Lindsay Buroker's Blog: Lindsay Buroker, page 39

Getting Your Self-Published Book into the Library, Tips from Librarian Marlene Harris

So, you want to get your self-published book and/or ebook into the library, where lots and lots of new readers can discover you. Me too! That's why I hunted down librarian Marlene Harris for an interview. First I'll let her introduce herself:

I am a librarian with more than 15 years experience. I've worked in both public and academic libraries all over the United States, from the Chicago Public Library to the University of Alaska Anchorage. I'm currently a consultant, book reviewer and blogger at Reading Reality. I speak to librarians about using the blogosphere to help with collection development, and integrating ebooks into library collections. My take on the best ebook romances for 2011 was posted at Library Journal in December. I currently publish Ebook Review Central every Monday, a service that provides links to reviews and ratings for ebook-only titles from around the blogosphere.

Welcome, Marlene!

Now for the interview…

Let's start with the question on every self-published author's mind: Can we donate copies of our books to local libraries and get them on the shelves? If so, what's the process? I imagine just dumping them into the donations bin might not be a good idea.

This is a terrific question, and it's one every library gets asked.  Sometimes after the fact. Let's say you are talking about self-published fiction and popular-type nonfiction books, and you want to get them into your local public library. That isn't the only case, but it's the easiest one to describe!

Please don't put them into the donations bin. Anything in the donations bin, (or handed across the checkout desk) will probably end up in the book sale. Not always, but this is the way to bet.

Check the library's website, or call to find out who the person in charge of Collection Development or Acquisitions is. (If your book is a children's book, get the name of the head of the Children's or Youth Services Department) That's the person you want. Call or email that person and say you want to donate a copy of your book. And a lot of libraries would prefer two copies. There is a significant labor cost to cataloging even a fiction book, and many libraries find it makes more economic sense to just start with two copies.

Most libraries have a collection development policy that gives a broad outline of what they collect, whether they buy it or have it donated. Local authors usually fall neatly into the "we'd love to get pretty much everything if we could afford it, so if it's donated, we'll happily take it" category. There are always exceptions.  Textbooks are the biggest known exception for a public library. Fill-in-the-blank books are the second. Spiral and/or comb bindings are probably number three on the list.

If our books do get into the library, is there a limited length of time they'll be kept on the shelves? I've heard that how often a book is circulated plays into whether it's kept.

Shelf space in a library is real estate. Some libraries have limited amounts of it. Some have a lot. If a library looks cluttered, just like your own house, it can be difficult for people to find what they are looking for. In a library's case, they go elsewhere, and usually that elsewhere is Barnes and Noble or Amazon. Libraries want to keep their patrons using their libraries, so they keep them looking fresh.

If your book is popular non-fiction, the information may get dated. Books on "flipping" houses from before the current housing crisis are all, well, not a good idea right now. Pluto used to be a planet.

How long a book stays on the shelf depends on the library's available space, and how well the book gets used. And also the condition of the book itself. If it looks like the book got dropped in something noxious, most libraries will throw that copy out and replace it. I once saw a library book that had been put into the library's book drop after it had been used to stop a bullet. The bullet was still in it. It was a very thick book. The book was withdrawn.

At my last library, fiction would be weeded from branch libraries if it did not circulate after a year or 18 months, depending on the size of the branch. But things lasted at the main library a lot longer, because there was more room, and the mission of a main library is usually to have a larger collection and to be more comprehensive. Branches are smaller buildings and are supposed to be popular collections. It's their purpose.

Is there anything authors can do to improve the chances that our books will be found and checked out more often? I imagine cover art plays a big role here.

You absolutely can judge a book by its cover. Paperbacks circulate better than hardcovers, and hardcovers with dustjackets circulate better than hardcovers without dustjackets. Good descriptions on the sides of the dustjacket, or the front and back of the paperback help a lot.

If you can get the librarians on board, they can also help you tremendously. People forget that librarians also hand-sell books, just like bookstores do. Libraries host book groups, libraries do author events. If your library has any kind of book blog or book feature on their website, they can help promote your book locally, or even just post a review. At my last place of work, one of our most popular features was the list of what the librarians were reading each month. And the books we read definitely circulated more, whether they were old books or new books or audiobooks or whatever.

I had a nice SF/F acquisitions librarian stumble across my books and say she was going to order copies for her library. Do self-published authors need to get lucky like that to see their works added to non-local libraries? Or is there something they can try if they're hoping to get in elsewhere? I imagine it'd be cool to be able to say your books are available at the New York Public Library, for example.

Any author who wants to see which libraries have their books should check out worldcat.org. Worldcat is the public face of the librarian's cataloging tool. It tells which libraries have which books. 105 libraries have Lauren Dane's Heart of Darkness, and the nearest one to me (I'm in the Atlanta suburbs) appears to be in Jacksonville, FL) I think when I hit that point in my TBR list, I'll just buy it!

The trick to getting libraries to find out about your books if you're self-pubbed or just getting started is to get reviewed. Libraries don't always rely on reviews (Stephen King doesn't need good reviews!) but for a relatively unknown quantity, it's just hard for libraries to find out an author exists. And when money is tight like it is now, if there's a choice between a book that is reviewed and a book that is unknown and not reviewed, the choice is to go with the review.

Librarians look for reviews in a few specific places; Library Journal, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews. Except for PW they are all library trade specific. And they all review everything from children's material to adult. School Library Journal is an offshoot of Library Journal that reviews just children's stuff. There are also review magazines, online plus print, that are specific to genres, like RT Book Review (romance) and Locus Magazine (science fiction and fantasy) that some libraries get.

RT Book Review has pretty broad distribution in bigger libraries and does sometimes review self-pub and indie-pub romances. Kirkus also reviews indie and self-pub books. Kirkus also has a way for self-pub authors to expedite (meaning pay) for a review. This doesn't guarantee a good review, but it does guarantee a review. It's not cheap, but it will get seen.

Library Journal began reviewing ebook-only romances in August 2011. They have reviewed at least a couple of self-pubbed books, regardless of whether they were available to libraries or not.

I've been thinking of paperbacks thus far, but a lot of self-published authors are going the ebook route these days. Are there any special rules for authors who'd like to get their ebooks into the library? Can they send gift copies to the librarian (I obviously haven't tried this and don't know what I'm talking about!), or… what's the process?

It's not so much a special route as a special name. The name is OverDrive. The only two individual libraries who have worked out a way to manage DRM and simply storing the contents of all their ebooks are the Kansas State Library and Douglas County Libraries in Colorado. Everyone else licenses their ebooks from a company called OverDrive and simply doesn't have a way to manage ebook gifts. Because authors only want to donate a copy, not the rights for lots of copies, and libraries generally don't have a way to handle that. OverDrive handles it for them. There are other companies now entering this same market, but this is pretty much a work in progress.

That doesn't mean there isn't a way for a self-pubbed author to work something out with OverDrive and then offer their books to libraries. There are a lot of "publishers" in the OverDrive catalog that publish the works of a single author only.

For romance authors in particular, finding a way to work this out might be worthwhile. Romances are the hottest circulating category of ebooks for public libraries. And this is a case where the authors do not have to be known quantities to get circulated. Every romance circulated like the proverbial hotcakes. Or hot sheets.

Ebooks in libraries are one of the biggest issues looming on the horizon. The "Big 6″ publishers are seesawing about how and if and whether they want to let public libraries loan ebooks to patrons. They are afraid that ebook lending will cost them sales. Publishers forget that people who read, read a lot. People who read also buy. And now that there is data about ebook buying, people who buy ebooks buy more ebooks than people who buy print books. People who borrow library books who could afford to always also bought print books. They would get introduced to an author at the library, then buy their books. The library provided the "gateway drug". Ebook lending can be the same thing. But if the big publishers get out of the library market, and library patrons still want ebooks, then there will be a LOT of room for small publishers and independent publishers and self-pubbed authors to get in. The demand for people to read ebooks from their library is big and growing. We all just need to find a way to meet it.

Great information, Marlene. Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions!

 

Related Posts:

Should an Indie (Self-Published) Author Create an Imprint (i.e. their own "press")?
So, You Want a Book Blogger to Review Your Ebook…
How to Approach Book Bloggers for Reviews by Frida Fantastic

Tips for Interviewing Authors

One of the perks of running a blog is that it gives you a place to post author interviews.

Whether you're a book blogger or you're a writer yourself, if you've spent time building up your site (i.e. getting folks to find it and follow it), you might have the perfect place for authors to "visit." And an interview is a great excuse to interrogate question your favorite writers. You can ask them about their books, themselves, their plans to take over the world with words, and other fun stuff.

But how do you approach an author? How many blog readers do you need to entice someone to take the time to answer questions? What should you ask if you do get an author to agree to an interview?

I can't speak for all authors, but I'll attempt to answer some of these questions.

How do you approach an author for an interview?

In this day and age, most authors have websites, and many will have blogs where they post regularly. If you surf around the site, you'll probably find an email address or a contact form.

It can be harder with authors who got their start in the pre-internet age. Some of those guys jumped right on board and learned about promoting on the web, but others may never have gotten that involved with the internet and social media. You can always try getting in touch with these folks through their publisher. You might check Facebook and Twitter, too, since authors who aren't sure about the ins and outs of buying a domain name and building a website might settle for a Facebook page.

Will popular authors agree to interviews on blogs?

One of the truths of being an author is that emails asking questions or requesting help increase as an author becomes well known. I'm a small fry, and even I've experienced this more of late. I can only imagine how it is for a bestselling author.

These folks may not have the time to do interviews, but it doesn't hurt to ask. You never know. You might catch them on a slow day, or something about the theme of your questions (more on that further down) might pique their interest.

An alternative way to snag the popular guys is to find out what their conference/convention schedule is for the year (many SF/F authors in particular are active with conventions) and see if they have a few minutes to answer questions at a local event (make sure to take a recording device — you can transcribe the answer for your blog later or you can simply post the audio file). I've seen podcasters in my genre have a lot of luck getting bestselling authors to sit down and answer questions.

Remember, the more popular your blog, the more enticing it's going to be for an author to appear there, so keep working on building it up and increasing traffic.

How popular does your blog need to be, anyway?

This is going to depend on the person. Some new authors just want to be interviewed and will agree to appear anywhere, but you'll probably want to wait until you've built up a readership and are getting regular blog comments before approaching people.

If you have a fairly popular blog, use that as a selling point when you ask for an interview. Don't be afraid to say, "I have 5,000 mystery readers who stop by each month and a newsletter with 500 subscribers" or whatever the case may be. If you install something like Google Analytics, you can share exact numbers and even some demographic information about your visitors.

If you don't have many readers yet, don't mention that. Some authors don't really know how to figure that stuff out, so you might get lucky!

What interview questions should you ask authors?

There aren't any rules here, but you may want to avoid some of the common questions that writers get asked all the time. Authors get a lot of "tell us about yourself" and "what first made you decide to become a writer?" There's nothing wrong with these questions, but they aren't always that interesting for the author to answer, and readers who aren't familiar with the author probably won't care.

Think of questions that might reward current readers and entice new ones. For example, I recently had a lot of fun answering questions that weren't about me at all. They were about one of my core characters. The interview was about my assassin, Sicarius, and is up at a reader's blog. I think the questions are fun for readers of my series, but they might also intrigue someone who hasn't read the books (authors are always hoping to find new readers!).

Interviews with a theme can be a nice draw as well. If you share the interview on Twitter and Facebook, you need it to grab folks with nothing more than the title. What sounds more interesting to you? Interview with Jane Doe? or Jane Doe Offers Tips on Writing Psychopaths, Serial Killers, and Assassins?

If you have a writing blog instead of a book blog, it may make more sense to pick a theme that will appeal to other authors (i.e. an interview about writing or publishing or book promotion) as opposed to something that talks about the author's books. Any extra visibility is good visibility for an author, and you'll probably find that folks are willing to answer questions on a variety of topics related to their work.

Is there any sort of interviewer etiquette you need to keep in mind?

My first tip would be to respect the author's time. It can take an hour or two to answer questions, especially if they're thoughtful ones.

When I'm doing interviews, I usually only send five or six questions myself. I'd recommend you send no more than ten and make sure some of those ten are on the type where the response can be on the shorter side. Authors like to write, yes, but they're busy working on the next book too!

Next, make sure to customize your questions for that author. I've had folks send me thirty generic questions and ask me to pick ten that I wanted to answer. Granted, that was early on and for a book blog tour where the blogger hadn't read my stuff, but I definitely had an "Uhmmm, okay…." response.

If an author agrees to an interview for your site, he or she is probably doing it for book promotion purposes. It'll be very much appreciated if you include links to the author's website as well as their most recent book. That way readers can easily click through for more information or to download ebook sample chapters without having to head over to Google.

Many bloggers will schedule the interviews to post on a certain day. It's good if you can let the author know the day in advance, but do yourself a favor and remind him or her when the post goes online (you'll need to wait until it's actually up to send the link anyway). That way, the author can help you with promotion. Social-media-savvy writers will post links on Twitter and Facebook so their fans can check out the interview.

That's it for my suggestions on interviewing authors. If you have any comments or tips to add, please let us know below!

Related Posts:

Self-publishing Adventures: 9 Months and 10,000 Ebooks Later…
New Direction for This Blog + Starting an "Official" Author Website
Should Authors Comment on Reviews of Their Books?

Cut Scene from Deadly Games

Happy holidays, everyone!

Here's a cut scene from Deadly Games, for those who might be done eating and opening presents, and are looking for something else to do. I snipped it early on, because Amaranthe and Sicarius have similar conversations elsewhere in the story, so it's on the rough-drafty side, but I hope it'll be a fun extra. After all, how often do we get to see Sicarius shirtless? (Er, wait, he was nude for a while in EE3. Never mind!)

 * * *

Though the sun had not yet risen, bringing its unrelenting summer heat, Amaranthe perspired like an icy glass of lemonade. Sweat dribbled from her brow, stinging her eyes, and streaked down her sleeveless arms. Moisture slicked her palm and saturated the leather hilt of her short sword. She licked dry lips and forced herself to focus on her opponent and not the tall, cold, quenching glass of lemonade that had invaded her thoughts.

A long, slender rapier blurred under her guard and slapped the side of her ribs.

Amaranthe winced, not from pain–Sicarius was perfectly capable of making his points without hurting her–but from annoyance with herself. He had not even needed a combination attack to get by her that time.

"Focus," he said, returning to his starting position, a relaxed bent-kneed stance in the shadows of a dilapidated railcar. Above it, dawn brightened the sky, providing enough light to see him and his blade, so she couldn't use the darkness for an excuse. The fact that he wore no shirt probably wasn't a good excuse either, even if any woman would struggle not to be distracted by carved-from-granite muscles gleaming beneath a sheen of sweat.

"I know," Amaranthe said. There, no excuses. He ought to respect that. "And I know knowing isn't the same as doing," she added, heading off one of his typical admonishments.

"In a fight between equally matched opponents, the one who retains focus longest wins."

"We're not exactly equally matched," she said dryly, though she knew what he meant. Today he was emulating an army officer, someone who had been raised with a rapier in his hand. Though Sicarius's own combat style was an amalgamation derived from dozens of fighting disciplines, he could separate them to mimic any number of likely opponents she might encounter.

"This morning we are." Sicarius twitched his blade toward hers, indicating she should assume a ready stance again.

"Right."

Amaranthe wiped her palm on trousers too damp to act as a decent towel and lowered into an athletic stance. Her thighs burned, a reminder of the hour of "warmup" footwork drills they had done first.

Sicarius came forward at half the speed he was capable of. It was enough to keep her busy.

Advance, advance, lunge. His rapier tapped her sword wide and glided toward the inside of her shoulder.

She whipped her blade back in to parry the stab and pushed his across, thinking to open up his kidney, but the rapier was already dropping for a second attack, this time to her groin. She should have known the first was a feint. Acting on instinct, she jerked her short sword down. It wasn't a pretty move, but the satisfying clash of steel announced an effective block.

There was her opening too. With his blade low, and briefly trapped below hers, his neck was unguarded.

Amaranthe grabbed the back of his arm with her left hand, pulling him forward and–she hoped–off balance while she moved to his side and slashed her blade toward his neck. Her sword was shorter than the rapier, but had razor-sharp edges on either side, giving it versatility in close quarters. She doubted he would let her get close to his neck, but she shifted the angle anyway, to hit him with the flat of the blade. Excitement thrummed through her. Maybe she would actually get a–

Cold steel at her own neck made her freeze.

It was not Sicarius's rapier–she had put his body between her and that weapon–but a military-issue dagger that rested against her collarbone. Amaranthe sighed and lowered her short sword. She had been two inches from her target, but it might as well have been a mile. This "army officer" had just killed her.

Sicarius lowered the dagger and stepped back. "Your focus was good, but too narrow. You must be aware of all that is conspiring around you even as you keep your eyes on your target. Use your peripheral vision and your other senses. Did you hear the whisper of the dagger leaving its sheath?"

Amaranthe stared at him while she decided whether "whisper of the dagger" deserved a serious answer or a sarcastic one. She knew he expected a serious answer, but, really, who besides him had those kinds of senses?

"Do you know why I like training with you?" she asked.

He gazed back, his expression giving her no hint of his thoughts, though she imagined him mentally bracing himself for an inappropriate and completely not serious followup.

"You're at your most garrulous when you're lecturing me on my mistakes. If we didn't spend time together in this manner, I'd never get more than one word out of you." Amaranthe smiled, hoping he knew that, despite her teasing, she appreciated his efforts–his dead ancestors knew it was surprisingly generous of him to spend time every day training her and the others. "If I didn't put myself in these situations where you can chastise me, I'd never get to know your chatty side." She lifted her eyebrows, hoping she could coax a comment out of him.

"So," Sicarius said, "you did not hear me draw the dagger."

Amaranthe dropped her face into her hand. That wasn't the comment she had hoped for. "No," she said. "No, I didn't."

"We will practice again." He returned to his starting position.

"Oh, let's leave some fun for when the others get up and join us. You're planning on leading a group weapons drill, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"I could use a few minutes break before we start up again with them."

"You are weary?" Sicarius regarded her through half-lidded eyes.

"No!" Amaranthe threw up a hand. "Not at all." If she admitted to being the faintest bit tired, he would say that meant she required more exercising, thus to build her endurance. She had learned not to make that mistake months ago. "I'm just…" She looked down at herself. "Sweaty. And dusty. And, uh…" She found a lock of damp hair that had escaped her bun and was sticking to her cheek. "And I need to fix my hair. I need to look professional for the men. Didn't you say that once?" Yes, that was a pathetic excuse, but it might buy her five minutes. She laid her sword down, grabbed a towel, and tugged her hair free so she could tighten it.

"You are fine," Sicarius said.

His eyes tracked her movements. Had she more courage, she might have offered up a suggestive wiggle of her hips, but she doubted he had anything prurient on his mind, and she would only end up feeling foolish.

"Anything else you want to chastise me about before we wake the others?" Amaranthe asked.

"Yes."

Amaranthe stifled a groan. "Truly? Did I just open myself up for castigation?"

"Mancrest," Sicarius said. "It is unwise to solicit him. A warrior-caste lord will not traffic will criminals."

"You just think he's a bad bet because he wrote unpleasant things about you. True things, as I understand it."

Sicarius's chin came up, and his tone cooled. "There was no truth in his proclamation that I kidnapped Sespian and intended to assassinate him. His articles on assassinations I did commit were full of hyperbole."

"We've discussed this, though," Amaranthe said. "Because he wrote those articles, he's the perfect man to turn to our side."

"He will not turn."

"Maldynado is warrior caste, and he turned. He's happy to be working with us."

"Maldynado is a disowned fop," Sicarius said. "He lacks the unyielding loyalty to the empire that members of the aristocracy have indoctrinated into them from birth. You should choose a plebeian journalist. Someone who has already expressed dissatisfaction with the status quo would be a logical choice."

"But less of a victory if we get him."

"Is this a race at the Imperial Games? We don't need a victory, only for someone to cast doubt on the idea that we're criminals, working against Sespian."

"No," Amaranthe said. "I think you're wrong. Getting a staunchly loyal-to-the-empire warrior-caste scion to vouch for us, or at least suggest we might be reputable, would be many orders of magnitude better than a piece by a disgruntled plebe."

"After the last time one of your ideas nearly got you killed, you said you were going to start listening to my advice."

"I always listen to it," she said.

"And dismiss it."

"Usually because it involves torturing people. You probably think that'd be an acceptable way to get a journalist to write what we wish."

"You can't trust Mancrest," Sicarius said with more dogged stubbornness than she remembered him using for any argument. For some reason he cared about this; he wasn't content to let her hang herself. "He'll try to trap you again if you arrange another meeting."

Amaranthe grabbed her towel and her sword. She'd had enough of the discussion. If the previous night had ended without a hint of yielding from Mancrest, she could understand Sicarius's argument now, but Mancrest had been curious about her. Emperor's warts, he'd even laughed and flirted at the end, though if he was anything like Maldynado that did not mean much. But it was promising, surely. A sign that he might one day listen and–

Her thoughts skipped backward. Mancrest had flirted with her. Was it possible that was what was bugging Sicarius?

She draped her towel around her neck and searched his face, wishing it gave more clues. "Are you worried he'll trap me, and I'll be in danger? Or are you worried…he won't?"

"What?"

Amaranthe almost accused him of being intentionally obtuse, but maybe she was being intentionally vague. No, not maybe. Probably. But she couldn't bring herself to straight out ask if he was jealous. She had a hard time believing that was the case, and she would end up feeling stupid for asking.

"It's time to wake the others for training," Sicarius said.

"Yes, of course," Amaranthe murmured, her head down as as they walked back to camp.

 

Related Posts:

Deadly Games Update and News on Upcoming Projects
Deadly Games, The Emperor's Edge Book 3, Is out!
Excerpt from Deadly Games (Emperor's Edge 3)

How Editing Works for Independent (Self-Published) Authors

In the year that I've been self-publishing, I've been fortunate enough to receive many nice reviews and compliments on my work. It still tickles me to hear that other people enjoy spending time with my characters as much as I do.

It's always nice to hear, as well, that someone believed the editing was of good quality, because that's one of the areas where it's tough to match up with the traditional presses. Even when you have beta readers and hire a freelance editor, you still don't have as many eyes going over a manuscript as you'd have with the traditional system.

My Early Experiences

As with many new authors (AKA folks who aren't yet making anything from their writing), I was trying to save money with my first manuscript, The Empeor's Edge. I hired someone offering to proofread inexpensively on a forum. He said he was an English teacher, so I figured that was good enough.

He ended up editing the heck out of the manuscript, and most of the suggestions were incorrect. I don't mean that we had stylistic differences of opinion; I mean the guy didn't know how to punctuate dialogue correctly. In the end, it was a big waste of time for both of us, and, no, he didn't offer to refund the money, even though I pointed him to sources on the web for examples of proper punctuation.

Lesson learned for me.

I went on to hire another editor (an actual freelance editor with a website this time!), though I was still trying to keep my costs down, especially since I'd just wasted money, and went for a simple proofreading. Overall, the experience was good, but readers did point out quite a few typos or flubbed words that had slipped through. (I should qualify that, I suppose, because some indie books are riddled with errors — EE had maybe 20 in 105,000 words, which isn't a ton, but it bothers me when that many things slip through.)

It's funny (or sad?) that I actually went into that first book thinking, "Oh, it'll be nearly flawless since I ran it through my writing workshop twice." Right. Note to self: beta readers are, rightfully so, usually more concerned about story and characters than fixing your typos, and, even when they do point such things out, you tend to add in as many errors as you fix when making corrections.

These days, I'm fortunate to be making enough from my book sales that I don't have to scrimp quite so much, and I can afford to pay for a couple of read-throughs with an editor who has many years of experience in the business. She has a good eye and catches a lot. (If only I could get her to follow me around and proofread my blog posts, Facebook messages, and Twitter tweets.)

You're probably always going to have a few things slip through (hey, that even happens with books from traditional presses), but it's good to know that those types of errors are few and far between.

Hiring an Editor and Associated Costs

So, if you're first starting out, what should you look for?

First off, let's talk about the different options you have as a writer hiring an editor. And, because you're probably wondering, we'll discuss costs, too, though these will vary a lot from editor to editor.

Developmental/Substantive Editing

You can find freelance editors who specialize in developmental editing. This is where they're going to look at narrative flow, consistency, logic, story and character development, etc. In short, they may tear your manuscript to shreds and tell you to re-write entire chapters.

This is the most expensive form of editing, and you may very well get quotes in the $2,000-$4,000 range for a novel-length manuscript. If you write epic fantasy tomes that, if dropped, could kill a chihuahua, then you might get an even higher quote.

While developmental editing often includes copy-editing/proofreading, I personally think that this is too much to pay for most self-publishers. You're putting yourself into a huge hole right from the beginning, and it can take a long time (if ever) for your first novel to earn out when you start with such high expenses.

I believe that free/inexpensive writing workshops can fill the same role (the nice thing about a workshop is that you get to experience the editing styles of multiple other writers, some of whom know those grammar rules forward and backward, and you can develop long-term, beta-reading relationships with the ones whose suggestions click with you).

You'll learn a lot from the workshop process too. I'm sure some will disagree with me, but I don't think you're ready to self-publish if you've never had strangers shred your work before. Friends and relatives don't count. Your fellow writers will be some of your toughest critics, so if you can get them to like it, then maybe you're ready for the next stage, hiring an editor and pubishing that puppy.

Copy Editing

This is when an editor reads through, often twice, to look for typos, missing words, frequently used words (apparently my characters were "lunging" all over the place in EE3!), incorrect words, grammatical boo boos, and awkward sentences.

The editor won't typical make comments about story or character, so you should be confident that you have things fairly well nailed down ahead of time. Of course, some editors may stray into developmental editing territory from time to time if they see the need. It'll depend on the editor and what you ask for.

With copy-editing, expect your person to make changes in the text. MS Word is what most people in the biz use, but you can find Mac-friendly editors, too, who have Pages. With either program, you can choose to accept or reject the changes with a mouse click.

Note: if you've been writing for a while, and you're very confident in your style and your characters' voices, then you may find yourself rejecting a lot of the suggestions (I do this, much to my poor editor's chagrin). It's not at all uncommon for freelance editors to have more experience with non-fiction than fiction (this whole rah-rah-self-publishing boom is quite new!), so there can be a little friction when it comes to matters of style. Just remember that you're the boss, and it's okay to reject changes! Most editors will understand that you're not necessarily going to agree with everything. Once you find an editor you like working with, you'll both get more used to each others styles.

Copy editing costs are usually figured on a per-word or per-page basis, so get out your calculators. Typical costs might be in the neighborhood of one cent per word. So, if you need 100,000 words copy edited, that'll be $1,000.

I've definitely seen editors who charge more, but that may be getting into the realm of too-pricy-for-a-self-publisher. You need to shop around to find an editor who does a good job for you and offers an affordable rate. Don't be afraid to ask an editor to give you a break. It won't always happen (it'll probably depend on how busy they are), but many are sympathetic to indie authors. They know a lot of us are just trying to start our writing careers up and don't have a lot of money to spend.

But be realistic in your requests too. If you know grammar isn't your strength, and there are likely a lot of flubs in your manuscript, be aware of how many hours are going to be involved in editing it. You may be tickled if you find someone on Craigslist or a message board to copy-edit your 150,000-word novel for $200, but you may either a) get a poor result or b) end up paying someone the equivalent of two dollars an hour. Neither are cool.

Note: Because editing, even copy editing, is a big expense, you may want to look for editors who offer sample edits. This might be a few trial pages for $25 or some such, and that gives you an idea about the suggestions they'll make. I highly recommend this, even over getting recommendations from other indie authors (unless you've read that author's book and found their editing to be nearly flawless). Remember, others indies are often new to the game, too, and haven't necessarily worked with enough editors to make useful comparisons.

(Editorial) Proofreading

This is your least invasive (or, as the case may be, least corrective) form of editing and typically involves checking for typos, missing words, punctuation issues, etc. You may only get one pass from an editor here.

Costs for a novel-length manuscript may be in the neighborhood of .0035 to .006 a word, so a fraction of a cent per word. It doesn't sound like much, but even that adds up for something novel-length. You may want to go ahead and pay for copy-editing, so that you get a more thorough look from an editor.

Editing Software

If you absolutely can't afford to hire an editor, editing software such as AutoCrit is an inexpensive option and can help you find some of the common mistakes in your manuscript. I haven't tried it, but I've heard good things from those who have.

Personally, I'd put the pennies toward hiring a human being unless you want to use the software in conjunction with hiring an editor later. They do have a free trial.

* * *

Okay, readers, authors, and editors who might pop in, anything to add? I know I've seen a lot of variation on what exactly falls into each category of editing, so I imagine folks might have differing thoughts here.

Related Posts:

No Related Posts

10,000 Ebooks Sold and Encrypted Mentioned in RT Book Reviews

This morning I received a nice email from Heather Massey over at The Galaxy Express. She let me know that Encrypted had been mentioned in the latest issue of RT Book Reviews.

Oh, that's neat, I thought. It wasn't until I Googled the site and looked around that I realized this was a) a print magazine and b) one I'd actually seen before at the bookstore. Apparently they've started a new column called "What's Hot this Month in Self-Publishing." (How cool is that?)

There's no way I'd be able to find a copy of the magazine down here in Australia (though they'll probably get a subscription out of me when I get home — part of their master plan, right? ), but Heather was nice enough to type up the blurb:

Encrypted By Lindsay Buroker

Genre: Fantasy

Print or e-book: E-book

Summary: A young professor may be the only one who can decode old runes, which is why the enemy has kidnapped her from her home. Her only hope may lie with a fellow prisoner as threats to their world increase.

Why you should read it: With more than 10,000 e-books sold, Buroker is certainly making a name for herself in the world of self-publishing. Her most popular books are part of her Emperor's Edge series, of which she just completed her third book.

I'm guessing they got the sales numbers from Amazon, because I haven't even tallied things up yet for the year (it's kind of a pain to separate free downloads from paid ones). I figured I'd hit that mark though, so many thanks to all of you who have tried my books! And thank you, too, to RT Book Reviews for starting a column to highlight self-published authors.

If you've stumbled across this post and haven't read Encrypted yet, you can try the first couple of chapters on my site. The ebook is, of course, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords too. Paperback coming later this winter.

Also, if you like steamy science fiction romances, check out Heather's books, Once Upon a Time in Space and Queenie's Brigade.

Related Posts:

How Do You Find *Good* Self-Published Authors to Read?
So, You Want a Book Blogger to Review Your Ebook…
Becoming a Book Blogger (and getting free books!) with Laurie Lu from Bonafide Reflections

Story Updates and Why My Ebooks Aren't in the Amazon Prime Lending Library

Hi, folks. Just a quick "news" update today. The first half of this post is for the Kindle folks, and then there are a few story teasers at the end.

Why my ebooks aren't in the Amazon Prime Lending Library

If you're an Amazon Prime member, you've probably already heard about the new "lending library" where you can check out an ebook a month for free. I believe just about every author and publisher is getting the option to put their ebooks into the library, and, while they won't make as much as they do on book sales, they're supposed to get a little compensation (there's a set pot and participating authors get to share it).

I've opted not to participate because Amazon requires 90 days of exclusivity for titles enlisted in the program, meaning I wouldn't be able to continue to sell my ebooks at Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, iTunes, etc.

I also wouldn't be able to sell them on my own site, and I'm hoping to add a little store here in the not-too-distant future. I'll have all of the ebooks for sale, of course, and I also plan to make it so you can order signed paperbacks. I know that's something a few folks are interested in. Since author copies are cheaper than typical copies, I should be able to offer the signed paperbacks here for the same price as if you were to buy unsigned paperbacks through Amazon or B&N.

Anyway, I'll be keeping an eye on the Lending Library, and if Amazon gets rid of the exclusivity clause, I'll enroll my books.

Other places to borrow a copy…

In the meantime, if you're looking to borrow rather than buy, I know the Flash Gold stories and Emperor's Edge books come up from time to time on BookLending.com, and I imagine they are on other lending sites too. (If anyone has one to recommend, please let us know in the comments below!)

Story updates

For those who wonder how future stories are coming along, I'm working on the rough draft of EE4 now and am about a third of the way into the novel. Some teasers?

Emperor Sespian, as you probably guessed from the way 3 ended, will be coming back in this one. Yes, he, Sicarius, and Amaranthe will get a chance to "chat" (well, you know, Amaranthe will chat and Sicarius will try not to loom as menacingly as usual), though I haven't yet decided if all the details of certain relationships will come out in that conversation.

Sergeant Yara, from Book 2, will also have a role, and we'll finally get to meet someone from Maldynado's family (though his story won't be the focus until Book 5). Akstyr is the secondary point-of-view character in this one, and he's already scheming up trouble.

For the steampunk fans out there, I finished the fist draft of the next Flash Gold story (Peacemaker) during NaNoWriMo, and, though I'll probably wait until I finish the rough of EE4 to start editing it, a few teasers…

There's a murderer killing native women in Dawson, leaving Cedar worried that Kali will be targeted. To make things worse, his past is coming back to haunt him. Or, perhaps hunt him is the better word. Also…there will be airship pirates, up close and personal this time. Kali will have to build herself a new weapon to escape their clutches.

(More blog posts should end with the word clutches, don't you think?)

Related Posts:

No Related Posts

Should an Indie (Self-Published) Author Create an Imprint (i.e. their own "press")?

If you go surfing around Amazon, you'll notice a lot of the books in the Kindle Store that look self-published and yet have publishers listed. Boom Stick Publishing. Harvest Moon Press. Soft Kitty Productions…

With the proliferation of small presses out there, it's hard to know, at a glance, which ones are actual publishing houses (with a submissions process an author must go through to have a book accepted) and which ones are simply made up.

Made up, you ask?

Well, yeah. When you're uploading an ebook into the Kindle Store, there's a field for publisher, and if you type something in, I doubt Amazon checks whether a press with that name exists or not. In fact, given the number of indie authors with presses listed, I'm sure Amazon doesn't check. Oh, I imagine some of those authors have actually filled out the paperwork and created a business entity with that name, but I'd guess a lot haven't.

I was never particularly tempted to do this because I like to embrace being an indie. For me, self-publishing wasn't a choice of last resort. It was something that appealed to me for a number of reasons, and I haven't regretted choosing this path. I know there's a stigma associated with self-published books, but I'm not willing to disguise my books by making up a publisher so people will think I've been published by a small press.

But maybe I'm being short-sighted? Letting pride get in the way of business sense?

Someone more experienced (and more successful) than I said that indie authors should create an imprint because a) reviewers who say they won't take self-published fiction might consider work from small presses and b) there are readers who refuse to try independent authors, so you should make your books look like they're not self-published.

I'm all for trying to make the packaging of my books professional, but I don't think it's in me to make up a press in an attempt to look like something I'm not.

What are your thoughts, authors? Have you conjured up a press for your books?

Readers, are you more likely to try a book with a publisher listed? Or would you be irked if you'd found out an author had made one up?

Related Posts:

Which Genres Sell Best for Indie Ebook Authors?
E-publishing 101: How to Get Started
Pros and Cons of Writing a Series

Creating a Facebook Fan Page for Marketing — One Author's Experience

Back in August, I finally put up an author fan page on Facebook. I say finally because it was on my to-do list for months before I actually did it. I'd never been a big fan of Facebook when it came to having a personal account, just because I never seemed to be able to find anything, and if I did find whatever elusive thing I was looking for, Facebook would have an update and hide it from me again.

But 600-odd million people are on Facebook, so it seemed like an up-and-coming author should be there, too, right?

Despite my waffling, I've found it to be a good experience, yes.

Has my Facebook fan page led to more book sales?

It's hard to pinpoint where sales come from. As an independent author, you can see real-time sales numbers at Amazon and Barnes & Noble — something that can be helpful with linking promotional campaigns to results… or a lack of results — but they don't tell you where those sales came from. Did a visitor originally click through from Facebook or Twitter, or did the visitor simply find your book by surfing through the bookstore? It's impossible to know.

Sometimes readers will tell me how they first found my books (i.e. I tried your sample after seeing a post on Twitter or I found your free ebook at Amazon and got into the series that way), but I don't think anyone has mentioned Facebook to me yet.

I imagine there are at least some folks who have tried the freebies I have listed there, but for now I'm thinking of the site as more of a place to keep in touch with folks who have already read the books and who enjoy interacting on Facebook. If you read last week's post on author branding, you know I try to be out there everywhere I can.

Maybe I'll figure out how to be more effective on it in the future (I'm not one to go running around, liking a bazillion things or participating in oodles of discussions in the hopes that some bored person will find a way back to my page), but for now I can say that the page seems like it's worth keeping and that it plays a small role in my book-promotion efforts.

How do I get fans for my Facebook page?

I have 300-some fans (this is just when someone "likes" your page), which isn't all that many, but I don't believe in asking random people for likes. Not because of any moral issues with the notion, but because, from what I've read, your page will do better with fewer fans, fans who actually interact with it, than a lot of drive-by like-clickers who never return again.

The fans I do have on there came from…

a few initial posts on Twitter where I let my followers know that I'd set up shop on Facebook
a brief advertising campaign I tried for sharing my free ebooks (I wasn't looking for likes when I did that, but if you're advertising a FB page, Facebook will put the like option right on the ad.)
adding my Facebook page to the afterword in my recent ebook releases
people gradually finding my page through other means (in particular, I posted a picture of a sand-sculpture dragon that went viral and had something like 160 shares and 400 likes, and I remember I had a bunch of fan page likes during that unusual week)

What do I post on my Facebook fan page?

Despite my past difficulties with Facebook, I've found it to be easy to keep my author page updated. It's the work of a couple of minutes a week. I post book updates, of course, and links to blog posts I think fantasy fans might find interesting.

I've also posted pictures of cool things (like that dragon I mentioned). Pictures seem to do very well on Facebook, meaning people like, comment, and share them readily (when your updates have a lot of interactions, they'll appear on other people's walls, so it's a bit of viral marketing).

Some people do more and get very involved in the community, but I ultimately prefer to focus on other things (like writing the next book!).

What's the point? What can a Facebook fan page do for you?

You might be thinking that it's not worth the effort, especially since I couldn't say, "Oh, I've sold XXX number of books solely because of my Facebook page."

I believe there are some pluses to having a presence there even if it's not immediately apparent that it can help you sell books (of course, just because Facebook hasn't sold a lot of books for me doesn't mean there aren't authors out there who have had different experiences):

Some of your fans are there, waiting for you — With so many folks on Facebook, it's inevitable that some of your readers (and future readers!) will hang out there. People who enjoy Facebook like to interact on there every day, not just with friends and families but with businesses and, yes, authors too. The first week I made my page, a nice reader popped in and said, "Oh good, I was waiting for you to get on Facebook!"
Advertising on Facebook becomes more affordable and practical once you have a fan page — I've only tinkered with this a little bit, and Facebook advertising should probably have its own post, but the short and sweet of it is that it's cheaper to send people to a fan page than it is to send them off-site (i.e. to your Amazon book page or your blog). There are ways to put sample chapters and links to free ebooks right on your Facebook site.
Being on Facebook gives you a place to chat with your readers — While some people might come to your blog and comment, there are more who are likely to interact with you while they're in the process of interacting with other folks, so it can be worthwhile to hang out where they hang out. (It's the topic of another post, but this is why I have my blog syndicated on Goodreads.)
Facebook fans can share your links around — You may only have a hundred fans for your author page, but if a couple of them share some of your links now and then, you'll have people that you couldn't otherwise reach becoming aware of you and your work. If you have freebies or samples up on your Facebook page, these new folks can easily check you out when they pop in.

How do you get your own Facebook author page?

You can go here to make a Facebook fan page now.

You can use something like PageModo to make a free landing page or gate page if you want visitors to come in on something more enlightening than your wall. (A gate page is one where people are required to "like" your Facebook presence before they can get to the meaty stuff — I don't do this, but I do have a welcome page that tells new visitors who I am and what they can do on my Facebook site.) If you don't like the PageModo wizard, and you don't want to do the coding yourself, you can also hire someone to design a custom Facebook page for you for around $150. (I'm having this done and hope to have the new version up in January.)

Authors, readers, what are your thoughts on Facebook?

Related Posts:

Authors, Do You Have a Facebook Fan Page?
Book Promotion Tip: The 80/20 Rule of Facebook Marketing with Cidney Swanson

Cut Scene from The Emperor's Edge

Usually when I delete a scene from a book, it happens early on, and there's a good reason for attacking it with scissors. This is a scene that I'd be tempted to add back if I ever did a "director's cut" of The Emperor's Edge.

It was originally most of Chapter 3 and took place after Hollowcrest sent Amaranthe off to "seduce" and kill Sicarius. She decided she'd better practice this seduction thing before going after our dear deadly assassin. What happens in this scene is the reason she tossed that idea out the window.

I cut it because I originally thought I'd be hunting for an agent with EE, and everybody said fantasy novels over 100,000 words were a tough sell, so I was trying to shave off as much as I could, and the scene wasn't that crucial. Also, I'd heard that agents tended to request the first three chapters (if they were interested in your query letter), so I thought it'd be a good idea to bump up the introduction of Sicarius to fall into those introductory pages. Lastly, a couple of my male critique buddies got the impression that Amaranthe was too homely to score based on this scene. Of course, my intention was just to show that she's better at getting people onto her side than into her bed.

So, for those who enjoy such things, I present the old and unedited…

Chapter 3

Seduction.  Amaranthe found the thought almost as unappealing as assassination.  Well, if she was going to pull it off, she needed practice.

A breeze whistled through the street, causing an icicle-bedecked sign to swing.  Two Toes Slink, it read above a crude picture of a dancer holding an oversized mug of beer.  Amaranthe regarded the brick building with distaste.  She did not begrudge people their need for recreation, but all her experiences with slinks had involved going in, breaking up fights, and arresting folks.  People ought to have something more constructive to do with their time than starting barroom brawls.

Layers of shoveled snow were piled against the building's brick walls.  Fresh powder skidded across the slick pavement and curled around Amaranthe's exposed ankles.  She wrapped her parka tighter, partially because of the cold, partially because she felt ridiculous in the clothes she was wearing underneath.

"Give me something sexy," she had told the shopkeeper before she could think better of it.

The sleeveless blouse was not entirely horrible, and the knee-length skirt that hugged her hips and buttocks like a sausage casing, while not practical, was wearable.  It was the cursed sandals that were insufferable.  Sandals.  In winter.  Against all logic, they were in style this season.  As a compensation for the freezing weather, the shopkeeper had found her a pair of sandals with fur-lined straps.  Amaranthe had a hard time feeling sexy with squirrel tails wrapped around her ankles.

"Tonight, we see if this seduction tactic is feasible," Amaranthe muttered to herself and reached for the latch.

A distant, chilling screech froze her hand.  Gooseflesh rose all over her skin.  It had sounded… Amaranthe did not know what it sounded like.  Not human.

She cocked her head, listened for it to repeat.  It did not.

The door slammed open.  Amaranthe jumped out of the way.  She landed in a pile of shoveled snow that swallowed her mostly-bare feet.

A man and woman staggered out, both too drunk and too involved with each other to notice Amaranthe.  Drumbeats escaped through the door as well, pulsing into the street. She pushed the eerie scream from her mind and hustled inside to find a warm place for her feet.

Fortunately, stoves burned in every corner of the long, low-ceilinged room.  Gas jets lined the walls and illuminated two circular stages, one with nearly nude female dancers, one with nearly nude male dancers.  They writhed around networks of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal bars with sinuous moves that gave slinks their name.  Unmarried men and women, or those pretending to be so, met and mingled in the open area between the stages, often shortened to the 'Between.'

Amaranthe removed her hat, gloves, and parka and hung them on a peg next to the entrance.  She wandered around the men's half of the slink.  The drooling masses in front of the stage, she avoided.  Instead she eyeballed groups at side tables more removed from the action.  A pack of young soldiers, identifiable by their short-cropped hair, did not pass inspection.  Too easy to seduce.  A table of university students received the same verdict.  If Sicarius was in his thirties, he was probably old enough to be ruled by something more than his penis.  He had to have a modicum of intelligence as well, to so efficiently evade Hollowcrest's forces.

Near a middle-aged group of men, Amaranthe paused.  A fat tome on the table labeled Hypocaust Failings and Heating Alternatives promised brighter-than-average slink patrons.

"I admit some of your technology is impressive," a blond man at the table said, "but you can't deny the benefits of magic."  His beaded buckskin clothes and long braided hair would have marked him as a foreigner even if his choice of conversation topic did not.

"I'm sure the benefits would be superb," someone else at the table responded, "if magic existed."

The empire denied the existence of magic and simultaneously declared its use a crime.  Though Amaranthe had noted the incongruity, she had never worried about it, nor had she arrested anyone for claiming special powers.  Like the second speaker, she had never seen proof that magic existed.  Apparently, the others at the table agreed.  They chuckled and raised mugs full of beer or hard cider to salute their comrade.

"You Turgonians."  The foreigner shook his head.  "For a supposedly advanced people, you can be glaringly ignorant."

"Why? Because we don't believe in gods or mind-numbing superstitions?  Like that helpful spirit Kendorians think will come during the night and bless their homes, provided they sacrifice chickens on the doorstep?  What's the name?"

"Yugima," the foreigner admitted, cheeks reddening.  "Not everyone does that."

"I should hope not.  There are some smells you just don't want to wake up to in the morning."

Amaranthe felt conspicuous hovering, so she eased closer.  "Pardon me for interrupting, but this sounds like a more interesting conversation than any of the others in here.  Would you mind if I joined you?"

"Please do," a graying man said.

The nearest fellow acquired a chair from another table while others made room.  Another plucked a mug of cider from a passing waitress and positioned it front of her.

This might be easier than I thought.  Amaranthe rarely received such consideration when she dressed as an enforcer.  She supposed people saw the uniform and not the person.  Or maybe her squirrel-strap sandals were performing as promised.

The foreigner promptly included Amaranthe in the conversation.  "I've always thought Turgonian women brighter than their male counterparts…" The other men booed, though it was with amiable cheer.  "Tell me, would you discount the possibility of something just because your government denied its existence?"

Amaranthe scraped away a suspicious stain on the table's surface.  "I suppose not, if I personally saw proof.  Can you, by chance, do a magic trick?"

The others leaned forward, grinning.  "Yes," they enthused.  "Let's see a magic trick."  This quickly grew into a chanting of "Magic trick, magic trick."

Amaranthe wondered if the book she had judged the group's intelligence by had been left by previous patrons.  Or perhaps it was the number of empty glasses stacked on top of it that accounted for the men's boisterousness.

"I'm a diplomat, not a shaman," the foreigner said.  "Note the lack of tattoos on my face."

"A convenient excuse," someone said.

"If you uncouth oafs ever run into a shaman from my country, you'll learn the truth and it could be…unpleasant.  Better yet, I hope you stumble across a Nurian wizard's path.  Those people are incredibly powerful."

"So…" A man belched.  "Does that mean no magic trick?"

The foreigner sneered, paid for his drinks, and left.

"Finally," the graying man in front of the book said.  "Now we can talk about something worthwhile."

"He's not a bad fellow," another said, jerking a thumb toward the departing man.

"No, but you know the law.  We can't discuss technology with foreigners.  Diplomat is code for spy."  He cleared the glasses off the book and fished out notes and sketches.

"What are you working on?" Amaranthe asked.

The graying man leaned forward.  "My team–" he nodded to include his comrades "–has won a contract from an industrious businesswoman who's refurbishing the city's old buildings with modern heating systems."

"Interesting," Amaranthe said.  "Are you replacing fireplaces with stoves or is it more complex than that?"

"Far beyond that.  Most of the older buildings have basement or ground-level exterior furnaces where the hot air is directed under the floors and up through clay flues in the walls.  It's ancient technology that came with our ancestors from Nuria, along with bronze swords, wooden sailing ships, and other archaic things.  Fireplaces were actually a step back."

Another man nodded.  "The empire's always been so concerned with war and making us all into stoic soldiers who are too good for comforts–" he rolled his eyes and tilted his head back so dramatically he almost fell out of his chair, "–that the only advances we were making for a long time were related to food production, troop transportation, and weapons smithing."

"I wasn't aware that mentality had changed," Amaranthe said dryly.  "If I remember my history correctly, a lot of our more ubiquitous inventions like eyeglass and wood-pulp paper were, ahem, acquired from supposedly less advanced cultures."

"Yes," another man at the table said, "but now that we have these women starting businesses, there's suddenly a market for non-military inventions."

Their enthusiasm for their work appealed to Amaranthe, and she found herself asking more questions.

You're supposed to be seducing them, came a niggling thought from the back of her mind.  Right.  She took a deep breath, steeling herself.  Thwarting armed bandits she could handle.  This was a challenge.

When no one was watching, Amaranthe slid her chair closer to the fellow next to her.  She unfastened the top two buttons on her blouse and tried not to feel like a floozy.  This is for the empire, she reminded herself.

"Are you hot?" her intended target asked.  "It is warm in here."  He waved a hand.  "Waitress, bring us some ice."

Amaranthe forced a smile.  That was not the reaction she had expected.  She caught the man's gaze and winked.  He did not seem to notice so she did it a few more times.

"Do you have something in your eye?" he asked solicitously.

"I… no.  I mean yes, but it's gone now."

"Good."  He smiled and returned to the group conversation.

Hm.  Maybe he preferred men.  Amaranthe adjusted her chair again, this time closer to the fellow on her other side.

The waitress returned and plopped a bowl of ice in the center of the table.  Flecks of sawdust, the stuff used to pack and preserve ice through the warm seasons, stuck to the jagged shards.

One of the men across the table whistled as the waitress departed.  She waved back at him and twitched her rump.  An interested smile launched across the man's face.

There, what is she doing that I'm not?

Amaranthe turned to her new target.  His arm rested on the table.  She casually lifted her hand, intending to rest it on his.  He reached for the ice at the same time, and their arms collided.

"I'm sorry," he said.  "I didn't mean to bump you."

Amaranthe tried her wink again.  "I don't mind."

"You're very kind."  He turned back to the conversation.

Someone asked her a question, and Amaranthe found herself drawn in again.

What in the name of the emperor am I doing wrong?

 You're being too subtle.  Just press your breasts against one and say let's go somewhere alone. 

I can't do that. 

You've seen women do it a hundred times. 

Amaranthe shook her head, annoyed at the arguing voices, afraid they might be some indicator of impending insanity.

At the next lull, she turned again to the man whose arm she had bumped.  She leaned close.

"Do you…" she started.

He cocked his head with interest.  Friendly interest, not lascivious interest.

"…know I have to use the water closet?" she blurted.

Amaranthe rose and strode toward the Between.

"What's wrong with me?" she muttered.  "When did men become more interested in chatting than sex?"

"You offering?"

Amaranthe was almost relieved when the broad man swathed in alcohol vapors planted himself in her path and leered at her chest.  There was little point in practicing seduction on someone who was trying to do the same thing though–if one could call his approach seductive.

"Not at the moment, thank you," Amaranthe said.

He grabbed her wrist.  "Why don't you come outside with me?  I've got something I want to show you."

"If I wanted to see that, I'd ask one of those pretty male dancers up there."

He tried to tug her toward the door.  Amaranthe twisted her wrist so the edge rested against the weak spot in his grip, where the thumb and fingers met.  With an efficient yank, she pulled her arm free.  She was debating on the amount of force required to convince him to forgo further advances when a voice came from behind her.

"Leave her be, you odious thug."

"Beat it," the drunk said, "this one's mine."

Amaranthe turned part way to find the entire group from the table lined up behind her.

"She doesn't want to go with you."

"Gentlemen," Amaranthe said, "I appreciate your help, but this isn't–"

The drunk swung his fist.  Amaranthe's earnest allies swarmed over him like ants on a dropped scrap from Curi's Bakery.

Amaranthe jumped back to avoid being knocked from her feet.  She dodged two tottering fellows who looked like they might be allies of the man who had accosted her.  They piled onto the writhing heap.  Someone's chair was kicked out from under him, and another table of men joined the fray.

"Gentlemen," Amaranthe shouted this time.  "Stop this, it isn't–"

A flying mug whizzed at her.  She ducked out of its path.  It crashed into the temple of a male dancer on the women's side of the room.  He bellowed in anger, then launched off the stage onto the pile of brawlers.  Other dancers streamed after him.

Chaos.  Amaranthe could not stop it.  She backed toward the door.  Hollowcrest had forbidden her from speaking to her colleagues, so she dared not wait around for the enforcers to show up.  After grabbing her parka, she hustled outside, barely noticing the cold.

She strode away, trying not to feel like a suspect fleeing a crime scene–or a soldier abandoning comrades to the enemy.  Those men had engaged in a brawl on her behalf.  How did she let that happen?  Here I was condemning the kind of people who started fights in slinks…

When Amaranthe found a sign for a trolley stop, she slowed.  She leaned against its steel support pole and shook her head.  Maybe she should not have talked to them first.  Maybe she should have worn more revealing clothes.  She grimaced at the thought.  The cold from the pole seeped through her parka.  Maybe the seduction scenario was simply too far outside her range of skills.

The grind of wheels on rail announced the trolley's approach.  Amaranthe straightened.  She was not ready to give up.

"I'll get your assassin for you, Hollowcrest, but I'm going to do it my way."

* * *

For anyone who might have stumbled across this without having read the novel first, The Emperor's Edge is currently free at Smashwords and Amazon. Give it a try!

 

 

 

Related Posts:

No Related Posts

What the Heck is Author Branding and How Do You Do It Anyway?

A few years ago, I watched a YouTube video from an internet marketing guru (yes, he did try to sell me something at the end) that talked about why Coca-Cola was such a good brand name. Among other things, it had alliteration and rhyme, two elements that help people remember things.

I guess my parents didn't know that I'd one day be working to brand myself as an author, because they didn't use alliteration or rhyme when choosing my name. Heck, my first and last names aren't even easy to spell (as attested by the tons of variations people type into Google to find my site). If I were smart, I might have chosen a pen name that would be easy for people to remember, but I'm stubborn and I like to do things my way.

If you hadn't already guessed, the topic for today's post is branding, specifically author branding, because we're more interested in selling books than syrupy soda beverages, right?

What is a branding anyway?

Wikipedia tells us the American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers." (emphasis mine)

So, basically, it's about setting yourself up to stand out in a crowded field, right?

As an author, you can brand your name (Stephen King) or your books (The Twilight Series). You might even brand your main character (maybe your parents didn't give you an easy-to-spell and memorable name, but that's no reason why you can't think things through a little better when it comes to your heroes!).

I'll admit it: I wasn't thinking of branding or any type of marketing stuff when I wrote my first novels, so you won't find good examples in my book titles or character names. It is something I'll think about with the next series.

This is honestly the sort of thing the publisher usually thinks about (did you know authors don't necessarily get to keep their chosen book titles?), but as indies it's up to us to do it all.

If you can choose a catchy pen name, series title, or hero name, it might help with branding, but mostly becoming a recognized name in the field seems to be a matter of…

selling a lot of books
being around and publishing for a while
popping up every time your audience turns around

The first two things are tough to influence when you're starting out, but you can work on number 3.

The secret?

Be everywhere.

Okay, okay, I don't mean everywhere. We're not going to run ads on the sides of buses or pay for billboards in the city, but you want to be in as many places as you can where your potential readers hang out.

That sounds time-consuming, but it might be less so than you'd think at first blush. A lot of people equate being everywhere with spending hours on Twitter and Facebook and forums. It is worth it to build a Facebook Fan page and hop on Twitter to interact with folks for a few minutes a day (I'm less enamored with forums, because you're one little tree amongst a forest there, and threads where you participate quickly get pushed off of the front page), but both sites will probably only be a small part of your branding strategy.

I suggest we put a large portion of our marketing effort into things that we only have to do once, but that can continue to provide benefits (i.e. help with our author brand) down the road. Here are some of the things I've done:

Giving away free ebooks (short stories or novels — something in a series seems to work best) and putting them everywhere you can upload free stuff — For starters, Smashwords, Scribd, Feedbooks, etc. And it's possible to get free ebooks listed at Barnes & Noble and Amazon too. I did this with my Ice Cracker II short story way back in February, and it was one of the first things that made a real impact on my (at the time laughable) sales.
Being active on Goodreads — This is a huge reader community, and your future fans are there waiting for you. Yes, you can join the discussion boards and be active that way, but that's a lot of work. I prefer to do book giveaways (you need to have a paperback copy) and let my ads run there. I first set up an ad campaign for EE and Encrypted back in January (if you read the post, please keep in mind it's almost a year old — everything from my book covers to my sales numbers have changed a lot since then), and it's never cost me more than a couple of dollars a day since I made the ads highly targeted. The campaign runs day after day, month after month, without me having to do anything. For giveaways, you get a lot of eyeballs on your book for the price of one paperback plus shipping. I had close to a thousand people sign up for my first giveaway, and I intend to do more soon.
Being on iTunes with a podiobook (a series is even better) — I've written about my adventures in turning The Emperor's Edge into a Podiobook before, and I know it's already helped with sales (lots of cool folks have told me they first found my books through iTunes or Podiobooks.com). I'm positive it'll continue to help into the future, long after all the episodes have been published. Why? Audiobook lovers are readers too, and there's less competition in the podiobook sphere (because it's a lot of work to record an audio of your book!). It's easier to stand out on iTunes and Podiobooks.com than with an ebook on Amazon. If you want to give the first chapter of my book a try (for demonstration purposes, of course), you can listen at Podiobooks or on iTunes.
Being on Facebook — I already linked to my post about building a fan page, and that's all I think you need to do here (though you can put time into interacting with others if you enjoy the platform). Why bother? 600 million+ people are on Facebook. Lots of them are readers. Once you have fans, some of them will look for you there. And some of them will "like" you and share your links, thus helping others find you. It doesn't take long to put up a Facebook page either. Basically, follow their wizard, add some excerpts or links to freebies, and post fun stuff to your wall now and then. Here's mine for example purposes. Someone's actually in the process of doing a custom logo and design for me over there, so look for that in the new year.
Being on Twitter — Twitter is one of those places where your "tweets" will quickly fall off of people's radars, but it is one more place where you can have a little bio with links to your site and your book page at Amazon. If you network with others, you can build traffic to your blog with Twitter too (through people's retweets), and it's a good place to mention your freebies (it's less good for trying to straight out sell things to folks).
Guest blogging — A post you write for someone else's blog can continue to bring traffic to your site for months and years to come, and it exposes you (your brand!) to the readers of that blog. Writing for a high-traffic blog can be particularly helpful. Make sure the post informs (maybe even entertains) and, for the purpose of search engine optimization, contains links back to your site and your freebies. If you don't have freebies, link to your book pages on Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, etc. (I really like to send people to my freebies, because there's no monetary obstacle to keep them from trying me, and, if they enjoy the stories, they can always go onto the non-free books.)
Being out in the real world — Yeah, I'm a hardcore introvert, and this isn't my strength, but you can get a lot of mileage out of going to conventions and get-togethers with readers and writers in your genre. It's on my to-do list. In the meantime, I'm having business cards made, so I can at least hand them out to people I meet in my travels. Robin Sullivan over at Write2Publish has a good  post on how she made up her husband's (the author) awesome business cards.

There are more places where you can be, but I've listed some of the biggies here. One I didn't mention is YouTube, in part because it's less of a reader hangout than a people-who-prefer-videos-for-entertainment hangout, but I've heard of authors connecting with their fans through regular vblogs (video blogs) posted there. It is possible to reach your target audience and build up a fan base there. Book trailers aren't the way, but if you can answer questions or otherwise inform people through that medium, you can do well. Maybe I'll give it a try in the future (because my to-do list isn't long enough now!).

Remember, it's best to do things today that can continue to pull in readers down the road, whether you ever touch those projects again or not. If your idea of marketing is spending 15 minutes contributing here, here, here, and over there every day, you'll get burned out quickly.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions for more places to work on branding, let us know below.

 

Related Posts:

Can Publishing a Podiobook Help You Sell More Books?
Setting up a Blog Tour for Your Book
Book Promotion Tips for Hardcore Introverts