Hank Quense's Blog: Hank Quense's Blog, page 83
April 6, 2011
The Midwest Book Review on Zaftan Entrepreneurs
The thing that will push contact with new worlds the quickest is the desire for profit. "Zaftan Entrepreneurs" is a science fiction story lampooning the first[image error] contact cliche as the Zaftan expansion targets a small rock with plenty of unruly creatures and lots of money to be made. But these creatures – people, dwarves, among other things, aren't going to simply let their own world be a profit margin. "Zaftan Entrepreneurs" is a fun and humorous spin on business, new worlds, and is just plain entertaining. Vogel's Bookshelf
On top of that, the price has been reduced. The print edition has dropped around 20% on Createspace. Amazon and B&N prices will also be reduced shortly. The ebook edition at Smashwords has also been reduced.
Get a copy and be entertained
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Tales From Gundarland: Amazon Rankings
Here are the latest rankings on Amazon for my award-winning Tales From Gundarland:[image error]
Shakespearean Spoofs: number 1
Merchant of Venice: number 1
Romeo and Juliet: number 2
Anthologies: number 21
Humorous fiction: number 26
In addition, the prices have just been reduced.
The print version has been reduced almost 20%. It's available on Createspace now and will soon have the reduced price on Amazon and B&N.
The ebook has been reduced by almost 15% and is available on Smashwords
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April 5, 2011
FNN: Republican Demands More Regulation
[image error]
Stacy Conundrum, FNN political reporter, talked exclusively to Dr. Phillip Pompous, an economist and CEO of a conservative think-tank who advises the Republicans on regulatory manners.
SC: why do the Republicans aver that the financial industry doesn't require additional regulation to keep them from perpetrating another disaster like the one we still haven't recovered from?
PP: Like most liberal media types, you have no idea about what caused the meltdown and you blame the easiest target available. The cause of the problem was the middle-class property owners who couldn't pay off their mortgages. How dumb can these people be, taking on a mortgage that they can't pay off. Didn't these people ever hear of working a second or third job to get the money to pay off the mortgage? The financial industry was left on the hook because of these incompetent, lazy mortgage holders.
SC: isn't it true that the financial industry enticed the mortgage holders with misleading offers and half-truths?
PP: More liberal propaganda. Blame the victims. Without the stupendous efforts of the financial industry to repair the damage caused by the unprincipled mortgage holders, the country would have slipped into a full-blown depression. Instead of praising the banks and other financial corporations for their heroic actions to staunch the monetary bleeding, the media blames the banks and spreads the lies put out by the government.
SC: Wait a minute. The heroic efforts you just mentioned, wasn't it the taxes paid by the middle-class that bailed out the banks?
PP: The dishonest mortgage holders drove the banks to the brink of bankruptcy. The use of the tax-payer bailout money was necessary and was the best use of taxes in the last several decades. The government should set up a ongoing fund for corporations to tap when they need additional cash for some purpose. But without all the red tape and oversight of the last time.
SC: So your position and the position of the Republican Party is that the banks don't need more regulation and oversight. Is that correct?
PP: Of course it's correct. The problem isn't the banks or the energy industry or other corporations, the problem is the middle-class and the poor. They're the ones causing all the problems in the country. Unions use negotiating tactics to drain profits from corporations, thus depriving stock holders of needed dividends. People sue corporations to get compensation for accidents caused by their own stupidity. We have to stop this guerilla warfare against corporate interests.
SC: So where do you stand on regulation?
PP: Actually, I am in favor of much more regulation and oversight, but not on corporations. It is desperately required to be applied to the masses. The government has completely missed the point of regulation. It has to regulate the actions of the middle- and lower-classes. The aim of the regulations will be to protect the corporations from these predatory cheaters and liars. The regulations must make it a crime to walk away from a mortgage and cause a loss to the banks. Consumers must be prohibited from suing corporations for any reason. Unemployment benefits must be cut. There are plenty of jobs available. If an illegal alien can find a job, an unemployed can find the same job. If a few million unemployed took the jobs from the illegals, we'd eradicate several of our nasty national problems. That is the direction we must get the government to go in.
SC: That's it from FNN news. I'll interview more politicians after I recover from this one. It may take a while.
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April 1, 2011
Book Differentiation: Part 3
BOOK DIFFERENTIATION
By Hank Quense
This three-part series describes one aspect of marketing and selling books.
With the gazillions of other books available, authors need something to make their book grab the reader's attention. Book differentiation is one way to do this.
Part one of this series (published on 3/18) introduces differentiation and discusses the process.
Part two (published on 3/25) talked about developing a differentiation message for an individual book.
PART THREE: USING THE MESSAGE
What do you do with these statements after you develop them? You stick them anywhere they'll fit. On your website, on blogs, on ads, press releases, in your trailer. If you can't fit the entire statement someplace (such as Twitter), use the pitch line by itself.
WEBSITE USE
On your book-buying page, make the pitch line the opening statement followed by the rest of your differentiation message. Why? Earlier, I mentioned captured audiences when I made a sales presentation. On the internet, no one is captive and their attention span is too minuscule to measure. When these visitors land on your web page, you have a second or two to persuade them to read beyond the first line of text they see. That is the job of your pitch line: to get the visitors to read further. The next statement (what's in it for the buyer) has to tell them there is something of value here, something they can use or enjoy. Finally, your page tells them what is different about your book, what is in it that they can't get elsewhere. If this works, the visitors will read even further where they can learn how to get a copy and how much it'll cost. If you get a sale, you have accomplished the difficult process of converting a visitor to a customer.
TRAILER USE
Make sure your differentiation statements are clearly visible and emphasized in the trailer. Get the message in the beginning and the end of the trailer. Innumerable people from all over the world will view the trailer and you want them to understand your message.
INTERNET ANNOUNCEMENTS
Log onto social media sites and post an announcement that your book is available. Include the differentiation message in the announcement.
Log onto book sites like Goodreads and Librarything. Add information about your book. You can upload the cover and add descriptive text about it. Make sure that text includes your differentiation messages.
PRESS RELEASES
Display your differentiation messages prominently. Make them the opening statement in the body of the release. Rephrase the message and place it a second time further down in the body.
Use the signature capability in your email program to build a unique signature using the pitch line by itself. Link that pitch line to your book-selling website. Now, every time you send an email, you'll also be pitching your book.
Once the differentiation statements are completed, you've taken a big step toward getting people to buy your book. Keep going! You can do this.
How about some comments on this three part series. Was it useful? Nothing new? Whatever?
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March 27, 2011
Merchant of Venison
One of the stories in Tales From Gundarland is my version of one of Shakespeare's most famous stories. I transported it to Gundarland and changed the main characters slightly. The entire story can be read in my award-winning collection of six short stories and two novellas.
MERCHANT OF VENISON
By HANK QUENSE
SCENE ONE:
© 2010
In response to Bassanio's urgent plea, Antonio hurried along the still-dark streets of Dun Hythe to the home of his friend. Since Bassanio rarely awoke before noon, the reason for the early morning meeting must be extraordinary.
He turned off the cobblestone main road and walked the unpaved side streets towards the city walls where Bassanio's house stood by itself. After his experiments had destroyed his last three homes, two by fire and one by explosion, the city leaders demanded that Bassanio live in isolation from nearby houses.[image error]
In front of the house, he paused to straighten his brown jerkin and to adjust his rust-colored cloak before he knocked on the front door. Bassanio's pale face and red-rimmed eyes alarmed him. He wore a yellow dressing gown pocked with burn holes and old, fluffy slippers with bunny faces sewed into them. An elf, Bassanio towered over Antonio's dwarfish figure, but he stooped as if suffering from exhaustion. His long, light brown hair, now disheveled, partially concealed his face. Considered the most handsome male in Dun Hythe, he looked far from his best this morning. "Good! You're here," he said. "Come in." His breath reeked of stale wine.
Antonio entered the front room of the house and was greeted by the acrid stink of burnt chemicals. He noticed that more ceiling beams had been charcoaled since his last visit. Bassanio's lab was in the back of the house, but he frequently performed experiments wherever he happened to be.
"Are you all right?" Antonio asked. "You look like a zombie." He tugged his short, brown beard in distress.
"I was up late." Bassanio plowed a hand through his hair. "Working on a plan to ensure my fortune. I need your help."
"Tell me," Antonio said. Bassanio was his best friend and had been ever since they met in the Academy for Agriculture, Business and Science. He majored in business while Bassanio took science.
"It has to do with Portia." Bassanio sat down at a low table, picked up a scalpel and chopped up a brown weedy material know as pipeweed, a mild hallucinogenic, into small bits. "I need money to get her hand in marriage."
Antonio's heart skipped a beat at the mention of her name. "I thought you two were in love. You need to woo her some more?"
"Portia loves me and has agreed to marry me whenever her father gives permission. I need a loan so I can woo the old geezer. He suspects I'm irresponsible."
"He suspects? The man must be a lack-wit." Antonio smiled. "Everyone in town knows you're irresponsible."
"Very funny." Bassanio made a face while he massaged his forehead with one hand and continued cutting the pipeweed with the other.
"You must have drunk a lot of wine last night developing this plan."
"Wine loosens the brain cells and encourages innovative thinking." He scraped a pile of small brown bits into a straight line. "So, can you lend me three thousand silver pennies?"
"What? It'll take me years to sell that much venison. I'll have to take out a loan. Why so much?"
"You know Portia's old man is filthy rich. It'll take lots of money to impress him. I can pay you back right after we marry. That'll be in three months at the longest." He took a thin glass tube out of his pocket and lined it up with the brown bits.
"What are you doing?"
"Smoking pipeweed can ease the effects of a hangover, but that is inefficient. First, you have to find a pipe and then you need to light it and it takes time for the smoke to have an impact. I'm investigating a new approach. One that will accelerate the effects."
Antonio made a face and shook his head. Bassanio never stopped his experiments into new ways to get high or to mitigate the aftereffects of the high. Someday, one of his experiments would end up killing him. His eyebrows still hadn't completely grown back since one recent experiment ended in spectacular fashion and involved every fireman in the city.
Bassanio put an end of the tube in one nostril, stopped the other nostril with a finger pressed to the outside. He inhaled the chopped pipeweed. He gagged and dropped the tube. His eyes opened wide and his face turned red. After a few unsuccessful tries, he sneezed so violently that he and the chair tumbled backwards and crashed to the floor. After righting the chair, he sat down again, coughing and wiping his running nose.
"I guess," Antonio said, "there's a reason they call it pipeweed and not snortweed."
Bassanio groaned. "Once I marry Portia, I'll hire an assistant to do this part of the experiments." After another coughing and sneezing fit, he said, "So what about the money? I can't get a loan, but I'm sure you can."
"I hate going to a money lender, but I'll have to. Are you sure you can pay me back in three months?"
"Not a problem." Bassanio waved a hand dismissively. "I'll pay you back long before then."
Read more: Tales From Gundarland
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March 25, 2011
Book DIfferentiation: Part 2
BOOK DIFFERENTIATION
By Hank Quense
(C) 2009
This three-part series describes one aspect of marketing and selling books.
With the gazillions of other books available, authors need something to make their book grab the reader's attention. Book differentiation is one way to do this.
Part one of this series introduces differentiation and discusses the process. It was published on 3/18.
Part two will talk about developing a differentiation message for an individual book.
Part three will illustrate a variety of uses for the differentiation message. It will be published on 4/1
PART TWO: DIFFERENTIATION DEVELOPMENT
Essentially, what this process entails is developing three sentences or short paragraphs that can be used to sell your book. The pitch line is the hook to grab the readers' attention. Its purpose is to persuade the reader to keep reading the other two statements. It should be simple, a few short sentences at most, and it must make a clear statement about your book.
What's in it for the buyers? is a statement that explains what the reader (i.e. a book buyer) will get in exchange for money. This must be explicit. This statement is not the place to get cute. Don't come across like the legendary used-car salesman. Tell the readers what benefit they'll get from buying the book. Think of this statement in this way: If your book is surrounded by hundreds of similar-sized books on a shelf in bookstore, what would persuade the buyer to choose your book instead of one of the others?
What's different about this book? With all the books published every month, what makes your book stand out from the others?
These dry descriptions are difficult to grasp so I'll use examples from my published books.
Tunnel Vision is a collection of twenty humorous short stories. Here is my differentiation statement.
Pitch Line:
Live longer. Laughter is good for your health. Read this book and you may live longer.
What's in it for the buyer?
Unusual characters, settings both strange and familiar, and bizarre plots are a few of the things you'll experience and enjoy.
What's different about this book?
Aren't you tired of reading scifi and fantasy stories that take themselves too seriously? Well, you won't find any stories like that here. It doesn't take anything serious. Politics, Shakespeare, Lord of the Rings, the military, aliens, the undead, they all get cut down a notch or two.
Fool's Gold is a retelling of the ancient myth of the Rhinegold. The story involves a magical horde of gold and ring of immense power. Sound familiar? Tolkien borrowed part of the myth to write Lord of the Rings. My version takes place in the future and uses aliens instead of fantasy creatures. Here is how I worded my differentiation statement.
Pitch Line:
A Ring of Power? That is soooo yesterday. Now it's the Chip of Power and it produces laughs.
What's in it for the buyer?
Aliens, ancient gods, humor, beautiful Valkyries, heros, conniving nobles, betrayal, greed, incest, a magical gold horde; this story has something for everyone.
What's different about this book?
This is the only retelling of the ancient Rhinegold myth that is set in the future and is a humorous scifi tale.
Finally, there is my nonfiction book Build a Better Story.
Pitch Line:
Have a story that needs to be told? Here's the best way to go about doing it.
What's in it for the buyer?
The book describes a process that eases the work involved in developing a story. This reduces the time spent in reworking flawed and imperfect drafts. Following the process allows more time to be spent on the creative activities and shortens the time spent on less creative work.
What's different about this book?
Besides the process, this book takes a unique approach to character building and plotting. It identifies problem areas that inexperienced writers struggle with and explains how to address those areas. Two of them are character motivation and scene design.
Of course, when you use the statements don't use the questions, just the answers. So my complete differentiation message for Fool's Gold looks like this:
A Ring of Power? That is soooo yesterday. Now it's the Chip of Power and it produces laughs.
Aliens, ancient gods, humor, beautiful Valkyries, heros, conniving nobles, betrayal, greed, incest, a magical gold horde; this story has something for everyone.
This is the only retelling of the ancient Rhinegold myth that is set in the future and is a humorous scifi tale.
Do you get the idea? How do you start? Take a blank sheet of paper or a start a new mind map file on your computer. Jot down every possible idea that comes to you for each of the three statements. Don't eliminate any ideas because you think they are too dumb. This 'dumb idea' may trigger a great thought or two later on. Keep refining the ideas. Add more ideas, combine others. Eventually, suitable statements will evolve out of this exercise, but it may take more than a single session to get it.
Once you develop the complete statement, don't sit back and relax. You need at least one, preferably two paraphrases of the message. These are used to repeat the message — to emphasize it — without using the same words.
In Part three, I'll discuss how to use your brand new differentiation message.
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March 23, 2011
Zaftan Entrepreneurs
Zaftan Entrepreneurs is available at a number of book seller sites. Besides Amazon and Smashword, it is available thru B&N, Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and Amazon UK.
Since its debut, it has enthralled reviewers and readers. Here are some of their comments:
* Zaftan Entrepreneurs is a great book. It was very funny and unlike any sci-fi book I've[image error] seen out there. Travis-Goodreads
* …the remaining two volumes of the Zaftan trilogy are awaited with glee: Lois Henderson: Bookpleasures.com
* Hank Quense has painted yet another vibrant world of fun and fantasy that will entice and entertain any reader who values his artistic gift.
Lynn Coyle
* Besides adventure with a bit of romance and comic relief thrown in, the story contains a great deal of satire that will resonate with modern readers. Martha Cheves
Watch the trailer to get a better idea about the story.
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March 22, 2011
The Inferior by Peadar Ó Guilín.
Looking for something"different" to read? Try this book by an Irish author. I've read it and it really is different. It's part fantasy, part horror, part scifi and entirely riveting.
Here's how Peadar descibes it: "Alien races are hunting mankind to extinction through the ruins of a vast city.[image error] Poisons are everywhere, but a simple rule keeps the survivors going: if it's intelligent, it's food -- the same species that savor human flesh make good eating themselves.
And then one day, a woman falls out of the sky and lands amongst the tribe. Can she save them from destruction? Or has she brought it with her? One young man, seen by his people as little more than a stuttering imbecile, aims to find out. First, he'll have to guide the stranger through a fascinating world teeming with ravenous aliens."
Here is a link to the Amazon page. Buy a copy!
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March 18, 2011
Book Differentiation: Part 1
This is a three part article. Part 2 will be published next Friday (3/25) and Part 3 on the following Friday (4/1)
BOOK DIFFERENTIATION
By Hank Quense
ⓒ 2009
This three-part series describes one aspect of marketing and selling books.
With the gazillions of other books available, authors need something to make their book grab the reader's attention. Book differentiation is one way to do this.
Part one of this series introduces differentiation and discusses the process.
Part two will talk about developing a differentiation message for an individual book.
Part three will illustrate a variety of uses for the differentiation message.
PART ONE: THE DIFFERENTIATION PROCESS
Getting a book published means you can call yourself a 'published author.' You may not know it yet, but it also means you can add the titles 'marketing manager' and 'sales manager to the title of 'published author.' In other words, you, the 'published author,' are in charge of marketing and selling you book. Surprised? I was.
What do these new titles mean? As marketing manager, you have to spread the word on your book and create a buzz about it. This will get some folks interested in or curious about the book. These folks will visit your selling site. As sales manager your job is to convert these visitors to customers. Your differentiation statements are the key to converting the visitors.
These statements tell the world why your book matters and why readers should buy it. This is a vital aspect of self-marketing. Consider this: thousands of new books become available every month. Consequently, your book is competing against all these other books for the readers' attention and money. Your book has to stand out from all the others and persuade readers to shell out money to get a copy.
I've read a number of books on self-marketing and using the internet as a marketing platform. While they all contain good ideas, many ignore this subject. When it is mentioned at all, it is covered rather quickly and shallowly. I intend to cover the subject in depth because I believe it is of paramount importance.
For many years, I worked selling high-tech telecommunications equipment. If I wanted to talk about a new product or new features on an existing product, I'd call a customer, explain what I wanted and the customer would set up a meeting with other interested departments. Later, I'd give a presentation and answer any questions. The critical point to make is this; I knew the customers and could get a face-to-face meeting whenever I needed to. Marketing and selling on the internet are entirely different processes for several reasons. First, you are selling from websites, not in-person. You don't know the website visitors and the majority of them don't know you. A second reason is that I presented my product to what amounted to a captive audience. Website visitors are not captive; they are capricious and fleeting.
To sell your book, you have to devise a sales plan. Yeah, a sales plan. You're the sales manager in charge of selling the book and sales managers develop sales plans. After you develop the plan, you then implement it. The sales plan consists of two parts. The first part is to develop your differentiation statement. The second is to develop the means to use the statement most effectively. That is, place the statement where potential customers can see it.
The good news about the sales plan is, that unlike many other marketing activities, it's free. It can also be completed before the book is published. I start working on a differentiation statement for a new book long before the book is finished. This gives me ample time to tinker with the messages and to perfect them.
There are three elements involved in developing your book's differentiation. These are depicted in the diagram and will be discussed in part two.
[image error]
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Book Differentiation
This is a three part article. Part 2 will be published next Friday (3/25) and Part 3 on the following Friday (4/1)
BOOK DIFFERENTIATION
By Hank Quense
ⓒ 2010
This three-part series describes one aspect of marketing and selling books.
With the gazillions of other books available, authors need something to make their book grab the reader's attention. Book differentiation is one way to do this.
Part one of this series introduces differentiation and discusses the process.
Part two will talk about developing a differentiation message for an individual book.
Part three will illustrate a variety of uses for the differentiation message.
PART ONE: THE DIFFERENTIATION PROCESS
Getting a book published means you can call yourself a 'published author.' You may not know it yet, but it also means you can add the titles 'marketing manager' and 'sales manager to the title of 'published author.' In other words, you, the 'published author,' are in charge of marketing and selling you book. Surprised? I was.
What do these new titles mean? As marketing manager, you have to spread the word on your book and create a buzz about it. This will get some folks interested in or curious about the book. These folks will visit your selling site. As sales manager your job is to convert these visitors to customers. Your differentiation statements are the key to converting the visitors.
These statements tell the world why your book matters and why readers should buy it. This is a vital aspect of self-marketing. Consider this: thousands of new books become available every month. Consequently, your book is competing against all these other books for the readers' attention and money. Your book has to stand out from all the others and persuade readers to shell out money to get a copy.
I've read a number of books on self-marketing and using the internet as a marketing platform. While they all contain good ideas, many ignore this subject. When it is mentioned at all, it is covered rather quickly and shallowly. I intend to cover the subject in depth because I believe it is of paramount importance.
For many years, I worked selling high-tech telecommunications equipment. If I wanted to talk about a new product or new features on an existing product, I'd call a customer, explain what I wanted and the customer would set up a meeting with other interested departments. Later, I'd give a presentation and answer any questions. The critical point to make is this; I knew the customers and could get a face-to-face meeting whenever I needed to. Marketing and selling on the internet are entirely different processes for several reasons. First, you are selling from websites, not in-person. You don't know the website visitors and the majority of them don't know you. A second reason is that I presented my product to what amounted to a captive audience. Website visitors are not captive; they are capricious and fleeting.
To sell your book, you have to devise a sales plan. Yeah, a sales plan. You're the sales manager in charge of selling the book and sales managers develop sales plans. After you develop the plan, you then implement it. The sales plan consists of two parts. The first part is to develop your differentiation statement. The second is to develop the means to use the statement most effectively. That is, place the statement where potential customers can see it.
The good news about the sales plan is, that unlike many other marketing activities, it's free. It can also be completed before the book is published. I start working on a differentiation statement for a new book long before the book is finished. This gives me ample time to tinker with the messages and to perfect them.
There are three elements involved in developing your book's differentiation. These are depicted in the diagram and will be discussed in part two.
[image error]
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Hank Quense's Blog
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