Discussing Excerpt Three | Marketing Mondays

One of the problems with writing Erotic Science Fiction is the fact that many potential readers assume the focus is on the erotic elements rather than the underlying science fiction and general plot. To try and overcome this perception, I’ve started posting excerpts from my books that highlight some of non-erotic elements to show characters and conflicts that hopefully appeal to the more mainstream readers. These excerpts will be shared on Mondays and I’ve created a tag “MarketingMondays” to track the postings.

As the excerpts run, I’ll watch sales numbers and see if they are helping.

Excerpt three is from Book Three, chapter two. Book Three opens with an action scene that sets the stage for the major conflicts Paul faces in the climax of the series. While that action segment sets the stage for much of the book, it also has details that may be jarring if a reader has not read the earlier books. For this reason, I chose this scene as being more relatable to the general reading audience.

It covers a promotional interview Joan Lunden is conducting to advertise Paul & Jeryl’s reality television series. By this point of the book, readers know that Paul is going to space and they have been introduced to the television series from the second book as well as the opening chapter of this one.

The scene helps paint Paul’s efforts and accomplishments in the broader world of the time. By this point in the overall series, he has succeeded in changing the world with his inventions as well as his educational efforts to encourage people to do their own thinking. Book three does very little “looking back” for the reader. It assumes they have followed along and read the first and second book already. This may be a poor precedent, but it was a choice I made while writing.

For anyone who has not yet read the books, there are likely a few obvious questions I can answer. If you have additional question I can answer, please leave a comment on this or the excerpt posting.

What is the television show Paul and Jeryl created? In Book Two, they launch a reality television show years before the concept became mainstream in the entertainment world. It started as “The Interns” focused on a blend of business problem solving, marketing, engineering, and general management. The intent (for Paul and Jeryl) was to encourage young entrepreneurs to try things, fail, learn, and try again. Book Two covers several seasons of the show, and Book Three launches it in new directions.How realistic is the scene in zero-g? As realist as I could make it based on research of current astronaut training and experiences. If I portrayed any details inaccurately, I’ll simply plead lack of hands on experience on the author’s part.Why did you use real people’s names as characters? This was a tough decisions when originally writing. When you’re telling any sort of story based on an alternative history or timeline, you want to anchor readers in a world they are potentially familiar with. Using well-known public figures is one technique I chose to create a sense of time and place. I did add a disclaimer at the beginning of each book:

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction.  The story depicts an alternative, invented “reality” or timeline.  All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical figures, are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work.  Some of the characters in the story are based on actual people, but none of the events depicted in the story are actual events.  In all other respects, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

What else happens in Book Three? [No spoilers here]. Book three is the climax to the series. If catapults Paul to the center of geopolitical conflict and forces him to face his own mortality, his own morality, and loss he cannot overcome with his knowledge of a future world. It brings the saga to a conclusion while leaving the door open for more stories if the muse ever strikes me to revisit the world.Will there be a Book Four? No. Paul’s tale is concluded in my mind. While there are possible stories in the universe that has been created, I don’t want to continue following along in Paul’s wake. Why not? As a reader, I dislike stories that never end. I don’t want to be an author that makes my readers wait for “yet one more extension” of a tale. Book three concludes the story I set out to tell. It creates what I think is a unique “do-over” tale that avoids tropes of getting rich by knowing what the financial market does. It also explores the impact a person with advance knowledge may have even in the modern world. Many writers in the genre send their protagonist in the distant past in the vein of “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”, but few tackle such a story in the near past. That is the challenge I took on, and I think I did it well, so I’ve chosen to stop here.

Tell me what you think….

Please like the Marketing Monday posts if you find these behind-the-scenes discussions useful. It there are questions that come to mind from the excerpts or these follow-up posts, leave a comment and let me know. I’m also open to any questions on GoodReads, if you prefer that platform.

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