Today Eliza Fayle of Silver & Grace has launched what we believe to be her true calling: A stunning line of jewelry that is sure to dazzle you. Each piece is drawn from Eliza’s inspiration from her newly rediscovered spiritual connection to the elements.

If you’re looking for a totally unique, handmade gift for the woman in your life, whether she’s your mother, daughter, sister, girlfriend or wife, you’ll be certain to find a piece that resonates with them.

Congratulations, Eliza, the Team here wishes you the utmost success and abundance with your new venture!

Talk about perfect timing. I was going to ask Greg to share his experience with the marketing and distribution aspect of his children’s book “Where Monsters Go When You Grow Up” when lo and behold, what should appear in my inbox?

I hope you all enjoy his insight as much as I did.

***

Ok – forgive me, Father, it’s been awhile since my last post.

Last time I talked about self-publishing your book; which , as I recall, boiled it down to being a good thing when all was said and done. I stand by that. But here are some addenda I would like to add, having gone through the past few months of marketing/selling my self-pub.

I spent a few months micro-managing my book’s sales, right down to person-to-person sales. I busted my rear-end getting the word out, I literally LITERALLY called every bookstore in the US that could carry my book. Bottom line – I sold a couple hundred books. That’s it. And it was HARD work; ridiculously hard work. Like almost not even worth the effort hard work. So here is what I have to let you know now:

Have a plan, have some money, spend your money wisely in marketing/selling your book, get ready to do consignment sales. A LOT of consignment.

As we talked about last time, the major issue with self-publishing is that no one is going to sell your book for you – you have your work cut out for you BIG TIME. Another very big issue with self-published books is that they are “non-returnable,” more on that later.

The Plan, Stan

Do your homework. Study up on the whole book sales thing, the markets, the stores, what people are reading where – figure out where you want to target the sales, ’cause otherwise you’ll end up ping-ponging all over the place with no direction. Kind of what I did at first. I took a week, I got on the internet, and I started up in the Northeast, and I worked my way down to southern California calling bookstores – mom & pop shops and chains – any place that looked like they would carry my book.

Some of this kind of activity is unavoidable – you simply can not know what every area will carry, or what the demographics are of every sub-section of every city. But do a little at a time – and start locally. Talk to the bookstores and gift shops where you live first. They are usually pretty receptive to local authors, and some will want you to do book signings in the stores. But don’t expect to make any huge sales – you will just be getting your book out there. And most will be on consignment.

The C Word

Aargh. Start groaning now. I will give you a moment to get one big, long groan out now, so that you can beat the rush when you start getting out there with your SP Book. Go.

Done? Good.

Consignment. You give some books to a store, they sell them, and you split the proceeds, typically I have seen 50-50, 40-60 and 30-70, where the first number is for the store. Not bad, huh? Here’s what you missed: check that second line of this paragraph again. “You give some books to a store…” Where do you get the books? YOU buy them.

Even with a huge discount, your books will cost a pretty penny up front, out of your pocket. I had over a dozen stores (I stopped when I started to do the math) ask me for anywhere from 2 to 10 books to sell on consignment. Let’s average this out for the sake of getting concrete numbers to look at and smile.

12 stores asked me for 5 books each, let’s say. That’s 70 books. I pay 5 dollars each to buy my own books so that = 350.00 to buy the books. Plus probably up to 10 dollars to ship to me; then another 3-5 dollars to ship to each store. That’s over 400 dollars just to ship books to a dozen stores.

Then, let’s say that those stores give you the average rate of 40-60. The book sells for 12 bucks, that means the store gets 4.80 and you get 7.20/book x 5 books = 36.00 x 12 stores = $432.00.

You’d better check my math on that. And then groan some more.

Now, to be fair, on the up side you just sold 70 books and word of mouth has started hopefully. And hopefully the store gets people clamoring for the book. So that’s a good thing.

Another Bad Thing

So the store gets clamoring throngs asking for the book, so now they can just order it themselves and send you residual checks, right? Umm, not really. You see, it’s a self-published book, it does not have a huge gorilla company backing it. So if those books that shipped get damaged, or if those books don’t sell – the store can not return them to the warehouse for a refund or exchange.

This is the main reason why stores will not be able to just get on the computer and order books from the major booksellers. Your book will pop up, and that’s kinda cool – but they will balk at buying some because it is non-returnable.

Some stores will order anyway, and they are cool, I liked them. But most will not, especially the big chains; their manager simply will not let them. And so – consignment. So make sure you have some money put aside to buy your own books, and place them wisely – try to get them in the bigger markets’ stores.

(By the way, just so you don’t feel too bad – even when those stores order “directly from the warehouse” – you still only make pennies per sale, it’s just less work for you. I sold a couple dozen books to stores who ordered them . Stores typically get an automatic 40% discount to begin with. So out of those few dozen books – I made probably 5 bucks. Total. In residuals.)

Do you have marketing materials?

I heard that from a LOT of stores as well. Posters, postcards, display pieces, this is what they are talking about. Something that they can put out in the store to generate interest. Start to work on these now instead of later. That way, as soon as your book is done, you can get to stores and have marketing pieces ready. You can also leave these things in stores and on public boards etc to get the word out – and you can usually find some deals where you can get some of these things printed in color for relatively cheap – take a look at internet printing places like VistaPrint, Print Pelican, Zazzle and the like. Have a plan and some money for this stuff.

Yippee!

So there you are! Have fun, see ya!

This was not meant to beat you down, seriously, just to inform you of what you may be in for. You may be lucky and someone will see your book and snap it right up and distribute it for you. But chances are, you’ll be in the aforementioned boat with what seems like one oar in the water and icebergs everywhere.

Use internet resources, ask others for help, make a plan, save some money, start small, think big, and keep the faith, baby.

***

Greg Dorchak is a sorry little man.

*sounds of frantic scrambling behind the curtain and someone mumbling “What do you mean you sent the wrong email?”*

The real Bio: Greg Dorchak is the author of the children’s book: Where Monsters Go When You Grow Up, and is working on more as we speak. He is an award-winning actor, cartoonist and writer living in Austin, Texas. His  film work includes Xtracurricular, Miss Congeniality, Rolling Kansas, and The Longshots; and he most recently worked in Sick Boy due for release in 2011.

The hard part’s over, right?

Wrong.

Wait a minute. What?

Back in the day this may have been the end – or the beginning. Your agent or publisher would take care of getting your book distributed and out into the world and hands of hungry readers. But today with the advent of self-publishing and more and more authors doing all the work themselves this is just another step in the process.

Today, it’s not enough to be a good writer with a good story to tell. You have to be more. You have to be production manager, editor, layout artist and marketer. Even if you don’t have the skills for any of those extra hats, you still have to have a good understanding of how each of those areas work if you’re going to choose the right people to do that work for you.

Marketing and self-promotion are frequently overlooked and this is what can make the difference between success and landing in the “where are they now?” file.

Be A Social Butterfly – For Free

A promotional campaign for a new novel is like any other. If you’ve been around the blogosphere for a while you may have launched a few projects already. You may have had an instructional ebook or launched a new business or site. When you did that, what did you do?

You told your friends and family first, right? You started with the one list of people you knew best and got the ball rolling. You probably used Twitter and Facebook to make your initial announcement, too. Maybe you hit the niche circuit and started commenting on pertinent blogs to garner some attention and cast a wider net to get your name out there.

Social networking is more than posting what you had for breakfast or telling the world you’re shopping at WalMart. When used correctly and with a plan social networking is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to advertise your new novel. Word of mouth is a very powerful concept and a single Tweet is the modern day equivalent of the shot heard ’round the world.

Another free resource is Facebook fanpages. Don’t have the funds yet to go all out on your own personal website? Build a fan page and post your updates there.

The Author’s Website

Which brings me to the next point; the website. A few years ago I was doing some research on the fiction writing community. I came across a lot of sites that had excellent information and good books on them, but the websites failed miserably.

This wasn’t just for new writers, either. I saw a few well known sites belonging to authors and just had to shake my head and ask “How could they?”

Many of the sites then (and now) look like they’re stuck in the 90s. Narrow pages with terrible fonts, no thought at all to design or to how visitors would navigate those sites to find the information they needed. Some were so bad I didn’t bother reading what the latest novel was about because I couldn’t stand to look at the page.

As both an author and a designer my own goal is to have everything associated with our novel, or any project for that matter, to look as professional and up to date as possible. Think about it; you’ve poured your whole heart into creating this book, why would you stop short at your website?

In many cases it seems like the website was nothing more than an afterthought.

At one time perhaps a website was a luxury and not really necessary. Today, your website is your storefront, your face to the world. So like my Mom says, “Put your makeup on before you go out. You never know when you’ll be discovered.”

Book Trailers

I’m not sure when this phenomenon started, but recently I’ve discovered authors using book trailers. These are  video clips similar to what you’d see for a movie.

And like their websites, a lot of them are pretty bad.

Having done animation, I look at these with the same critical eye as a website. And I’ve had the same “What were they thinking?” reaction.

A video clip, even just a few minutes long, takes hours to create. And they’re expensive. They’re a big investment and if you’re going to spend that much money on one it better be done well or else you and your book will come off like a joke.

Click here to view a few of the best…and worst.

A word of caution; always remember THE BOOK is what counts in the end. A good video can kill your sales just as much as a bad one. You need a solid call to action. Don’t let any of your PR get in the way of the real message.

Forums and Blogs

Many of us are familiar with forums. Both Wendi and I got our start on role playing writing forums. Fan sites built on a forum platform are a great way to stir up some interest. Face it, once you tell people you’re publishing a book you gain instant celebrity status. You have more of a fan base than you realize and more and more people start to come out of the woodwork.

Readers love to interact with authors. Nearly everyone wants to reach out and touch greatness. Some of my favorite authors, like Christine Feehan and Neil Gaiman, stay close to their roots and interact with their fans as much as possible. This interaction, in my opinion, is worth more than anything else in the world. Your fans are what make you successful. Treat them well and they’ll treat you well. Never forget them, no matter how crazy things get.

You’d be surprised how many times I’ll pick up a book just because the author is a “nice guy”. Forums and blogs add that personal touch.

ePub

Love it or hate it, the reality is that digital publications are here to stay. Don’t have enough capital to get that first book printed? Try going the digital route first.

Platforms like Kindle and other forms of ebooks are excellent ways to test the waters and get your name out there. Start by selling a digital format on Amazon. Before you know it, people will be clamoring for an actual physical book.

I know, I can hear many of you saying “But digital doesn’t count! No one takes you seriously unless you’re in print!”

Oh really?

The publishing industry has reached a tipping point. More and more established authors are moving towards digital and self-publishing. I think that strikes a nice little blow for legitimacy if you ask me.

Ready, Set…GO!

So, while your novel is in the hands of your editor or designer, take that time to get your marketing campaign together. Start with what and who you know, and if budget allows, take it a step further and put your PR into the hands of a professional. At the very least, just get word out there. The more people you tell or talk to, the more connections you’ll make. All those small baby steps add up.

If you have a novel about to be released, what steps are you taking, or have taken already? What worked for you and what didn’t? Is there anything you wished you had known then that you know now – or still don’t know and wished you did?

On a Side Note

Over the last several months we’ve had a lot of people asking us to share our experience with writing Bonds of Blood & Spirit: Loyalties. We’d like to hear your questions and share what we know first hand. What are the important issues as a budding novelist that you’d like to know about? Drop us a line and tell us. We’ll put them up in future posts or *gasp* even ask you to do a guest post!

The sidebar is all sorts of useful. There’s no limit on the number of different sorts of things that could go in a sidebar. Your RSS button? Definitely. Ads? For sure! A video? Heck, why not?

You can even have multiple sidebars… one on each side of your content, or two right next to each other, on the same side of your content. Cool, isn’t it?

Some things are pretty easy. Your RSS button is likely an image, a link, and maybe some text or an email sign-up form. Ads aren’t much different. For videos, you just have to insert the code YouTube (or whatever video site you’re using) gives you for embedding. With basic knowledge about HTML, you can certainly figure out how to do these things.

But what if you want to do something more involved… like list your most recent posts in your sidebar, or put WordPress widgets in your sidebar, or have multiple sidebars, or even have different sidebars on different pages of your website? That involves a little more than just knowing how to use HTML tags and nest them properly. For that, we have to get into PHP a bit.

What have you been up to lately?

Something that’s super useful to your readers (and can help your recent posts get more traffic, which is always good!) is to have a short list of your most recent posts in your sidebar. Usually this list includes links to the five most recent posts. In theory, this is pretty easy to do. You just have to call the get_posts(); PHP function (you remember what PHP is, right?), pass in the appropriate parameters, and voila, there you go!

But this ain’t no computer science class, and I’m not some snobby professor who expects you to instantaneously understand every piece of code I throw at you. Here, we’re all about understanding things… really, truly understanding them. So we’re going to go through this line by line.

First, the code:<h2>Recent Posts</h2>
<ul>
<?php $recent = get_posts('posts_per_page=5')?>
<?php foreach ($recent as $post) : ?>
<li><a href="<?php echo(get_permalink($post->ID)) ?>"><?php echo($post->post_title) ?></a></li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul> That first line’s easy enough to understand, right? It’s just your title – “Recent Posts” that you put in a header tag. Really, you can name it whatever you’d like, but we’re going to name it “Recent Posts” for now.

Next, the opening <ul> tag. The function we use to display the list of posts outputs an array. We want to take this array, and turn it into a list… an unordered list, so we use the <ul> tag.

The next line isn’t HTML at all. But you recognize that style of code, right? The tags at the beginning and the end of the line tell you that it’s PHP. Then we assign whatever we get from the get_posts() function to a variable called $recent – you’ll see why in a moment, but first I want to explain this function to you.

The get_posts() function does exactly what it says it does. It gets your posts! But how many? And what if you want only the ones from a certain category, or ordered a specific way, or from a specific date…? Thats what parameters are for. Here, we’re just using one parameter – posts_per_page – to tell the function that we only want to display five posts. But there are lots more possible parameters you can use… check out these two pages to see a list of all the possible parameters that can be used with this function.

Now that we’ve got the information we need and have assigned it to a variable, we need to display it. In order to do this, we need to use a loop. Since the information is outputted in an array, we need to use a foreach loop. It’s not as hard as it looks. We’re pretty much saying we want to look at each thing in the $recent array, and we’re going to call it a $post. Then we do the stuff inside of the foreach loop… and continue to do it to each thing in the $recent array, until there aren’t any left.

So what is it that we’re doing inside of the foreach loop? Well, we’re displaying the recent posts, that’s all. Since we decided that this should be an unordered list (hence the <ul> tags) then each item in the list needs to be in <li> tags. Easy. Then we need to display the actual recent posts – each of which needs to consist of a link (because what’s the point of a list of your recent posts, if you can’t easily get to them?) and the title of the post. We start out as we would for any ordinary link – with an <a href=”">. Then we need the link itself inside those quotes.

The cool thing with these items in the $recent array is that each item has certain other values associated with them. So you can say $post->ID and it will give you the ID of the post, or $post->post_title to get the title. Awesome, right? So we use $post->ID in conjunction with the get_permalink() function (which takes in an ID of a post and returns the link for that post) to get the link. Remember to surround that with <?php and ?> tags to indicate that this is PHP code, and use the echo() function to display the output (otherwise it just sits there, and your browser doesn’t know what to do with it.)

After that, you need some text for the link, so it’s super easy to echo $post->post_title, which – you guessed it! – gives you the title of the post. Then just close your tags, end the loop… and voila! You have a list of your most recent posts!

More sidebar magic

Recent posts are awesome, and definitely good to have in your sidebar. But there’s more to the sidebar than just its content… what if you want to use the built in WordPress sidebar widgets, or have different sidebars on different pages of your website? You can be sure there’s much more fun to be had with the sidebars… next week!

Surprise! A Saturday post! This one just couldn’t wait until Monday. Today we have another special interview. This time with Scott Roche of Flying Island Press; a brand new publishing house with a unique twist on helping fiction writers to tell their stories.

Through the mediums of e-publication (e-pub as we call it in the biz) and podcasting, the FIP team joins the ranks of pioneers marketing storytelling in the digital age. And what better time to launch such a groundbreaking project than on the same day our own nation was born? As Scott said, there’s something auspicious about it.

So grab yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy the interview.

***

Sirius Graphix: This new venture of yours sounds pretty exciting, why don’t we start by telling our audience exactly what Flying Island Press is and what it’s all about?

Scott Roche: Well Flying Island Press is our effort to start up a publishing company that is going to address some needs that we see in the overall market. We’ve started off with Flagship, our speculative fiction e-pub, but it’s the first of what we hope are many different imprints.

Sirius Graphix: What exactly are “imprints”?

Scott Roche: Think of them as different brands. Random House has several different sub-brands that address different genres/markets. We as FIP hope to have a horror imprint, a literary fiction imprint, and perhaps some non-fiction as well.

Sirius Graphix: Very nice, I like it. I saw on your site that you’ve also started a fantasy imprint too?

Scott Roche: Well at this point Flagship, our first effort, will include both science fiction and fantasy. There is a possibility that down the road we may start a dedicated Fantasy line.

Sirius Graphix: How did you come up with this idea? You mentioned some needs in the industry you wanted to address, what were those?

Scott Roche: Well the team that makes up FIP are either all podcasters or folks who have written for podcasts. We noticed that there is a disconnect between people who write fiction for print venues and people who write fiction for podcasts. There also seems to be a decline in paying markets in print and paying markets for audio fiction is scarce as well. We wanted to develop a product that could perhaps bridge that gap and bring the two mediums together. So all of our imprints will be available both in e-pub and audio form.

Sirius Graphix: Damn, wish I’d thought of that! It’s a very good idea and I like the way you’re doing it digitally. Definitely a wide open market there.

Scott Roche: There is, for sure. The whole thing really started when we were talking about the valley we perceived that we were in as podcasters. We want the rest of the world to know how much talent there is in our community. There are a few other people who are doing this, but I have yet to see one that’s doing precisely what we are.

Sirius Graphix: Podcasting is still trying to gain a foothold, isn’t it?

Scott Roche: It is and I think part of that is because so much of it is still free that there’s a lack of respect for it in some arenas. That’s changing thanks to some success by a few authors and we want to be part of that change. We’re taking a risk because we’re charging for our content and people are so used to getting internet content for free.

Sirius Graphix: Ain’t that the truth. There’s a lot of debate going around these days about free content and whether even “traditional” bloggers should start charging for folks to read on their blogs.

Scott Roche: I did some asking around and it seems that when it comes to fiction at least people perceive that anything that isn’t “vetted” by a publisher/editors isn’t as valuable. I can’t say that I blame folks entirely. Self publishing has such a low barrier to entry these days that you can’t be sure how good something is.

Sirius Graphix: Oh yes, the old “if you’re not in print you must not be that good”. We understand that very well as we’re going through our own publishing process. But with innovative and talented people like yourself out there, I can see that changing.

Scott Roche: I appreciate that.

Sirius Graphix: So tell me a bit about your team. Who are they? What do they do?

Scott Roche: Well our managing editor is Zach Ricks. He’s a podcaster and a lawyer. FIP was his brainchild.

Philip Carroll is a very talented writer. He’s really our hawk eyed editor.

JP Losier is our layout and design guy. He’s the one whose making the e-pub version of Flagship really pop. He’s incorporating social media widgets into it so that the audience can easily and immediately provide feedback to us and the authors.

And Jeff Hite is our web master. He’s also a writer and podcaster. He’s been doing an audio/text anthology for years at Great Hites. It was his experience in providing a product that was both text and audio that was a big driver in our decision to do that. He noticed that there were some people who wanted text, some who wanted audio, and some who wanted both.

Then there’s me, podcaster, writer, opinionated SOB, and now marketer. I’m learning the last one as I go.

Sirius Graphix: * chuckles* You opinionated? No, not Scott!

Scott Roche: So I’ve been told. I’m the house contrarian.

Sirius Graphix: Every house should have one. Keeps people on their toes. How did all of you guys meet?

Scott Roche: Well really through podcasting/Twitter. Phil, JP, Zach and I have all written for Jeff’s site. But really there’s a pretty broad podcasting community that we’re all a part of. Our friendships grew out of that.

Sirius Graphix: Now, with the e-pub products, what format do those take? Are they downloadable ebooks for Kindle or PDF documents?

Scott Roche: That’s where we’re being a little experimental. We’re building our first issue in the EPUB format which allows for a little more flexibility. We’re also building it in a form that will be readable by the Kindle. Ultimately we want to be listed on Amazon and in the iTunes store.

Sirius Graphix: Where do you find your authors? Or do they find you?

Scott Roche: For our first issue we reached out to the community we had on Twitter. We got about 15 submissions. Once we had a site and had things put together we registered with Duotrope (a GREAT resource) and we got 10 submissions in the first few days we were with them. So now the hope is that they will come to us. We’re also a paying market so that helps. We hope to be paying SFWA rates this time next year.

Sirius Graphix: I’m sure you will. There’s a lot of “starving writers” out there who want to get their stories told. What’s your criteria for accepting authors?

Scott Roche: One thing that we really want to do is to develop new talent, people who haven’t been published yet. To that end, provided you follow our submission guidelines, if we reject your story we’ll do so with editorial guidelines, not just a form letter.

As far as acceptance goes, it’s about quality. The nice thing is with such a diverse group, and since at this point most of us are reading most of the stories, you have to get two thumbs up from the slush readers and then you get sent to Zach.

Sirius Graphix: So you give them a bit of a critique to help them see where they could improve? Do you allow people to resubmit after they’ve polished up the writing?

Scott Roche: We do indeed. We accepted a few folks this go ’round provisionally. We told them we’d accept their submission if they could turn it around quickly enough with changes. [To] A few others we said, “your story as it stands right now doesn’t meet our standards. Do XYZ and maybe next time.”

Sirius Graphix: That’s definitely much better than a generic form letter – and the beauty of being a small pub-house. You can give the authors personal attention, especially since it’s about giving the smaller guys a chance to break through.

Scott Roche: Exactly. We give the kind of attention we want as writers. The “bigger” we get the harder that may be, but that would be a good problem to have.

Sirius Graphix: Amen to that! But then again, by that point your team will have grown too, so you still may be able to provide that personal touch.

Scott Roche: Our hope is, down the road, we can do the same thing with longer form fiction. We’d like to serialize novels in both audio and e-pub formats.

Sirius Graphix: You know, you’ve got my brain going here, we’re definitely going to have to talk more about the novels to audio.

Scott Roche: I happen to know a thing or two about that.

Sirius Graphix: Ha! I’m sure you do!

Scott Roche: That’s really like a five year plan though for us.

Sirius Graphix: Long term plans are great and it looks like you’re taking all the required steps to get there.

Scott Roche: Once we get Flagship on rails so that the process is streamlined we’ll apply the same tech/approach to other things. And of course it needs to be self sustaining. We’ve also got our heads down on how to handle advertising too.

Sirius Graphix: Marketing is an author’s best friend, so many people don’t realize that.

Scott Roche: Yup. That’s one area that we’re brainstorming hard on. Traditional forms of marketing don’t seem to work as well with this sort of project, at least based on what I’ve heard form podcasters who have more skills in that area. That’s where we’re hoping that cross pollination of the audio community and the e-print/traditional print community may be helpful.

Sirius Graphix: Casting a wide net, huh?

Scott Roche: As wide as possible.

Sirius Graphix: When is all of this due to launch?

Scott Roche: Issue one drops on July Fourth. We thought that was an auspicious date. The theme of that issue will be “origins/beginnings”. Most of our issues won’t have themes, but it seemed appropriate to have this one for launch. We’ll also be making one story available for free in both audio and e-pub form for those who want a taste.
There will be six stories in the first issue. We’ll be charging $1.99 for the e-pub and the same for audio. If you want both that will set you back a whopping $2.99

Sirius Graphix: That’s a bargain for sure! Where can folks go to sign up/subscribe/purchase?

Scott Roche: Our site for Flagship is www.flyingislandpress.com/flagship.

Right now you can buy on an issue by issue basis. Once we have a few under our belt we plan on having an annual subscription rate.

Sirius Graphix: Is there anything else you’d like to tell our audience?

Scott Roche: Well, since I don’t think we touched on it, Flagship is where you should go if you want the kind of fiction that is positive and takes you to places you want to escape to. So much out there right now is dark, post apocalyptic stuff and there’s a place for that. We want the kind of stories that you can enjoy with your kids or maybe just your inner kid. We were really inspired by the pulps and Tolkien and Indiana Jones and four color comics. So if that sounds good to you then come check us out.

Sirius Graphix: It certainly does and we here at Blue Sun definitely wish you and your team the best of luck with it. And even though I’m more the “dark side” writer, I’ll still come by and check you out anyway.

Scott Roche: Hey, you know me, I like to visit the dark side. And thanks! I appreciate your and your readers’ time.

Sirius Graphix: You’re welcome here anytime, thank you for stopping by!

For more information and submission guidelines contact Scott Roche at Flying Island Press or visit their website here.

Today we’d like to welcome the #1 New York Times best selling author Christine Feehan. Christine has written over 40 novels, starting with her debut novel Dark Prince, and currently has four series in the paranormal genre. Her Leopard series (

Christine took some time out from the completion of her latest novel to share some thoughts with us in this interview. Enjoy!

*******

Sirius Graphix: What was the first story you ever wrote?

Christine Feehan: I can’t remember that far back. I think the first one I ever finished was a mystery in the grand tradition of Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon. A family of brothers and sisters who solved great mysteries. I was certain it was a work of art. I was probably ten.

SG:What made you decide to write about the paranormal, specifically shifters?

CF: I started with contemporaries and suspense, but my interests were always with paranormal things. I researched all the time and told stories to my kids. I began writing the Dark series and really enjoyed the freedom of writing shifters.

SG: One thing we’ve found while putting our book together is the characters very rarely pay attention to the “script”. We have one thing planned and our characters insist on going their own way. Next thing we know, the whole outline is tossed out the window and the story writes itself. Does this ever happen to you?

CF: All the time. I have to be careful about telling my editor ahead of time who the book will be about because even the hero and heroine have changed. Once a character comes to life for me, they definitely go their own way!

SG: Do you follow a specific structure when plotting out your books?

CF: As a rule I do, but once the book is started, I know it will take off.

SG: Did you have a series in mind first or did each of your series start as a single book that later begged for a sequel?

CF: The Series have been planned. I occasionally have a single title in my head and then an interesting character pops up that is very demanding. I try to squash them as my time is limited and the stories are abundant.

SG: What was your first experience with publishing like?

CF: I had no idea what to expect so it was all very interesting to me. I’m the type of person to ask a lot of questions because I want to understand what I’m doing. I believe my career is in my hands and I had better have as much knowledge as possible about the industry I’m in.

SG: When researching some of your exotic locals, do you ever go visit these places?

CF: Some, I don’t travel much anymore. I have a wonderful couple who go for me and do videotaping, interviews, hiking and photography as well as documentation. Fortunately they are the intrepid type and hike with a guide into impossible locations.

SG: On average, how much time to you spend on research before sitting down to write the story?

CF: This is a difficult question now, because I have so much research at my fingertips. The GhostWalkers remain the most difficult for me because everything is now and on the cutting edge. I try to have primary sources and get it right. Inevitably I make a mistake somewhere. The subject matter is tough, but I really love it. Probably I’d have to say months for them. The rest is gathered far in advance and I read and study it very quickly.

SG: What are your thoughts on self-publishing versus traditional publishing?

CF: I’m a big fan of what works for individuals. I wouldn’t have had the first clue on how to publish, distribute or get my name out there without help.

SG: Who are your favorite authors? Who influenced you the most growing up?

CF: The favorite author thing is difficult. I read nearly every genre, so it’s all about what I’m in the mood for. Robert Ludlum, Faye Kellerman and Jayne Ann Krentz have always been favorites. When I was a child it was Louisa May Alcott and Gene Stratton Porter.

SG: Of all your characters, which one is your favorite?

CF: This is like asking a mother which is her favorite child. The characters I’m working with are usually the ones I think, wow, I love them so much, but honestly, I couldn’t pick a favorite.

SG: What would you say was the marketing tool that brought you the most exposure in the early days?

CF: The internet.

SG: How long is the average time from when you start a book until it hits the bookshelves?

CF: About six months. It’s a tight schedule and rather dicey at times.

Sirius Graphix: How many edits does your books go through?

CF: Usually about eight.

SG: Thank you for taking the time to be with us today, Christine. So much of what you’ve said here resonates with many of us, especially Wendi and myself. We’re looking forward to your next release and keep up the excellent work!

Note: If you’d like to find out more about Christine and her novels or contact her for yourself, please visit The Official Website and have a look around. And if you’d like to meet her in person, she’ll be at RomCon in Denver, Colorado, July 9 – 11.

Are you a sucker for packaging? I know I am. Bright colors, a pretty picture, a great design is enough to turn my head and make me pick something up off the shelf.

How about when it comes to books? Are you drawn into taking a chance on a new author from the cover alone? How about a bad cover on a favorite author’s book?

During my time in Chicago with Wendi, we spent an entire half day in a local bookstore. We weren’t there to buy anything; we were on a mission. With our novel in the editing/proofing stage it was time to consider a cover. For four or five hours we prowled the aisles soaking up our impressions of various paranormal romance, fantasy and fiction covers.

The romance section, as you might imagine, was full of plenty of bare torsos and seductive couples. Nearly all the paranormal (werewolves, vampires, etc.) had plenty of pretty men with intensely brooding stares. The fantasy novels all had gorgeous illustrative artwork and the fiction covers varied widely from abstract backgrounds to photographic compositions.

But how do you make your cover stand out from all the others?

A Picture Worth A Thousand Words (190,454 to be exact)

Your primary consideration when designing a book cover for any genre is what image, or set of images is going to represent what the book is about.

One way to decide this is to do a little brainstorming. Start with a list of words. Don’t think about them, just write them down as they come to mind. Maybe there’s a particular item that has significance to your main character, maybe it’s an image that keeps reoccurring throughout the story. Physical items are easiest to visualize; a rose, fire, rain, a broken cup or a pocket watch given to the character by a friend or family member. The abstracts like love, loyalty, or honor are more difficult, but write those abstracts down too.

When you’ve gotten this list together it’s time to go window shopping. What I like to do is take a little trip over to iStock* and just plug in those keywords to get ideas. Sometimes you get lucky and find a single image that has everything you want. Other times, you have to look at individual images and break them down into pieces you can use.

Even when you do find a single perfect image, it’s still a good idea to consider how you can embellish it a touch more.

If you’re an illustrator, or know one, you may decide to go the route of original artwork. My favorite cover illustrators growing up were The Brothers Hildebrant (The Sword of Shanara pictured at right), who did the poster for the original Star Wars movie, and Michael Whelan, who illustrated the Dragon Prince series by Melanie Rawn.

Both of these artists do what I consider “classic cover art”. Each of the covers painted by hand using traditional fine arts methods. These were the covers that lead me down my own path of illustration and many times I liked the covers more than I liked the stories.

Other books have a more contemporary look, like the whimsical illustrations on Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series (better known as the HBO adaptation True Blood).

There are two versions of some of the covers. One for the television tie-in of the Dead Club, with photos of the cast in a dark, moody setting and a version done in the original style you see at the left.

When you self publish, every decision about the cover belongs to you. If you’re going through a publishing house, as an author you may not have much say in who does your cover. Many times a publishing house has a stable of artists and they will match up an artist with a writer. The same applies to artists applying for work as a cover artist to a publisher.

If you are self publishing and looking for a designer to do your cover, shop around. Find one who fits both the book’s and your personality.

Font Considerations

Images are important, but so is the text you put on top of it. The wrong font will kill you. When you add your title you should treat the fonts with as much consideration as you do the main image. Primarily, the fonts you choose have to be legible. In fact, they have to be above and beyond legible.

Why? Consider this: You’ve got less than three seconds for someone to look at your book on the shelf. In that time they need to be able to read your title clearly. Both image and words have to work fast to make that first impression and speak to a future fan.

If they can’t read what your cover says they’ll do one of two things; take a closer look to see what the hell it says, or pass on by. Most of the time it’s the latter – no one wants reading a title to be work.

Clarity also applies to how those words look on top of the image. You could have a simple font like Times Roman, but if you have a busy background going on, that will obscure the title as much as an overly fancy font would.

Drumroll Please…

Now the moment our fans have been waiting for. What did we decide for the Bonds of Blood & Spirit: Loyalties cover? After way too much consideration and a “Stop being a perfectionist and give me twenty crappy covers!” from Wendi – which is a topic for another time – I nailed our look on the first shot. We like it alot, and we hope you do too.

If you think the cover’s hot, just wait until you read what’s inside. But you’re going to have to wait a few more months for that.

And here’s another special announcement: This Wednesday we will have a very special guest interview with Christine Feehan; author of over forty books in the paranormal genre, including Burning Wild and Wild Fire. Be sure to stop by, you don’t want to miss it.

*Note: you can use iStock images without an extended license for a book cover. There is a limit on how many copies you can reproduce for sale (499,999). Once you get above that an extended license is required.

Well, all that changed when I started reading Storyfix, by Larry Brooks. Larry’s formula for story structure opened my eyes to a whole new world of writing – one in which it was alright to start with the end of your novel and work backwards. And you know what? It works. Please welcome Larry Brooks to Sirius Graphics, we are very happy to have him as our guest poster here today.

***

Whether authors wearing natty coffee house suits are loathe to admit, all novels fit into a genre.

Novels that don’t are called Adult Contemporary or General Fiction – even Literary — which are themselves all simply categories of different genres. It’s literary semantics with a social pecking order.

That said, every genre under the writing sun has a rap against it. Something that folks who don’t write within that genre use to make it, well, less than their own genre of choice.

In romance, it’s a perception of story structure as formulaic. In essence, that all romances are the same skeleton stretched over a different skin.

In mystery, it’s the very same perception. Likewise with thrillers, science fiction and fantasy. Even historicals if you stretch the definition a bit.

If you’re catching a trend here, that’s the point. Do the math: if every novel is genre, and if every genre has the same rap where structure is concerned, then every novel is formulaic.

Which, in a word, is ridiculous. At least in the sense that this is a bad thing. Novels in any genre are no more formulaic that recipes, doing surgery or swinging a golf club. There are certain things that make it work, and more than one way to get there provided the fundamentals aren’t disrespected.

Predictability, to some extent, is what makes any genre work.

Structure Through a Generic Lens

It’s interesting to note that the root word in generic is genre. Hmmm.

To better understand story structure in novels traditionally labeled as genre, we need to rid the conversation of any sense of commodity-like formula. We need a new language to get past the character-driven rhetoric and clarify what happens first, what happens next and what happens after that, and – here’s the value-adding part – why.

Such a story model is indeed generic, but that doesn’t make it wrong. Because if it is, then every novel short of a literary experiment written by an author on acid is, in fact, just plain wrong.

The problem is that, in almost all cases, structure is discussed using soft-edged character-driven language. Romance novels are especially afflicted in this way…

… girl meets boy… boy doesn’t even notice girl… or girl finds boy repulsive… one does something that makes the other notice… he’s unhappy, she’s unhappy… he’s suddenly happy, she’s just as happy… third parties interfere… somebody pursues somebody else… somebody steps in to save the day…somebody learns a life lesson…

… and romance ensues.

This isn’t structure, its session notes from a relationship counselor. Rather than defining dramatic tension, it more closely defines character arc.

In mysteries you have a crime introduced in past tense… enter the detective… the detective is oh-so-human (usually a recovering alcoholic or, lately a savant)… they probe where no man has probed before… the wrong people get pissed off about it… the detective pulls metaphoric rabbit out of the evidence hat, possibly provoking exposure of the guilty…

… and justice ensues.

One is character-driven, other plot-driven. But the truth is that a successful novel, regardless of genre, requires both character arc and plot exposition.

But until the two structures untangle themselves, it can be tough to tell the difference.

A Better Way to Understand Structure.

What we need is a new language for story construction. One that cuts across all genres equally with universally-held principles and editorial expectations.

Because here’s a little secret about any genre of fiction. This may blow away your belief that your genre is somehow separate from other literary forms in terms of criteria for excellence, but it’s not, and here’s why: all commercial fiction is built on basically the same structure.

Once you understand the various parts and milestones of a story – any story – you are empowered to apply these elements within your genre, and specifically to your story.

This universal structural sequence is as generic as it is empowering. It’s all about pacing and exposition, which is precisely what makes a romance novel compelling.

In movies its classic three-act structure. In novels it’s often referred to as the hero’s journey, which is a warm and fuzzy context that expresses the very same storytelling principles.

Is Generic a Good Thing? It Absolutely Is.

All stories can be broken down into four sequential parts. They have nothing at all to do with girl-meets-boy or detective finds killer, but rather, they are described as generic segments of the story in terms of context.

If you insist on thinking about your story in character-driven terms, these same four parts look like this: orphan… wanderer… warrior… hero/martyr.

But if you’re looking for a way to distribute your characterizations across a landscape of powerful dramatic tension, and if you can wrap your head around understanding the milestones that separate the four parts, try this instead:

• Part 1 set-up… wherein we meet our hero and create the context and stakes for her or his forthcoming quest…
• First plot point… where something happens that changes everything and defines what the hero needs or wants in the story, as well as the obstacles preventing her from attaining it easily, with an antagonist suddenly on the scene…
• Part two response… where we see what the hero does as a natural response to the dramatic incident that changed everything…
• Mid-point… the parting of the curtain with new information that twists the story in a new direction…
• Part three proactive attack… where the hero uses this information to get positively intense about conquering all obstacles, but the obstacles only seem to get stronger…
• Second plot point… the final introduction of new information, or a twist, that ignites the race to the finish…
• Part four resolution… wherein the hero conquers inner demons to become the primary catalyst in the story’s ending.

Of course, all this is in context to the fundamental premise of fiction itself, which is as simple as it is obvious: stories are about a hero/heroine who is thrust into a situation in which she needs or wants something, facing obstacles in her quest to achieve that need, forcing her to confront both inner and exterior antagonistic forces in order to become the primary catalyst in the story’s resolution.

In romances, the quest is love. In mysteries the quest is justice. In character-driven adult contemporary or even literary novels the quest is illumination and fulfillment, as demonstrated over a story landscape that becomes the landscape for character growth.

It’s The Same Structure, Told Differently.

Structure is like a skeleton. Without a proper and healthy skeleton, what you have is something, well, very sad. But it’s not the skeleton that makes a body beautiful, mysterious and compelling. No, that’s the consequences of shape and texture and coloring, delivered with pace and nuance, and imbued with intelligence and humor and romantic mystique.

Without the skeleton, it’s all just a pile of wet mush.

For the most part, the oeuvre of instructional literature as it pertains to genre writing is as often all tissue and no bones as it is precisely the opposite. When in fact, at the core of the story, the skeleton is pretty much the same.

Feel free to test this. Compare stories from supposedly different genres and you’ll see this model in play.

Then you’ll know what successful authors know, even if they’d never admit to belonging to a genre, and even if they describe it all very differently.

Larry Brooks is a bestselling novelist and the creator of Storyfix.com, an instructional writing resource for authors of all genres.

Take it away, Scott!

A few days ago I was at a convention of science fiction writers and podcasters. We’re all big fans of the various methods of self pub that are out there. During that weekend, more than one friend launched a book that they had put out themselves . We talked about a variety of pitfalls and pluses and I even attended a panel on that very topic. What was my takeaway?

Why would any sane person self publish?

There are a number of reasons that you shouldn’t, at least not as a first resort.

I’m primarily a fiction writer and there’s at least one major problem that I’ve run into when it comes to publishing my own short fiction. If you publish short fiction online in any form, there’s the potential that your work will be unsellable in most primary markets. The publishers that are looking to buy those shorts want First North American Serial rights. That means they want to be the first ones to put your stuff out there. Even if you don’t give up those rights by putting it out through a variety of electronic means, you might just undercut yourself in their eyes if they feel the market is tapped out.

The other big issue with self publishing is that you aren’t being “vetted” by anyone. There’s no official editorial process, unless you spend the money for a good copy editor, and unless you possess the ability to be incredibly objective when it comes to what you do it can be difficult to reject yourself. Given that, there’s no real good reason for most audiences to read your self published material, particularly if you’re charging for it.

Finally, there’s the matter of distribution and marketing. If you’re publishing on your own there’s a high probability that you’re tooting your own horn and delivering your own product. If you’re just “pushing pixels”, distribution may not be that big of a complication, but the marketing piece is still there. And frankly, that’s a skill set that most of us don’t have. You may be a phenomenal copy writer or fantasy author, but do you know how to spread the word or make sure that your audience gets what it orders?

So having said all that, why would any sane person self publish?

I think there are a number of very good reasons.

In the self publishing panel I attended, web-comic artist Howard Tayler went over his reasons. His webcomic has been out for ten years and he decided to self publish and sell printed collections. He did some excellent market research via his web site and knew how many copies he could sell. A publisher approached him about putting it out for him and they confirmed the numbers that he came up with. Simply put, based on what the publisher told him, he would make more money and sell as many copies if he just did it himself. He was quick to point out though that this was a serious risk since he would be holding inventory and sales aren’t guaranteed no matter how good your research is. He certainly didn’t recommend this course of action to anyone that didn’t have firm numbers to back up this decision or the financial wherewithal to make the investment. The truth remains though, in almost every case, you will see a larger percentage of profit by self publishing.

Another good reason to take the plunge is that what you have to say may fill a very specific niche. “Narrowcasting”, finding this niche audience and delivering them content, is custom made for self publishing. I see this daily in new podcasts that spring up. Traditional publishers may simply not know of the need or might be unwilling to fill it since there won’t be enough sales to satisfy their needs. In the case of fiction publishers, the genre mashup that you’ve come up with may be too outside the norm for them, whereas there might be thousands of people on the internet that would eat it up. If that’s the case then a strong argument can be made for doing it yourself.

Finally, we get back to the reasons that I do most of the self publishing I do. Getting noticed and getting better. This is not a tactic for getting rich overnight, or perhaps ever. It is a tactic for getting eyeballs on your product. It may be only a few dozen, or hundred, or perhaps even thousand, but that’s progress. The feedback that you receive and the hundreds of hours of practice you put in, not only in creating but also in honing that creation, are invaluable steps. Perhaps the result will be a successful and lucrative self publishing career such as Mr. Tayler has for himself. It could also mean that down the road you’ll attract the attention of the gatekeepers and have the numbers to show them that there is potential in your work and that it has grown. Having a back catalog of work when they do show up isn’t a bad idea either.

So, there are some very good reasons to not self publish and some even better ones to follow through. You don’t have to be crazy (though it might not hurt), but you do have to be informed and really think through your reasons for doing it.

Today I’d like you all to welcome Joel Friedlander of The Book Designer.com. If you’ve ever wondered what makes a book look like a book, then grab yourself a cup of coffee and pull up a chair because this is a subject near and dear to my own heart. Book design is an art form in itself and sometimes it takes a little more than Word…

Interested in doing your own book design? Why not? Lots of self-publishers are choosing to save money and join the fast-growing ranks of “Do-it-Yourselfers” (DIY).

Of course, before you jump into this exciting new business, take a look at the kinds of software you might need to take on your own book production.

How Low Can You Go?
Okay, I’m going to assume that, since you’re a writer, and you are reading this article, you own a computer and you have some kind of word-processing software you use.

For a lot of people, that software is Microsoft Word. Others might be using the free Open Office, which creates Word-compatible files. And there are a lot of others. The point is, you already own the software you used to create your book. Why not use it to publish your book as well?

Many people follow this path. Some of the author-services companies, like Lulu.com, have templates that you can download to help you set up a Word file so that it looks something like a book. This is a viable alternative for casual self-publishing or for creating ebooks.

But Will My Book Look “Real”?
But notice I said your book will “look something like a book” and there’s a reason for that. We’re used to reading books that have been put together by professionals, using high-end equipment and programs.

In fact, we’re so used to this high level of book making, we really notice when something doesn’t look quite as good. That’s the danger you run when you try to do your book with word processing software that, no matter how many features it has, isn’t really meant for book design. And the book you produce stands a good chance of disappointing you if you thought it was going to look like the last book from Random House.

I’m not saying there aren’t people out there who master Word to such an extent that they can make it sit up and beg for a cookie, and whose books might look just fine. What I am saying is that most of the books I’ve seen produced with word processing software fall well short of where they ought to be.

Taking It To The Next Level

Well, what does it take to produce a book that really looks like a book? Here’s a look at the software I use to create books, with the part each plays in the production process. You might not need all this software, but this will give you a way to judge for yourself.

• Layout software – Adobe InDesign – This is the basis for my book design projects, the place where the content from all other sources is brought together, arranged into books, and prepared for output of every kind. This high-level software contains functions for ensuring uniformity through master pages, paragraph styles, character styles, color profiles and a huge degree of refinement in settings affecting typography, image manipulation and document design.
• Graphics software – Adobe Photoshop – You won’t need this software if you only plan to do a book interior that’s all type with no graphics, illustrations, photographs or other kind of illustrational material. But if you have any of those elements, or if you’re producing book covers as well, you’ll need graphic software to create, modify, scale and otherwise prepare graphics for printing. Essential if you are working with photographs.
• Illustration software – Adobe Illustrator – I use illustrator to create vector graphics, charts, info graphics, logos and special type treatments.
• Text processing software – Microsoft Word and Text Wrangler – Word is the defacto standard for word processing, and it serves a valuable function in being able to open many types of files. Word has a robust search and reface function, essential for preparing huge book files for the layout process. And sometimes you just need a plain text editor. I use text wrangler, but there are many on the market, and Windows comes with text edit, Apple OS with text edit.
• File creation software – Adobe Acrobat & Distiller – The printing and publishing industries have settled on Adobe’s PDF format as a vehicle for preparing and transmitting reproduction files. In order to prepare, modify, inspect and package these files, I use Acrobat. Some printers require PDF files created in a multi-step process in which pure Postscript files are output from your layout software, then processed into PDFs by Acrobat’s Distiller software.

Well, that’s quite a list. From a simple word processor to a whole suite of specialized and integrated software, you have here everything you would need to produce the quickest DIY book, to the most complex illustrated coffee table book.

Joel Friedlander is the proprietor of Marin Bookworks, a publishing services company in San Rafael, California that has launched many self-publishers. Joel is a book designer, a self-published author, and blogs about publishing and book design at TheBookDesigner.com.