Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 135

One Foot in front of the Other for Eighty-seven Days from James W. Ziskin

With thousands of new titles being published every day, what do you do to try to raise your new book above the fray and catch the eye of readers?  We may have had a similar question before but things change so fast these days that what worked yesterday may not work today. So any new thoughts on this?
This week’s question is a simple one. Simple because I’ve accepted that there’s not much more I can do to promote my books. Not without making friends and strangers sick of hearing about my books. So...

No regrets

With thousands of new titles being published every day, what do you do to try to raise your new book above the fray and catch the eye of readers?
by Dietrich
Well, aside from coming up with a catchy title, an eye-catching cover and making the best use of the marketing avenues available to authors – minus the limitations brought on by the recent lockdown that all of us have had to deal with, cancelations to reading events and seminars, conventions, and so on – the best thing I can do is to focus on...

Terry Shames here.We are being asked this week to talk ab...

Terry Shames here.
We are being asked this week to talk about how we promote our books these days to catch the eye of readers during this stay-at-home time. What worked yesterday may not work today.
I assume this question means, “Anything short of standing on street corners, next to a stack of your books, beating a drum.”


I remember as a new author being timid about beating that drum, and then someone said to me, “If you’re proud of your books, you want people to read them, and the only way they ar...

Marketing in the Time of Covid

With thousands of new titles being published every day, what do you do to try to raise your new book above the fray and catch the eye of readers?  We may have had a similar question before but things change so fast these days that what worked yesterday may not work today. So any new thoughts on this?
Brenda Chapman here.
If I had a good answer to this question, I’d bottle and sell it for millions of dollars! 


Having your book stand out from the thousands of others published every year was always di...

The Hard Way – Keeping a Series Bible...Or Not

Do you keep a “bible” for your series characters and stories? If so, what does it look like? What does it contain? Do you use a specific program or just Word or Excel files? What do you put in it, how detailed are you?

by Paul D. Marks

I wish!

If I did it would make life so much easier. But why would I want anything to be easier? Why do anything the easy way when you can with even more ease do it the hard way?

I have good intentions to do bibles for all my work. But just like New Year’s resolutions,...

For Your Consideration . . .

By Catriona

Q: Do you keep a “bible” for your series characters and stories? If so, what does it look like? What does it contain? Do you use a specific program or just Word or Excel files? What do you put in it, how detailed are you?
Well, this is easy. "No." 
And that jumps up and bites me sometimes. When I was copy-editing SCOT ON THE ROCKS (Last Ditch No.3) last month, I called Lexy's ex Brandon most times except once I called him Branston. Thank God for that. Because in books 1 and 2 he is Bran...

(Re)Calling Cait Morgan... by Cathy Ace

Q: Do you keep a “bible” for your series characters and stories? If so, what does it look like? What does it contain? Do you use a specific program or just Word or Excel files? What do you put in it, how detailed are you?


I do keep a bible, and I am so very glad of that. Otherwise I’d have found myself in a bit of a pickle earlier this year. Why? For the first time since 2016 I wrote a new Cait Morgan Mystery, and it’s amazing what you can forget in a few years, even about characters who are so r...

The River City Bible

Craft: Do you keep a “bible” for your series characters and stories? If so, what does it look like? What does it contain? Do you use a specific program or just Word or Excel files? What do you put in it, how detailed are you?

From Frank

I should. I really, really should.

My River City published "universe" is fairly expansive. There are six novels in the main series, as well as three more in the spin off Kopriva mystery series. My first co-authored work ever,  Some Degree of Murder  (with Colin Conway...

Getting to Know All About you

Q: Do you keep a “bible” for your series characters and stories? If so, what does it look like? What does it contain? Do you use a specific program or just Word or Excel files? What do you put in it, how detailed are you?
-from Susan
No, I don’t keep a record as extensive or authoritative as the term “bible” might imply. When I’m writing a book, I do keep a simple file of the names I’ve given characters, and their titles or company names since those determine their roles in the story. The main cha...

It's a Hard Lock Life

"Describe your lockdown life. Has it had any unexpected sweet spots in it? And what are you most looking forward to doing again afterwards?”
By Abir
Friday again eh? I could have sworn it was Wednesday. 
Topic of the week is lockdown – specifically lockdown life. 
It's a Hard Lock Life for Us
I’m not going to lie, compared to millions of others, my lockdown life has been relatively easy. We’ve had no family members come down with the virus, not even my mum who a) thinks she’s invincible and b) being ...