Paul Austin Ardoin's Blog, page 16

Book Review: Gray Horizon by C.B. Samet

Gray Horizon: A Dr. Whyte Adventure: 5/5 stars

Gray Horizon, the third book in the Dr. Whyte Adventure trilogy, follows an emergency room doctor (who happens to be married to a CIA agent) on a dangerous trip around Europe, as her husband tries to keep the hatches battened down in the nation's capital.

When I read Gray Horizon, I hadn’t read the first two novels in the series. But Samet gives us just enough tastes of what happened before—which also seem like rollicking tales of international intrigue—to make me wonder about the details of her earlier adventures. While Gray Horizon is perfectly good as a standalone, I did wonder how much subtext I was missing.

Missing subtext or no, though, this book was hard to put down. In fact, I didn't put it down once Dr. Lillian Whyte landed in Iceland—perhaps four chapters in. That’s when the adventure really kicks into high gear.

Samet’s characters are interesting and complex. I especially liked Ivan; apparently he had a large antagonistic role in book one. There’s no doubt that he is incredibly complicated, yet he’s easy to root for.

Both the main plot, with Dr. Lillian Whyte and Ivan in Europe, and the secondary plot, with the CIA husband trying to keep a lid on everything in Washington, DC—are engaging on all fronts. Each of the two stories paints a vastly different picture, but Samet does a great balancing act to keep them both intriguing.

C.B. Samet has a strong voice in this book, perfect for a thriller. She’s an EVVY award winner for her fantasy books, and the bold, confident prose and propulsive plot make it easy to see why she’s won the award. The plot is as engaging as anything Dan Brown has written in the last ten years. Samet’s book is a joy to read.
 

Buy Gray...Read More

Writer's Corner: Do Writers Choose Their Own Book Titles?

Original answer published on Quora; this is an expanded answer.

Authors often have ideas for their titles, but the publisher usually has the last say. Publishers are often better at meeting reader expectations when it comes to titles, covers, and book descriptions than the authors themselves.

Sue Grafton came up with the idea for titling her alphabet mysteries (A Is for Alibi, B Is for Burglar, C Is for Corpse). J.K. Rowling came up with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, although Scholastic famously changed it to Sorcerer’s Stone because they thought American children would reject anything having to do with philosophers. Stieg Larsson’s original title for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was Men Who Hate Women. And Faith Martin’s DI Hillary Greene series, about a British detective who lives on a narrowboat, originally had “Narrow” in all the titles: A Narrow Escape, On the Straight and Narrow, Narrow Is the Way, By a Narrow Majority. When Joffe Books republished them, they were retitled with “Murder” in all the titles, probably to ensure that readers knew they were getting a murder mystery (Murder on the Oxford Canal, Murder of the Bride, and the abysmally titled Murder at Home and Murder at Work). The Joffe titles, though not as clever, seem to be selling very well—much better than the original titles (yes, even Murder at Home and Murder at Work).

I struggled for weeks to get both of my books titled. Much like Faith Martin, I had an idea for the Fenway Stevenson mysteries' titles that focused on an aspect of my main character. Because Fenway was named after a famous baseball stadium, the books' titles would be common baseball-based sayings that would be relevant to the plot. Out of the Park was the original name of The Reluctant Coroner. The title of book two was originally The Perfect Game. And I had a few titles in...Read More

Writer's Corner: How can I write an ending open to sequels without it being a cliffhanger?

Originally answered on Quora.

Many story experts will tell you that not only does the plot need to be resolved at the end of the book, but the main character must go through a transformation as well. If a plot is resolved, but the main character makes a change that is just one step on her transformative journey, you can continue to explore that journey in the next book (and if you’ve done it well, your readers will join you).

In addition, a plot can be resolved to a reader’s satisfaction without all the loose ends being tied up—and one of those loose ends can lead to the central plot of the next book. For example, if the detectives catch the killer at the end of book one but didn’t catch the mole in the police department who gave the killer inside information, that mole could be a driving force in book two.

The Harry Potter series is a wonderful example of structuring books for sequels that each has a satisfying ending. Harry goes through a typical “hero’s journey” in each book (even going to a metaphorical or literal “underworld,” like Odysseus did, in each of the seven books), with the central question of the book resolved at the end. But the overarching question—can Voldemort be vanquished (and from a character arc perspective, can Harry be transformed from a wizard unaware of his powers at the beginning of book one to a powerful wizard who defeats the Biggest Dark Wizard Ever at the end of book seven)—is a master class in how a writer can overlap a book’s plot with a series’ plot/theme/structure. Each book builds Harry’s knowledge, bit by bit, with things that he absolutely needs for each step of his journey to defeat Voldemort.

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Writer's Corner: Is your first draft supposed to be bad?

There are two kinds of first drafts: bad and incomplete. It is possible to be both. It is impossible to be neither. (I have heard rumors that some writers write very “clean” first drafts that hardly have a word out of place. I believe these writers either are lying or are aliens.)

The first draft is supposed to get your ideas out onto the page, for you to rearrange, edit, cut, add, and massage until you think it’s good. Then you send it to an editor and you’ll realize you were wrong. But it very nearly was good. And the editor can make it good.

Don’t strive for a good first draft. Strive for a finished first draft. After all, it’s impossible to edit a blank page.

I answered this question on Quora, where the text above first appeared.

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5 Things I Learned About Marketing from Writing a Novel, Part 5

Four weeks ago, on May 22, 2018, I officially published my debut novel. Writing and publishing The Reluctant Coroner was a frenetic, messy, wonderful process, and I learned a whole lot—especially the way writing and publishing a book correlates to B2B marketing. This is the last lesson—well, the last lesson I’m going to write about in this series, anyway—about what I learned during the writing of The Reluctant Coroner.

Lesson 5: “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.”

I’ve worked at three different enterprise software companies with a sales leader named Terry Mahoney. Terry is a driven sales leader, and if he ever needs anything from the marketing, I’m pretty sure he’s got me on speed dial. He wants to blow out his numbers every quarter—and he almost always does—and I think 80% of his success can be attributed to his mantra: “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.”

 

Last week, I talked about the importance of teamwork in the success of both novels and B2B marketing. But teamwork doesn’t come at the expense of ownership and accountability.

 

Many indie authors write books, sink to the bottom of the Amazon charts, selling only a few books a month, and blame everyone else for their failure. It’s Amazon’s algorithm. It’s the Big 5 Publishers’ stranglehold on the market. My favorite one: readers are too stupid to know what they want.

 

What they need to do is figure out why it’s not working. Maybe your cover looks unprofessional. Maybe your book description sounds boring. Maybe when people click “Look Inside!” they’re not hooked on the first couple of pages. Maybe you’ve been targeting the wrong audience.

 

B2B marketers can react in similar ways when their marketing programs fall flat—and I’ve heard every excuse in the book (and I’ve made...Read More

Jamie Lee Scott Interviews Fenway Stevenson

The USA Today Bestselling mystery author Jamie Lee Scott conducted an interview with Fenway Stevenson! Learn more about your favorite heroine-named-for-a-baseball-stadium in this tell-all exposé. Here's an excerpt, but you can read the whole interview on Jamie's Blog.

What is your greatest extravagance?
My expensive education. I went to a state school for my bachelors, but a pricey private school for my graduate degree. I hope this crippling college debt is worth it.

What is your greatest fear?
To be in a situation where I have no control over my safety, especially if I’m overpowered physically.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Cluelessness. Or selfishness. It’s the douchebag jackpot if it’s both.

And check out Jamie's first novel in the Gotcha Detective Series, Let Us Prey—it's available for free on Amazon Kindle!

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5 Things I Learned About Marketing from Writing a Novel, Part 4

Three weeks ago, on May 22, 2018, I officially published my debut novel. Writing and publishing The Reluctant Coroner was a frenetic, messy, wonderful process, and I learned a whole lot—especially the way writing and publishing a book correlates to B2B marketing. This is the fourth of five lessons about what I learned during the writing of The Reluctant Coroner.

Lesson 4: Products and marketing require a team effort.

The publishing world has changed; traditional publishers are spending less on marketing, and many experts believe the “mid-list”—writers who make a living, but aren’t millionaires—is being abandoned. As a result, more authors than ever are flocking to “indie authorship” for the opportunity to have more control over all aspects of their books, instead of leaving it to the publishers to edit, proofread, market, and distribute their works.

Many indie authors focus only on their writing, however, and once a draft is done and they’re happy with it, they throw it over the wall to Amazon. Beyond the first draft, they do everything themselves: they edit and proofread on their own, they design the cover, they write the blurb, they upload their document to Amazon. And a few months later, they’re amazed that they haven’t cracked the New York Times bestseller list.

The truth is, you can write the best novel in the world and have it sell absolutely nothing. There are so many aspects that go into making a book successful: professional edits, professional cover design, professional layout for the inside of the book, professional marketing, professional ad campaigns. And no one person can do it by themselves. Sure, if they’re lucky, they might have one or two of those skills. I started my career as a graphic layout artist, so I felt comfortable enough to do the layout for the interior pages of my paperback, for example. But I’m not a good...Read More

5 Things I Learned About Marketing from Writing a Novel, Part 3

Two weeks ago, on May 22, 2018, I officially published my debut novel. Writing and publishing The Reluctant Coroner was a frenetic, messy, wonderful process, and I learned a whole lot—especially the way writing and publishing a book correlates to B2B marketing. This is the third of five lessons about what I learned during the writing of The Reluctant Coroner.

Lesson 3: Find the right motivation.

I’ve had the idea for The Reluctant Coroner in my head for eight years. I signed up for National Novel Writing Month, where every November thousands of writers start writing their new novels and by the end of the month get 50,000 words closer to finishing. That first year, I didn’t even get past the first chapter. But I had the coroner’s name (Fenway Sorenson, at the time), the rich estranged father who’s a big Red Sox fan, and the identity of the murderer. (I didn’t even have the identity of the victim!)

And then… nothing. Years passed. And then Facebook, in the midst of some horrible Russian bot and fake news scandals, did something wonderful: it reminded me that I promised myself I’d write this book. Eight years ago today, the Facebook reminder said, you were super-excited about writing this murder mystery. (Well, that’s paraphrasing.) I realized that I had finished my creative writing degree almost twenty-five years ago and had nothing more than a few half-finished novels and a couple of published short stories to show for it. My life was speeding by, and I still hadn’t written a novel.

That lit a fire under me, and seven weeks after seeing that Facebook reminder, I completed my first draft.

With B2B marketing, passion and motivation are equally important. It turns out that people produce higher quality work when they believe in the...Read More

Picture Perfect

OK, "star" might be pushing it...

But this book, with my tiny role in it, chronicles the most important thing I've ever done (yes, more important than writing a novel). This adorable picture book is about a baby named Xander and his dads' journey through surrogacy in order to have a baby of their own. My wife, Stacie, was the surrogate, and I helped support her through this journey. I didn't have a tough job-I was at the birth, "coaching" her through it - but seeing the look on Chris's and Alex's faces when Xander came into the world was something I'll never, ever forget.

And now, the journey is chronicled in this great book - it was a finalist in the 2018 International Book Awards! I even appear in the book- I'm the tiny guy on the left with our two kids. (For the record, Stacie looks nothing like the illustration. She's more blonde.)

Check out "Xander's Story" by Christopher and Alejandro Garcia-Halenar.

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5 Things I Learned About Marketing from Writing a Novel, Part 2

Last week on May 22, 2018, I officially published my debut novel. Writing and publishing The Reluctant Coroner was a frenetic, messy, wonderful process, and I learned a whole lot—especially the way writing and publishing a book correlates to B2B marketing. This is the second of five lessons about what I learned during the writing of The Reluctant Coroner.

Lesson 2: Be your authentic self.

 

This doesn’t have anything to do with “building your personal brand” or anything like that. This is about your mindset and how you present yourself—and the products you’re trying to market—to your audience.

 

When I finished my first draft, I started to look into how to market my book. After all, I had seen the disastrous consequences in my professional life of throwing a product over the wall and having it land with a splat—unclear audiences, salespeople who weren’t sure how to talk about it, a market that wasn’t sure where it fit. Much like the cover of a book must align to reader expectations—a romance must look like a romance, a thriller must look like a thriller—I wondered if I had to conform to reader expectations as well.

 

Unless you live in France, or Canada, or Louisiana, chances are, you don’t know the correct pronunciation of my name. I don’t even pronounce it correctly when I’m introducing myself to other people—I say “Arr-dwawn”—it rhymes with “Hey kid, get off our lawn”). In French, you roll the R, you don’t pronounce the N, and you tell American fighter jets they can’t use your airspace. (It’s very complicated.)

 

I figured that NO ONE would be able to spell or pronounce my name, that I’ll get killed with SEO and Amazon searches and my book would die, lost and alone, stealing bread for survival like Jean Valjean.

Not only that, but unbelievably, there was...Read More