them.

Rule number one for a writer is to never use a misunderstood word. For example, “The comfortable chair felt deleterious.” What a sophisticated sentence. The definition of “deleterious” clearly means nice or pleasant. Makes perfect sense. Right? The correct definition of “deleterious” is: harmful often in a subtle or unexpected way. With this knowledge, this sentence clearly contained a mistake. While deleterious isn’t a common word, there are many readers who know the correct definition and they would certainly spot this obvious error.
When I first learned about the word existential in high school, I quickly understood its sophisticated meaning and incorporated this new word into my vocabulary. To put it mildly, I had no idea what that word meant. My incorrect use led to misunderstandings and bad grades. This was a very important life lesson.
Wikipedia defines existential as: “The belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual. While the predominant value of existentialist thought is commonly acknowledged to be freedom, its primary virtue is authenticity. In the view of the existentialist, the individual's starting point is characterized by what has been called ‘the existential attitude,’ or a sense of disorientation, confusion, or dread in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world.”
I often find this word in literature and technical articles. “He as an existential attitude.” “A great existential work.” Just this morning, the newscaster said, “A clear case of an existential crime.”
Still, I do not even have the basic idea what this word means. Is it describing a carefree philosophy? Is it a spirited lifestyle? Is it simply a description of many obvious traits in the modern age? If forced to answer, I define this word as, “being far out reserved.” In my mind, I see an existential person as a 1960’s hippy going to college to be a scientist. An existential situation is going to a planetarium to watch a high-tech laser show set to classical music. In short, existential is the contrast between old and new. The last glimmer of hope in a bygone age. Of course, my definition is quite different from the one in Wikipedia.
For this blog, I did a search to see if I could better understand this word. I came across many good articles and I now have a better understanding of what this word is supposed to mean. Still, even the trusted sources could not fully capture the word. In addition, the trusted sources had different definitions and examples.
Well, perhaps that’s the point. Somebody invented a word that had a confusing definition. They then sat back and watched people using the word incorrectly. Is that out of the question? A prank word? It wouldn’t be the first time.
For me, this word is off limits and I suspect that I will never understand the word. Is that bad? Perhaps it is and I probably should put more effort into understanding this word. The reality is that I have moved on to other challenges. In that spirit, this blog now has an existential ending. (Whatever that means.)

When I start reading a book and it becomes apparent that it is not worth continuing, I put it down. Life is too short to waste time on a bad book. In that same spirit, I don’t give books bad reviews because I never get far enough into them to have enough material to write a proper review.
In high school and college, I read several required books. Most were enjoyable, but I disliked a few. Shakespeare, for example, was terrible. I hated his writing style and I felt the plot was overrated. To me, it seemed to be an antiquated verbal puzzle. Granted, I am fully aware that it’s very challenging to write in prose and Shakespeare is considered to be the best author ever. Still, I have absolutely no interest in any of his works.
I found some books too complex to get into. For example, I was never able to finish any of Stephen Hawking’s works. They were difficult to comprehend and the writing style was arrogant. I was given a set of his books and they remain my bookshelf to this day. I have donated many other books to Goodwill since I got the set.
James Michener is an epic author. Tales of the South Pacific, Space, and Hawaii. These are fantastic books, but they simply did not grab my attention. To me, the plots were too bold, to epic and impossible to relate to. l like plots that are more down to earth and I can connect to the characters.
At present, I am reading the book Column of Fire by Ken Follett. Like all of his books, it has a complex plot with lots of characters. From the start, it was clear that this was not his best work. While the story has a great premise, the execution, setting, pace, and characters let it down. I think Ken put too much effort on the history and not enough into the flow. Overall, there is too much filler and not enough solid story. I am about half way through and while I have decided to finish it, the review is going to be poor.
Despite a lot of effort, I never got into Clive Cussler and Ian Fleming. I started several of their books, but I couldn’t finish a single one. I really wanted to read the James Bond and Sahara books. It was clear they were well written and had a strong plot. They just never held my interest. The characters were too arrogant and the heroes did not act like heroes. I wouldn’t even classify them as anti-heroes.
There are complete genres of book that I avoid. Mysteries, horror, romance, cowboy, comic, poetry and travel. I never walk through those aisles at the bookstore. Fortunately, there are many authors with many books. Next on my reading list is “So, Anyway...” by John Cleese. Will I make it through the first chapter? Stay tuned to find out.

I have followed the Facebook group Writers Helping Writers for a while. Often, new authors ask the same basic question: Where do I start? I always post the same answer: Start with an outline. While this concept seems like an obvious step, it was not obvious to me. Now, I begin every book project with a complete outline and go over it for weeks before formerly beginning the actual writing.
I thought it would be an interesting blog idea to describe my outline process. So… what is a book outline? Its essence is to capture the entire plot. From there, the author can review and make radical changes without consequences. The result should be a basic story that can be used as the framework for writing an entire book.
The process starts with a plot concept. How do I develop my ideas? I’m at my most creative before I go to sleep and while riding my bike. I don’t use an outline to develop a basic plot. That would be too formal and would limit my creative process.
How much basic plot is needed to start an outline? About a paragraph. Essentially a topic that has a beginning, middle, and end. There are many formal methods of creating an outline such as the flower method. Some people use: whiteboards, post-it notes, 3x5 cards and some have circles with lines connecting them. However, I do not use the formal methods. My mind just does not work that way. My outlines are rambling notes.
When I am confident enough in the basic plot, I start at the beginning and just go. I encourage myself to: explore, experiment, change, move, delete and add. At this stage, I have complete freedom to make major changes and push the envelope.
Once a basic outline exists, I go over it a bunch of times with questions like: Does the story make sense? Are the characters interacting enough? Does the action need more conflict? Would rearranging the sections lead to more drama?
In parallel with an outline is a character description. This basic tool fills in the details and interactions between characters. In my next blog, I will describe this in detail.
When I am ready, I show the outline to my beta reader to get feedback. Granted, this is a rough concept and it takes lots of explaining. My goal is to make sure that I have an understandable plot that others would like to read.
In the next paragraph is an outline section from my upcoming fourth book. I intentionally didn’t make any edits for this blog. You will see missing capital letters, big run on sentences and bad grammar. That’s just fine because this outline was just for me. However, you should see a wisp of a plot, a bit of dialog and some of the overall flow.

Go to Russia, find grace, difficulty with culture, wonder around woods for two days, find grubby apple tree, building remains, ponder life, gets the feeling that grace knows I am looking but refuses to show herself. men at apple tree, take to china on weird Russian plane, taken to Chinese palace, describe, lots of servants, meet Chinese harvester “pincushion man,” his history: land owner, horses, agriculture, gold mining, communism took much of it, no land now, still had gold, built relationship with communists, owns 3 party members, they leave him alone, has a lot of dirt on them. Ask a few questions, claims to have developed his secret process. angry at James for letting the secret out. Angry at Cleopatra, did not know Grace, angry that grace told james secret, secret reserved “only for the divine, not worthless people like you.” pincushion man pressure James to reveal total secret. pincushion man has years of experience with torture, threatens james with death. James begins to talk and they compare notes.

Wow, what a rabble. However, from that mess, I made 4 chapters. You can see a slight amount of dialog: “only for the divine, not worthless people like you.” That dialog gives intent. It shows what the character is thinking. I refer to a character as “pincushion man.” I did not have a name for this character. My idea was that this character had a bunch of needles sticking out of him as if he was constantly using acupuncture. That concept didn’t work in the book.
Overall, the plot is beginning to take shape and there is enough direction to begin writing. Here is an outline section for my upcoming fifth book:

Kim returns form daycare and finds Jason at their home eating, drinking beer “We don’t allow alcohol at our house. I clearly had a problem.” wait for Gabe to get home, ask questions. Jason upset, mad about prison/yoga. “Made a decision for you. You are going to clean up your mess.” Why mess is bad, [mess is spreading, “my boss cannot allow this.” “Who boss?” “Not telling you.”] Tells James to fix the mess, otherwise, all involved dead including Kim/Gabe. Reveals that his job was to kill Kim/Gabe but injection needle in Toyota seat, malfunction, due to anti-virus, virus should have taken 3 weeks. Did not have the manpower to complete murder, because no-talk, Jason spared them. Watched closely and kept quiet, appreciated.

This outline section probably makes little sense to anybody but me. The result of this section became one chapter that explained: “Why mess is bad.” Mentally, I knew all the details of “Why mess is bad.” Thus, I didn’t have to go into too much detail in my outline. In essence, the main part of this outline section was how and when to present “Why mess is bad.”
The next part of the process is converting the outline to a book. Let’s take the first paragraph as an example. “Go to Russia, find Grace, difficulty with culture.” I would begin writing about the character James and how he takes the trip to Russia. This would involve filling the blanks such as buying an airline ticket, getting time off work, coming up with the money for the trip. All the while, I am thinking about setting up the next section of “finding Grace.”
Now that James had landed in Russia, he encounters the typical difficulties of adapting to a foreign country. Again, I was setting up for this concept. Before James leaves his home, he “remembers” to pack a translation book. When he lands, he realizes that he forgot his book which leads to issues. This is the beauty of the outline, you know what you are about to write about and can set up the story in advance.
Let’s looks at a huge example of why an outline is so useful. Using the second outline as an example, let’s say that at the outline stage, the character Jason does not work. Let’s fix it by making him a woman. How easy is it to change the outline? One simple word replacement and Jason becomes Jackie.
Now, let’s make that change in a completed book with a word replace. Here is a simple example: “Jason entered the room and he was wearing his muscle shirt. He had an angry expression.” This gets with a word replace to: “Jackie entered the room and he was wearing his muscle shirt. He had an angry expression.” Do you see the problems? Jackie is a woman and she is referred to as “he” twice and “his” once. The other problem is that a woman probably would not be wearing a muscle shirt. Changing the main character from a man to a woman is a massive change. Even with a lot of edits, the reader would probably think that overall, Jackie is an oddly masculine character.
This example highlights the power of an outline. Massive changes can be made, huge sections can be moved, motives altered and epic ideas explored without consequences. For me, the best part is working out the finer details of how the plot should flow.
When finished, I have the entire book’s plot in about 3 pages of outline. From there, I just expand upon the basic story. The first two times I used an outline, I got to about 60% and then the plot drifted away from the outline. That’s because as I wrote, the story took on a life of its own. However, it converged to the same ending.
In conclusion, dedicated authors use an outline to develop their works. I am getting better at creating them and utilizing them. Probably a good thing.

Wow, what a bad topic to blog about. So far, my marketing effort has stalled. At best, I sell one book a month. The few people who have purchased my book usually know me in person or online. The good news is that most of my readers like what they read. It’s nice that I made a few people smile.
My primary marketing plan is to get a few more reviews, bring out two additional books and then use the Amazon paid promotion services. I know this is an awful plan because the Amazon paid promotion services are ineffective. My secondary plan is to develop a grassroots effort of Facebook promotion and beg for reviews. So far this plan has had limited success.
Well, what did I expect? I expected Amazon, Kubo, Barns and Nobel to do a better job promoting new authors. In my mind, it is in their best interest to help new authors become great sellers. Yeah… Some wishful thinking going on in my head.
What else did I expect? Honestly, I expected to find the magic lamp of marketing. Go to website X, pay $50 and BAM! Instant book sales! Woo-hoo! Money in the bank! You cannot imagine how my surprise in not finding such a site.
Now, more than ever, if you have money, people are willing to take it. Why should book promoting be any different? I located many sites who were willing to take my money. However, the services they offered were laughable. Even worse, they could be detrimental as they blasted people with annoying spam. These sites offered no metric of success and no guarantees. The textbook definition of wasted money.
I sensed an opportunity and considered making a business that would promote self-published authors. However, I could not come up with a viable plan that made any sense. That business is still an option. I really need to put some time into thinking up a good business idea.
Every self-published author faces the same marketing wall. There are millions of old books and thousands of new books. Perhaps a hundred new books come out every day. These books all compete for a reader’s attention. Keep in mind that a reader also likes: eating, sleeping, social media, television, sports, movies, exercise, work, family, travel, and friends. Somehow, a self-published author has to break through that entire spectrum of options and convince a reader to “buy it now.”
For example, a reader could purchase The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy [A well establish book] for $2.99 or the reader could purchase Interviewing Immortality [An astounding book. Trust me, I wrote it.] by an unknown self-published author for $2.99.
If I take an objective approach, this is not a difficult decision. I know millions of people cherish The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy. It is a well-written classic that everybody should read. Why would I spend my hard-earned cash on a self-published nobody? Convincing myself to “go ahead. Take the leap. It’s only $2.99.” That’s all fine until I have to put in my credit card number. Hold on. $2.99 will buy me a six-pack of Diet Coke. Let’s think this through. Better go with the established author where I know I will get my money’s worth. “You have purchased The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy. Thank you for choosing Amazon.” Good choice.
Wow, what a depressing thought. Will I ever get the word out? Will I ever sell over two books a month? I believe in myself and I have gotten good feedback from the people who have read my book. This encourages me and I feel that I have a positive writing future ahead of me. Blah, blah, blah. Answer the question. Alright, alright. I have picked a difficult path to follow. It is very hard to self-promote a self-published book. Marketing is challenging for the experts and it is a skill that I have put little effort into developing.
Financial success in self-publishing is difficult for any author and my prospects are slim. What’s missing is a bubbly personality. I simply don’t have it. I also lack the advertising drive. Take the leap, spend the money and put up a billboard promoting your book. Yeah, I will get right on it…
I have never been one to give up and I still see the possibility of success. What’s needed is more effort in the area of engaging people and telling them about my work. This means broadening my presence. Right now, I’m not on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and all those other sites. If I expect any success, social media needs to be part of my core plan.
Here is an unpleasant thought. Pay a YouTuber to promote my book. Girrrrr. I don’t want to do that. Trust me, it will help. Lots of people promote works through YouTube. It’s fast and easy. Girrrrr. It should be clear to everybody that I am in the way of my own success. Now that is a depressing note to end this blog.

As part of my marketing efforts, I look at the new books that come out on Amazon. This last month, I performed an informal survey of the latest releases and went through 40 pages of new books. For each book, I put it in a category and then came up with totals.
I hypothesized romance would dominate the field, but the results surprised me. Adult books were at 20%. The topics spanned the entire spectrum of erotic behavior. This ranged from the hard-core S&M to light-lust Amish romance. Overall, there was not one dominant (no pun intended) subcategory. All titles and covers were suggestive and graphic. I found several four-letter words in the titles and X-rated pictures on the covers. Amazon viewers clearly could tell what the book was about, and I am sure these new books would shock casual viewers of this category.
With the wide variety of internet adult material, I would have thought that this book genre would have died out in the ‘90s. I remember in the ‘70s when adult book stores were all over town. By the ‘80s, they had disappeared. I guess this entertainment category found a new life.
Self-help and alternative adult each occupied 15% of the new books. Most self-help books were tune-up guides for your life. Are you depressed? Make these 10 changes. Here are two example titles: “Lets Tide Up: A complete life changing guide to tiding up and get organized” “Psi Power: Shape Your Life With Psychic Power.”
However, the self-help books were not the ones I remember from the ‘80s and ‘90s. One of my favorite self-help books is “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” The book offers a detailed guide about how to be a better person. It contains great material, but the author points out the long road to success. Today's self-help books seem more like getting rich quick schemes. Something like: “10 shortcuts to trick people to liking you.”
The alternative adult books all had graphic titles and book covers. However, the content seemed to follow a basic formula. Lusty alternative lifestyle romance stories. I would have expected more variety and a deeper dive into that topic. This category has taken over traditional romance.
Fiction and cookbooks each took up 10%. The fiction works were fantasy, horror, and science fiction. Many of the books had similar covers, and most of the fiction stories were part of a long series. (Essentially, soap-operas.) However, there were only a few basic fiction titles.
I expected the cookbooks to be well… Cookbooks. You know. A book that tells you how to cook and is full of recipes. Instead, they were all niche-focused. A common topic was cooking low-calorie quinoa dishes. Here is a perfect example: “The Essential Star Trek Cocktail Book: Damn It, Jim, I'm A Doctor, Not A Drink Mixer!”
The following categories each took 5%: Mystery, religion, kids, conspiracy/government, romance, and re-release.
Of all the book categories, mystery books remained the same as when I was a kid. They still follow the same plot formula and have the same book covers. Yet, I can see this category declining.
There were many religious books, and this category is expanding, but not in how I expected. Given that we have the internet, databases, newly discovered material, satellite maps, archeological digs, big data analysis, and new ideas, this category should contain some great new material. Instead, the category seems to diverge into unusual niches. Here is a typical example: “3 Biblical Ways to Publicize Your Business.” Some books attempted to explain modern life/politics through religion. All of them seemed to have an us versus them spin. The line between conspiracy and religion is blurring. The religious books I used to see were all about being a better person. That no longer seems to be the case.
The astute blog reader will note that I described the next category as “kids” and not “young adult.” This category has radically changed since I was a kid in the ‘70s. As I was writing this blog, I concluded about what changed. Harry Potter messed this category up. Let me explain. Harry Potter books were written for children, but adults liked them. Now everybody reads “young adult” books. As a result, the young adult category has disappeared.
The kid’s category is for the eight and under crowd. However, the books have changed since was a kid. Now, they must contain a learning component, be earth-friendly, and have a positive push. Essentially, the formula has narrowed, and kid's books lost their playfulness/edge.
The next category is conspiracy/government. In the past, these were separate categories, but politics and people have changed. In the ‘80s, government books read like a textbook. Here are the facts about a government topic, and this is my conclusion. Now we see titles like: “QANON: The Most Complete Report on the Great Conspiracy Against the United States.” Conspiracy/government books now have to be focused with a powerful slant. You are for the authors side or an enemy of all that is good. It is incredible how much things have changed.
The next category is romance. Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s this category dominated the written world. I remember entire romance bookstores, and every book followed the same basic formula: A relationship.
Romance books now still focus on relationships, but they fall into distinct categories. There are period romances (generally set in 1800s England on ships.) There is what I term fantasy romance. These books push the limits of plausibility like an average person falling in love with a super rock star. Another is odd combinations like a doctor falling in love with a married patient. Amish romance stories are quite popular. There are crossover romance stories like Romance/Science Fiction or Romance/Erotic.
The last category should not be a category; re-releases. This is when a publisher takes an established book and put it into a new package. This allows old books to get categorized as new. Remember reading Charles Dickens in High School? He is dead. Right? Nope. He is alive and well. He even comes out with new material every year.
I do not understand is why readers get fooled by this rotten trick. Here is an example that I pulled up today: “Agatha Christie Premium Collection.” “The Complete Works of Jane Austen (In One Volume)”
When I clicked on Amazon Kindle, “new releases in the last 30 days.” The first book was “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind.” This book had a release date of three days ago. In that short time, it got 21,760 ratings. On Goodreads, it has a release date of 1963. Yeah, a new release. It appears some rules are getting bent.
My four blog readers probably caught something. What about the other popular categories? Westerns, traditional romance, engineering, science fiction, non-fiction, how to, law, educational, reference, history, crafts, business, medicine, money, art and travel. My four blog readers just pulled up their amazon page and saw those same categories.
I agree that these categories exist, but there are only a few new books in these categories. The titles are from established authors and their older books.
Let’s look at one specific category. Westerns. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, this category dominated the entertainment world. However, if you look at television and movies today, you will not find many western stories. I suspect the classics still sell, but a new author would have a tough time. Why? I guess people no longer like cowboys.
Where are books going? Books on the same path that music took in the ‘90s. Since Edison first recorded music and sold the first record, the formula has been the same. Make a record and sell it at a store. Radio, concerts, music merchandise, cassette tapes, and CDs changed the game slightly, but the basic formula remains.
In the ‘90s, MP3 and the internet came along and decimated music sales. Record companies had no idea what to do, and musicians stopped getting huge checks. Concerts for new groups went from selling ten thousand tickets to bands playing at local pubs. The music business went into a chaotic meltdown.
When the dust settled, musicians still made music, but they distribute it differently. Music categories (listening tastes) git focused on niche markets. The supergroups of the ‘80s used to sprout like weeds. Now, a wide-reaching musical hit is rare, even for a well-known artist.
Publishing followed that same formula. Write a book, print it, and sell it at a store. Movies, plays, and books on tape also slightly changed the game, but the formula remained the same until the 2000s.
Now, books get printed on-demand, downloaded, offered for free, or allow the first chapter is available online. Authors need to target specific audiences in specific categories. A few authors still go through traditional publishers, but the majority self-publish in electronic book format. This new market has a better chance of success, is easier, faster, direct, more controlled, and (potentially) more profitable. Direct eBook publishing has huge limitations, but I would argue that those limitations are rapidly going away.
What about the mega authors? There are still big names like Neil Gaiman. However, these books comprise 1% of the new books and probably get 90% of the money.
My conclusion is that readers are getting more of what they want and less of what they do not want. Now all I have to get them to do is buy my book.