“I don’t think anything is unrealistic if you believe you can do it.” – Richard L. Evans
“If at first you don’t succeed, call it version 1.0.” – Author Unknown
Check your 2017 to-do list. Were you able to clean out your over crowded closet? Did you drop the weight you wanted to lose? Did you complete the first draft of the story you promised to complete this year? Have you accomplished any or all of your goals?
Congratulations to those of you who have. For the rest, don’t despair. You still have a few weeks left if you’re in the “trying-to-finish” stage. Of course, there’s always next year to make a new list of goals or re-address the ones you couldn’t finish in 2017. But why wait until January first? Will the New Year’s Resolutions gods swoop down with an unspeakable punishment because you don’t reveal your list on the first day of 2018?
A new beginning can start at any time you choose. Why not do it now? Make a new list of goals. This time make them realistic for your personality, interests, and lifestyle. Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, and relevant to your long-term goals.
My goals for now are:
Read one book per month in 2018. Two non-fiction books will be about writing, the rest will be fiction.
Enter the Writers Weekly short story contest in January 2018.
Write a minimum of 5,000 words per week for three months for a total of 60,000 words. This will bring my manuscript to a total of 75,000 words.
Check your 2017 to-do list. What are your new goals? Are they specific? Are they measurable? Are they realistic? Please share your new goals.
“Secret Sauce: If you’re not spending most of your time figuring out how your characters act or acted, you’re probably wasting your time.” Annalisa Parent, featured speaker, at the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference 2017.
Are you a plotter or a pantser? Or are you a crazy combination of the two? Some writers prefer to know where their stories take them before they begin. Plotters outline the story from start to finish and then write the manuscript. Others prefer to jump right in the story and let the characters talk to them to determine the direction in which the story takes them. A person who writes this way is called a pantser or “someone who writes by the seat of his pants.”
Annalisa Parent wrote a delightful, easy reading book, Storytelling for Pantsers, that helps in the scary adventure of writing by the seat of one’s pants. After reading her book, I realized that I started as a pantser for one of the manuscripts that I’m working on. Because my story involves historical facts, I’ve decided to plot the entire manuscript for accuracy of location, timeline, and the culture that shapes my characters’ lives.
However, I’ve outlined the entire story of another manuscript, but the characters continue to take me in an entirely different direction. This story puts me in the category of a plotter/pantser. I hear my characters in my sleep and wake up to a new plotline each morning. I’m okay with that because it’s not my story; it’s theirs.
What I believe is that a writer can be a plotter, a pantser, or a combination of the two depending on the writer’s personality and/or the type of story he or she is writing. There are some people who say you must plot your entire story. Others say that you can write “by-the-seat-of-your-pants” and let your characters do the plotting for you.
What do you believe? How do you write? I’d enjoy reading your thoughts on this issue.
I dash in, just missing the rain, and see there’s a problem with my regular table.
A woman with a toddler is there. Her stroller takes up the entire comfy chair area and space next to my usual table. Drat. I really need that wall outlet today. I walk over.
This mom appears to be unpacking toys and baubles for the weekend, much like how I spread out my scrapbook supplies for a one-day crop. There’s no scrap book store near me, and I suddenly miss Michigan and my friends even more. Now I want that table even more, just for principle. If I’d been five minutes earlier, I would be in my space, but I wasn’t. I glance at her—no, I’m pretty sure this is a glare—and look at her baby bottles, toys, food bags and blankets scattered on the table. I drop my dry umbrella on the table next to her, the table that’s too far from the outlet. I hope the sound is loud enough to annoy her and show my distaste.
“Oh, I’m just leaving,” the mom says with a smile. All this mess is her organizing to pack up? I understand. I stare into her eyes and melt into guilt. The rain, traffic and my phone’s low coughing battery has made me cranky. It’s a good thing she will never know I was silently taking that out on her.
She packs up quicker than I expect, and I set my umbrella and work bag on my table and walk to the counter. What looks good? It all does. What am I in the mood for? I stare at the 12 pastries like it’s an endless list. I notice the barista staring at me. There’s no one else in the store.
“What do you recommend?” I ask.
“The lemon croissant,” she says after a moment of thought.
Always order something and always go with the barista’s recommendation. I get the dark house coffee to pair with the pastry and hand her my money. She takes it, gives me change and doesn’t make eye contact again.
A woman came in while I waited and set up shop on the table in front of me. Literally. The small circular table is filled edge to edge with trays of beauty products or creams or probiotic somethings. There are two pre-filled boxes open and a variety of bottles and tubes lined up in a neat array. I’ve seen meetings like this in coffee shops—the recent one of a wedding photographer comes to mind—but what kind of permission do you need from the store owner to have this display? I’m curious what she’s hawking, but I get an Avon vibe from her. I don’t stare at the products because I’m not in the mood for a sales pitch. A blonde woman walks in and greets the saleswoman with a handshake. Good. I can get back to my writing and lemon croissant.
After maybe 15 minutes, a couple comes in and sits at the comfy chairs next to me. I hear smooch smacks. Are they kissing? They must be doing some tongue thing because it is one loud wet sound. I want to look and stare my appall, but is that just as rude as this makeout session? The sounds stop. She leans back in her chair and finger-brushes her hair onto my table very close to my food. I stare at that, at her, but she doesn’t see me because she’s staring at her kissy-face man.
A wet draft smacks me. The rain started, hard, and a woman pushed open the side door. I look up and squint. She scowls at me. I have my reading glasses on and can’t focus that far away. I was just looking up to see the commotion. I better use those glasses and just stare at my papers.
The saleswoman has left and a family comes in. Some older woman takes a young girl to the bathroom while everyone else pushes two circular tables together. The girl, who must be someone’s daughter, fidgets and jerks her way back to the tables. Don’t stare at people who are different, my folks always said to me growing up. It’s not polite. I wonder if she’s going to bump or fall onto my table. Does her family have her under control? I feel weird trying to think of a PC word to describe her—disabled? Physically challenged?—so I look up. I can’t help staring, whether safety or curiosity. One male adult at the table, maybe her father, is signing at her, or at least gesturing with his hands. Everyone else sits down with coffee or whatever, and I can’t get a sense of family dynamics. Just as well. I stare down at my papers and get back to work.
I finish the page and see a shadow over me. It’s not on top of me but in my peripheral vision. The shadow doesn’t move. Is it staring at me? I look up and see a cluster of people. Three people hold cardboard cup carriers. Sloshy drinks. Heavy rain. Closed door. This is a recipe for disaster. I stare and instead have horrible, messy images. For a heartbeat, I think of being one of those people who stare at disasters then turn their head as if what they saw was invisible. I know how I’d feel if my to-go drink was dropped and spilled everywhere. How disappointed after all that to-go effort with no way to go back for another drink. I can’t let that happen and make someone else’s day cranky. I could hold the door even if the man with them doesn’t.
“Can I help?” I ask, loud enough so they can hear me over the music.
“No, we’re fine. Thanks,” one woman says, and it’s not in that polite I-don’t-want-to-bother-you way. This is confidence, like they’ve done this a thousand times before. They must have because the woman balances the tray on her thigh, pushes the door and glides out into the rain. The man holds the door with his foot while the other woman walks through, then he lumbers behind.
I lose sight of them in the rain, between a car and telephone pole. I’m hit with their wet draft, but this time I don’t mind that I stared. I hope they make it.
Sisyphus, from Greek Mythology, rolls a boulder uphill for eternity. With each attempt, the boulder rolls back downhill and Sysyphus must start the task anew. This is the author’s task once a book is published.
Some authors think that the publisher does (or should do) most of the promotion to sell their books. They might reference the Bestseller’s List for authors who’s latest book cover is promoted in stores, mailers, and social media. Places like Barnes and Noble and Books A Million have posters of books and authors to entice shoppers. As of this writing, Amazon is promoting books recommended by their editors. How do these books get on the ad banner, much less make the list?
I don’t have the answer. My publisher for So All Can Learn: A Practical Guide to Differentiation (see description) has not told me, but is it her responsibility? The answer to that question is what I’ve been told by other authors before me, and when I did book publicity for a friend and excellent writer Phil Rosette: The best person to promote an author’s book is the author.
Publishers do promote the books. They have many that they must get air time on their website, mailings, and at the relevant book events. For most authors that’s as good as it gets. The few with high advances on royalties might get more investment in marketing. Again, a publisher has many books to promote. Considering the books you see on an end shelf, or display tables. Many are not rotated so that different authors are on display for the consumers. Likely, the same books will be presented week after week, because the publisher paid for the service. This practice is not exclusive to the book industry, as the same is found in many stores from clothes to groceries.
The author must be proactive in their book promotions. Sylvia Hubbard, author and book marketing coach, was once asked how long should an author promote their book? She responded (paraphrasing), how long do you want your book to be read?
If the best person to market and sell a book is the author, what should the author be doing? A few ideas include:
Use social media to keep the book in people’s minds. Keep the message fresh. Connect the book content to events or special dates throughout each year.
Share ideas and content that others would be interested, and find relevant ways to reference your book. For example, So All Can Learn can be purchased at Rowman & Littlefield for 20% off using the code: RLEGEN17 OR the Kindle version (as of this writing) is on sale for $9.99.
Present at events such as conferences, stores, and schools. Again like item 2, use topics that interests potential buyers, and that also tie-in to your book.
Recruit and invite people to read and write reviews for your book. Have them post the reviews where potential readers look, such as: Amazon, Good Reads, Barnes and Noble, and other sites. When potential buyers see that others have read your book and posted a positive review, they might be more likely to buy the book.
Create a website for your book. Here is mine for So All Can Learn.
Establish a listserv that you can share content you’ve posted on your blog and social media. Send out once a week or 2-3 times a month. Find the balance that works for you and your listserv. The key is content that they find relevant.
Give your book to key influencers. If they like the book they might share it with their networks as recommendations.
Use images related to your book where possible.
Many of these suggestions require you to put yourself out there. Some have suggested that self-promoting one’s book may be seen as negative. Who is best to sing the merits of a book other than the author? There may be a line between hard sell and convincing others that your book is worth the time. Being subtle all or most of the time will leave you with a dusty pile of untouched books. The result is that a publisher will wonder why you didn’t do more when sales are low. Most authors on the best sellers list started without name recognition, and had to become known. Those who were already known, likely had to establish themselves within their respective field. An author who chooses not to promote their book may become a best-kept secret, and lots of unsold books.
There are more ideas to try. This is a beginning. It will be time consuming, yet how important is your book? Catch your breath, and start rolling that boulder uphill–again, again, and again…
Have you ever thought of a city as a person, as someone who is alive and waiting to make your acquaintance? This is a new idea for me. It came after I started reading Havana* by Mark Kurlansky.
He begins by saying in the Prologue, “If I were ever to make an old-fashioned film noir…I would shoot it in Havana.”** He goes on to talk about other writers and poets who have found Havana fascinating. It seems you have a very different impression of Havana if you first see it from the sea, rather than from land.
Mr. Kurlansky tells how Habana Vieja (Old Havana), the original city, developed. The streets in this section were, and still are, very narrow and dark. The sidewalks are narrower still, all because the sun is so hot. So, when people put awnings up, they tie them to the building across the street. That way everyone passing below gets the shade.
One of the more interesting things I learned is that the city was founded three times in three different places. And Mr. Kurlansky has lots of interesting anecdotes to tell about how each settlement was founded.
Havana was invaded many times, always from the sea. There were the French pirates in 1538 and 1555 and different ones came again many times after that. Each time the townspeople paid a ransom and those that were still alive rebuilt. They built one fortress and then another and, over time, they added to each. It didn’t seem to make much difference. There seemed to be no shortage of pirates coming from the sea, and so, there would be another raid.
Havana grew and became an important commercial port in the 1700s. African slaves were brought in around this time to do the work.
Mr. Kurlansky says, “It has at times been suggested that the impact of slavery on modern Cuba is exaggerated, but so profound and fundamental is slavery to the identity of both Havana and Cuba that it would be almost impossible to overstate it.”***
He goes on to say that there were people alive in 1980 who had known their grandparents who had been born in Africa. Imagine that!
I’m going to stop here because I don’t want to give too much away. I hope I’ve inspired you to read Havana. It’s an exciting, fascinating book that reads like a novel and the city of Havana is the main character!
*Havana by Mark Kurlansky, Bloomsbury USA, March 17, 2017.
