Lynne Stringer's Blog, page 8

Where do you shop?

In all the preparations for the launch of my new book, Once Confronted, I’ve been looking for new ways to promote it, and that has led me to ask the question – where do people usually buy their books?

I’m guessing that you’re like me. You probably prefer a paperback purchased from the bookstore but those ebooks are so convenient. I regularly purchase an ebook first, then if I like the book enough to want it on my shelf, I follow it up with the paperback version later. Having said that, I’ve bought a lot of paperbacks this year to try and support my fellow local authors as much as possible, and it’s been great to read their books in the traditional style.

But when we get right down to it, where do you prefer to buy your books? And is that where you usually buy them, or do you shop for convenience? And if it is ebooks you purchase first, where do you usually buy them? Amazon? iBooks? Let me know in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

 

We have a cover!

It was a mammoth effort but we did it. The cover of Once Confronted has been finalised. Hooray!

I’d like to thank all those people who voted on the two different cover options that my publisher put up on her Facebook page. You can see the post here. For a while, both covers were neck and neck, before the second cover pulled away and won with more votes. It was great to see so many people involved in the process and it was a big help. I preferred the other cover and was unsure about the second, mainly because I know some people don’t like clear images of characters on the front covers of novels. That so many people voted for that one made me feel more comfortable about using it.

Some covers can be particularly difficult and this was one of them. I trawled through hundreds and hundreds of stock photos looking for any that were suitable. It always surprises me how hard it is to find a good image, especially considering how many are available. Finding one that’s just right is tricky.

The struggles we had with this cover were similar to how long we took to get the cover right for The Heir. I remember we asked people for their opinions on that one too. The Crown‘s cover was the most difficult, though. I thought it was going to be the easiest. I mean, how hard could it be to find a photo of a crown? Sure, there were plenty of them, but finding the right one? That proved impossible, which is why we ended up designing our own. The Reign‘s cover was the easiest. I found the image while we were working on the image for The Crown and that was it! You can see all three covers here.

Once Confronted is also now available for pre-order. As a thank you to all the people who helped us decide on the cover, my publisher is currently offering it for only $14 including postage! ($18 if you’re overseas). Go here if you would like to order your copies now. I’m happy to sign any of them before they go, if requested.

 

The great cover challenge

As the release date for Once Confronted draws ever closer, work on its cover has increased.

When it comes to the right cover, Once Confronted has provided many challenges. It’s not a romance. It can be intense. It’s about something terrible that happens and the recovery from that terrible event, but it’s also hopeful. It’s about a young woman’s journey through it all, but it’s not just about her journey. So what do we put on the cover? Should it be a person? What should they be doing? Should it be something symbolic? If so, what?

I am not exaggerating when I say that people have spent many hours trawling through hundreds of stock photos trying to find the right look. We’ve come up with a few and I’m hopeful that soon we’ll be able to reveal something to you but there’s no doubt it’s been a battle to find something that works. It’s especially a challenge since different people respond to different things. How do we find something that appeals to the majority? These are difficult questions to answer.

Keep an eye on my Facebook page and Twitter feed over the next few days. There may well be something there for you to see.

What’s new that I can do?

Once Confronted should be released on 1st October 2016. I’m hoping to have a cover to show you soon.

Now I have an official release date, I’m already starting to think about the book launch. They can be a lot of fun but also a lot of work to organise, especially when looking for something to keep the attendees entertained.

At my previous three book launches I’ve had jigsaw puzzles of a page in the novel or put up pictures of actors who I think could play the leading roles, not to mention asking people to write down what they thought would happen next (that worked well for book two in the Verindon trilogy, The Crown).

However, for Once Confronted, I was hoping for something a bit different. After all, it is not related to the Verindon trilogy at all, not to mention that it’s also a far more serious book, being about dealing with recovery from a traumatic event. So I thought I’d seek a bit of help. Have you ever been to/organised a book launch? What did you do? Do you think it’s something that could work for Once Confronted‘s launch? Any ideas will be considered, as I must confess, I’m at a blank at the moment.

So what do you think? Let me know in the comments at the bottom of the page.

People or not?

Last week I talked about fonts and how they can often make or break the cover of a book. But there are a lot of elements to a cover, and the font is only one of them.

I think the most contentious point I’ve seen relates to the cover image. Should the author try and find a photo (or have one taken) that shows the characters in the book? For some, this might seem a no-brainer. However, I’ve encountered numerous readers who detest images of characters on the covers of books. The ones I’ve spoken to believe it ruins their ability to make the character solely from their own imagination.

Not only that, it can be hard to find stock images that use people who look like your characters. When I wrote The Heir, I gave my female protagonist, Sarah Fenhardt, short brown hair. Little did I realise how difficult it would be to find any stock images of young adults with short brown hair, and I needed one for my second book trailer. Eventually, I had to make do with one that came close, but it still wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. The trailer is here if you’d like to see it.

The cover of each book in the Verindon trilogy had more of an iconic image on it. No people at all. However, my new novel, Once Confronted, will have a picture of my new female protagonist, Madison Craig, on the cover. I hope it won’t put too many readers off. While it can be difficult to find useable photos of people who can represent a protagonist well, neither is it easy to find an iconic image that reflects the book! Both have their challenges.

Do you have a preference? Do you like book covers that show the characters or do you prefer some iconic image so you have the opportunity to create the protagonist in your own head? Let me know in the comments at the bottom of the page.

Let’s be clear on book covers!

During my time as an author I’ve discovered just how difficult it can be to get book covers right. They should be clear and represent the story within its pages, although there are various different ways that can be achieved. The cover of my debut novel, The Heir, definitely has its lovers and haters. We’ll soon be working on the cover of Once Confronted, and I think we’ve got an idea of where we’re going with it, but I’m sure there will still be a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with it.

One of the most important things to get right on a book cover is the font, both for the title and for the author’s name. Font choice is a big deal, as it can make or break your cover. I used to be the editor of a small newspaper and also often designed ads for it, and one of the earliest pieces of advice I received was to try and avoid the use of all caps, as it could make it difficult to read. This is definitely true of some fonts in particular. Also I was told to use no more than three different fonts in an ad. For a book cover, I think it’s best to stick to only two fonts at most. Anything more can make it too busy and that doesn’t help with clarity, which is one of the most important things about book covers. After all, it’s the title, along with the cover image, that will be the introduction most readers receive to your book.

There’s a website called Lousy Book Covers that has some great examples of poor covers of all kinds, but they also have some great examples of unclear fonts, as well as many on their tumblr page. Have a look and let me know your favourite, or tell me of another book you’ve encountered that has had a poor font choice on the front cover.

The importance of fiction

As a writer of fiction, I have sometimes received comments from people about the validity of what I do. There are many out there who view fiction as nothing more than light entertainment. In many cases, I probably agree with them; often fiction is just light entertainment, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I don’t think the people who’ve spoken to me think it’s necessarily wrong either, just that a novel is perhaps not as important as great works of history or biographies on important world figures.

When I wrote the Verindon trilogy I only wrote them for fun, although messages did creep in there. My next book, Once Confronted, was written with more of a message in mind, although it’s a message to myself in a lot of ways; a reminder of both the importance of forgiveness and the fact that you can get through hard times in your life and find hope again. When it’s released, I hope that will be the message people take away from it.

The novel I’m working on at the moment is back to the ‘fun’ thing, although again, there’s a message creeping through. I’m not going to tell you what it is, though!

Fiction may not be as important as books that relay history or talk about inspirational world leaders, but it can still be important and can change lives. I remember when I first read Jane Eyre how it hit me that I could be so moved by such a work. The same thing hit me when I read Wuthering Heights, although my response then was in the opposite direction – I didn’t know I could feel such hatred towards a character as I felt for Heathcliff. However, the feelings both of these books produced where more in tune with inspiring me in my own literary ambitions, rather than to live a better life, although I know fiction can certainly do that.

I’d like to ask you, as a reader, if there has been a work of fiction that has particularly inspired you, especially if it inspired you to be a better person. It has to be entirely fictitious, not faction or based on a true story. Was there one that was a major game-changer in your life? Let me know in the comments.

Dedications

In all three books I’ve released so far I’ve had a dedication page.

The one in The Heir is my favourite. I dedicated it to the five friends who encouraged me to try and get it published after they’d read it back when it was just a first (or second!) draft. Without them, I might not be writing this blog right now. The Crown I dedicated to two people I used to work with who had encouraged me to start writing down my stories back in the nineties. The Reign was dedicated to my father and my husband; not unusual people to feature in a dedication, I think!

My latest novel, Once Confronted, doesn’t have a dedication page, although I’m thinking of adding one. I couldn’t think of anyone at first, but now I think I have the perfect people for it. I’m not saying who they are, though. You’ll have to read the book to find out.

This leads into my next question. Do you, as a reader, ever look at the dedication page or do you skip by it without a thought? I must confess I don’t read them too often myself, especially when reading online, as Kindle will usually open a book at the start of the story, skipping the title and dedication pages. So is it even worth putting one in at all?

This is what I’d like to know. If you’re a reader, do you ever pay attention to the dedication page or don’t you even look? And if you’re an author, do you always have a dedication page or do you think they’re not worth having? Also, have you ever come across any dedications that have stuck in your mind for some reason? Let me know in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Rewrites

This week has been a stressful one for me. Why? Because of that thing every author dreads – a plot problem.

This is hardly the first time I’ve had a plot problem in one of my novels but this one proved to be incredibly tricky, mainly because it was in the manuscript for my soon-to-be-released novel, Once Confronted. Scheduled for release in October this year, my publisher returned the manuscript to me last Monday and told me I needed to have the changes back by early this week. It’s always hard when working to that kind of deadline, especially with a major plot problem, and this problem was major. Two entire chapters have now gone and another had to be mostly rewritten.

All these problems have brought home to me again the necessity of checking facts to make sure things are correct, especially with books set in the real world. This is one of the reasons I prefer to write sci-fi or fantasy. If I’m creating a world, no one can tell me, for example, how its government works. I make those calls. But with a book set in the real world, I need help if it’s in an area outside my expertise.

Also, it’s important to get help from people who realise how important it is to get details right if you want your novel to stand up under scrutiny in the real world. The trouble with this manuscript arose, not because I couldn’t be bothered checking the facts, but because I checked with someone who thought it didn’t matter because it was ‘just a novel’. While for some people this might not be an issue, for me it is. I always try and check with people ‘in the know’ if I’m covering a particular subject, as I never like the thought of people who know a lot about these sorts of things reading it and saying, ‘Huh! Well, that wouldn’t happen.’

Maybe I’m to rigid with that, but I am glad I’ve managed to catch this problem before the book was released. Even though it’s meant that this week has been stressful because of it, it’s worth it for me if the book I release is more true to life. Hopefully, now it’s right.

Have you ever read a book and it was so unrealistic in a particular area that it spoiled your enjoyment of it? Or are you the kind of person who doesn’t worry about that kind of thing? Let me know in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Author events

This week I’m talking about what is possibly the hardest thing for most authors – attending events and signings to try and sell their books.

At a recent event, another author and myself were talking to a fellow author about this very thing, and she was saying how hard she found it to attend those kinds of events. Most authors are introverts and we’d much rather be in our own little worlds creating stories than going out into the real world to talk about them. Social media and internet interactions are frequently favoured over face-to-face marketing, simply because it’s less threatening for most.

But as I said in my first blog in this series, it’s definitely something you need to do. My rankings on sites like Amazon improve after every single author event I’ve attended in person.

Unfortunately, it’s something I struggle with too. The hardest part, for me, is going into a bookstore to request a signing. This was daunting before I even tried, and it hasn’t improved because, of course, I’ve received numerous knock-backs. Most bookstores, especially the big chains, aren’t interested in having local authors in. And while I’ve managed to keep going to other bookstores and have found some who are happy to have me, I must confess I’ve never had the nerve to go back to a bookstore where I’ve previously been refused and try them again. I just too confronting for me. However, I know it has worked for other people, so I encourage you to be braver than I am and give it a go.

Some authors struggle less with the asking and more with the event itself, and they’re difficult too. After all, most of us try and avoid looking at those pushy sales people who want to stop us in the middle of our shopping to talk to us about a product that we don’t necessarily want. It’s hard to do that. This is why I take a basket of chocolates to every signing in a bookstore. It’s a lot easier to say, ‘Would you like a chocolate?’ first, then follow up with, ‘Can I tell you about my book?’ rather than put the second question first. It has certainly helped me get sales.

It’s also good to have things to give away like key rings, small trinkets, t-shirts. Of course, these things cost money, and not everyone can afford them, so offering deals on your books can help, although most bookstores won’t go for that, so it might be an idea to save book deals for other events, outside bookstores, things like markets, school fetes and other places that might allow you to have a stall. Many of them have fees, but they’re not usually too excessive, although some events might also insist you have your own insurance, and if you’re going to do those kinds of events regularly, it’s a good thing to consider.

At the event itself, try and maintain a positive attitude. Try and keep a smile and a ‘happy voice’ going. If you’ve ever worked in retail or at a place where you’re answering phones regularly, you probably know all about the ‘happy voice’. Try and sound bubbly and carefree. If you imagine yourself smiling; it can help. And if you do get a knock-back, just plaster the smile back on and try again with the next person. It’s tough, but I’ve found it does work.

Lately, I’ve also done a few events with a group of other authors. This has been a fantastic way to do things, especially at something like a market or a fete stall, as if the person you’re talking to isn’t interested in your books, you can suggest one of the other authors’ books instead. You can also encourage each other and it gives you a chance to have a break, if you need it, as there are other people to man your stall, even if you aren’t there for a few minutes.

The important thing is getting yourself out there. How else are people going to hear about your book? They aren’t going to unless someone tells them. Marketing is not an optional extra for any author these days. Even those with big publishers are expected to get out there and tell people about their books. It’s the only way you’ll ever have a chance of success.

Are you a reader? Where have you encountered authors? Are you an author? Which events have you found have worked best for you? Let me know in the comments section at the bottom of the page.