There's Psychopathy then there's Marketing Apathy!

Norm Cowie w/Rob Walker @www.loveismurder.com conference

Thanks, Rob, Morgan, and everyone at ACME Authors Link for having me back here at youZ guyZes great blog where almost everything goes. I had once been one of youZ, a regular contributor with Acme until I was sucked into the black hole of author marketing apathy - as serious a disorder as writers block!                      

On that note, it’s time for me to come clean on something that I’ve been hiding from my friends, neighbors and publishers. Something so horrible and ... well... (sigh)... let me just come out and say it.

I was an advertising/marketing major back in college.

                             Joe Konrath w/Norm Cowie in Galena, IL 2009

There, I said it. And I was pretty good at it, too. I was even selected as one of the University’s five representatives for a national advertising competition. So wouldn’t you think I’d be pretty good at marketing my books?

Nope, I suck at it. And not just a normal suck, but more like the big magic, steroid-inflated Hoover vacuum cleaner of suckage. Even worse, my instincts for knowing which way the wind is blowing pales even compared to that of a naked mole rat.

In August 2009, I went to Galena, Illinois with several other authors including Joe Konrath, Henry Perez, Luisa Buehler and Margot Justes to market our new anthology Missing. We were hosted by fellow author Barbara Anino and her husband in their Bed and Breakfast.

One late evening after we wore everyone else out, it came down to just Konrath, Perez and me lounging in the living room, wearing courtesy b&b robes and bending elbows with liquid we’d liberated from one of Galena’s many wine outlets, and Joe started talking about something he called ebooks.

Ekkk-books?

Joe (we know him now as the Pied Piper of this ebook revolution) said ebooks were going to be the wave of the future, and he was converting all of his previously unpublished work and releasing every title onto Amazon’s Kindle himself. I laughed (easy when you’ve been drinking) and told him he was crazy. Who’d want to read on a tablet?

The truth was I was a bit intimidated by the thought of wrestling with formatting a book to meet this new technology.

Joe wouldn't let it go; he insisted ebooks were about to explode in popularity, so I said, “Tell you what, Joe. How about I give you one of my unpublished books and you convert it to ebook, publish it, and we’ll split the profit?” He firmly and politely said, no, that he wouldn’t feel right, and insisted I consider doing so myself.

Well, we all know what happened with Joe and other of his friends who follwed the Pied Piper into ebooks, and I sure wish he’d have taken me up on my offer -- and/or that I'd gotten off my duff and looked into the possibilities.

Two years later, I belatedly began taking Joe's advice--as had many another 'smart' writer. My first try was with a non-fiction collection of humor essays called, The Guy’d Book, why we leave the seat up ... and other stuff. The Guy’d Book is a collection of humor essays I’d written over the years dealing with being a guy, father and ESPN addict, some parts of which had been published in the Chicago Tribune and Cynic Magazine.

I wrestled with the formatting for both ebook and printed book (using Create Space where I stumbled onto something they called their Cover Creator). With this nifty little tool, I was able to cobble together a usable cover, seeing as without a publisher, I was on my own for covers. Soon after, The Guy’d Book was available as an ebook.

Right around the same time, my contract was expiring with my publisher for my first book, The Adventures of Guy. They offered to renew, but flushed with enthusiasm I took back the rights. In hindsight, I think they were ticked off because citing a clause in our contract, they demanded I remove all images of the book cover from my sites. The clause wasn’t well written, and while I disagreed about the intent of the clause, I decided not to fight (mostly because I never liked the cover all that much in the first place). But it did teach me one important lesson: whenever possible, control your own covers.

Then I turned down my second publisher’s offer to publish WereWoof, the sequel to my first YA vampire book Fang Face, and released it myself on Kindle, followed shortly by my newest adult humor title, Bonk & Hedz, a caveman ... and woman... story. I took my own advice to design and do the artwork for both books.

I now had six books, four of which were self-published, and I sat back and waited for everyone to discover me.

I wasn’t active in forums, did no advertising, no blog tour and otherwise totally neglected my blog, and basically my marketing efforts consisted entirely of watching reruns of Big Bang Theory, doing angry political tweets and checking the ESPN website for news of Peyton Manning’s recovery from neck surgery.

You can probably guess what happened with my book sales. Though the Guy’d Book once nipped into the Top 100, my others were flotsam in the Amazon jet stream. Readers aren’t Christopher Columbus. You have to bring the New World to them, not vice versa.

So I’m finally stepping into the marketing pool encouraged by the seemingly idefatiguable Rob Walker and his results with Kindle Select and other authors who are carving a path to show how to get books out to readers. I'm following his methods along with Joe's these days. Another suggestion Konrath had made was to do short stories, so I’ve released a few onto Smashwords as companion pieces to my other books. Rob's been great at advising me on many otherlooked steps I should be taking as well.

In other words, I’m finally getting off my butt, climbing out of the black hole of marketing apathy and putting fur on my naked mole rat.

So, hi, it’s good to meet you all ...again, and I hope you will please leave a comment. Finally, thanks to all the Acme family here for having me back!

The Guy’d Book is available for free with Kindle Select lending. Here’s my Amazon page: http://amzn.to/l9d9Ya , http://www.normcowie.com

NORM COWIE

Imagine you are a ePublished author, whether with a small press or an Indie author, and someone offers you free publicity online, press release opportunities, online PR and it is all FREE and up to you as to how much you wish to indulge? What is your response?  First comes the initial warning MOM always told you about -- "If it sounds too good to be true...it surely is too good to be true."  But what if I told you that I know the gentle soul behind this utopia for ePub authors and Kindle book authors haven, and that is motives--while not entirely pure or wanting of success for himself--is as pure as it gets since he wants you to succeed as well; in fact, Patrick wants every worthy ePub author to be successful as he believes there is room for us all to be successful.  More importantly, he wants to create a special place where ePub authors have their own community.  In fact, he named it ePub Community.

I understand skepticism but trust me, here you can put it aside. There are some functions at the site that are confusing simply because of their simplicity but anticipated complexity. The reviews is one such area.

You can place a review, vote, etc., just like posting in a forum. You can copy other reviews on your books and paste them into the submission form.

The trick for me was getting into the habit of checking the menu and seeing what options changed depending on which module I selected. Keep in mind that each menu item is a different module, they were programmed independently on purpose so their systematic promotions would be unique as well.

Don't be intimidated by the scope and hope of this site, that is the ambitiousness posited here. That's just Patrick at work -- a challenge. Just look at it as another site to explore and use to your advantage when it makes sense to do so. Currently, it is a grass-roots effort to create a home for us all.  I hope you will accept my highest recommendation for this site. Here is where our ePublishingConsortium can be found and some information on the ePub author behind it, Patrick:

http://ePublishingConsortium.com

The Legacy Inheritance
http://www.amazon.com/The-Legacy-Inheritance-ebook/dp/B004OA6EAM/

The Lady of the Lake
http://www.amazon.com/Lady-Lake-ebook/dp/B004OYTT28/
PLEASE leave a comment and take advantage of the above --
Robert W. Walker (Rob)
author, Children of Salem, Titanic 2012 (limited time sale thru July)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Robert+W.+Walker&x=17&y=27

Themes, Threads, Platforms: Axis of Ads

Putting your best props forward can get some readers interested in your story, as in letting it be known that your main character smokes a certain brand, or is addicted to marinated Omaha steaks on the grill, or drinks Miller Bock, etc., and so it goes.  Putting it out there can draw attention to your story. So never back off use of such brand names in your story, even if the bad guy is the one who likes to chug Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Even more attention-getting for your novel or story are the thematic issues, the threads you pull from beginning to end of tale, and your platform or platforms if you wish to call them as such.  To be honest, there is typically a major theme or platform *issue of some sort that is your chief thread, but more often than not in a novel, you will have sub-categories of theme.  Some novels can have manay threads being pulled at once.

Each such thematic issue, be it as simple as a love interest for your lead character or as complex as the human condtion...what the flesh is heir to, is of interest to readers. When we set out to describe our books on to synopsize the action, we typically concentrate on WHAT happens rather than the deeper questons. In most descripts we get the WHEN, that crucial bit about the time period. One way or another it is made clear. We're always treated to the WHO of the story--whose story is it anyway.  This is elemental for a book description that goes forth to entice readers into the setting, that other elemental: WHERE. So yes, all of these are crucial when discussing your book for the purpose of gaining readership. Let's recap:  Who, Where, When, What happens (plot in brief).  But there remains the other two journalistic questions:  Why?  and yes, How?

The why and the how of your story is going to deal with these threads, these themes your characters wrestle with.  Why should we care about the story?  Why should fictional characers care?  Why is it important?  Beyond why lies the How?  How could it be?  How could it happen?  How could we sit idlely by and allow it to happen?  How is it in our control, and how is it out of our control?

If karma plays a part in your story, can you use the term and the concept to entice people into reading?  Fate?  The inevitabilty of human interaction that leads to tragedy?  Tragedy and tragic failure and tragic characters - these bigger picture issues?  Perhaps we can't hope to cram them into the single paragraph or two required of a back flap on a book cover, but are there ways to utilize them in talking about our books to maximize reader curiosity that might lead to more purchases and thus more readers?

I have certainly not restrained myself from talking about the How and the Why in discussing my novels online whenever I find the opportunity to do so. I believe most readers are fascinated by the larger issues underpinning the dramatic and episodic elements of your novel.

It is for this reason that in discussing my Childen of Salem, for instance, on Twitter, Facebook, even Youtube, I am often asking the reader about their interest in a layered tale of human triumph as well as tragedy.  In my Titanic 2012, I speak of the curse on the ship, the plague, the tragic end which was planned at some point and no accident when men have their backs to the wall. I have no qualms about calling my Inpsector Alastair Ransom a tragic hero as he is precisely that, and his own powerful, strong character traits for which we ambivalently love him and hate him will be his undoing.

Of human bondage - loved it as a title but what about as a theme or platform? Heir to flesh, heir to failure and ultimately death.  When is death not with us? The heroic facing death heroically, stoically, or less than firmly?  Loss of a loved one?  Reactions of characters to tragic loss... all part and parcel of the bundled package tied round by the various threads of the novel.

Do we stay at the superficial level of the basic outline of story, lamely depicting four hundred pages in a matter of sentences that only state the obvious surface happenings of a who, a what, a when, and a where only to lob off the how and the why and the wherefores?

Okay, okay....there's little room for such in a synopsis the size of an envelope, I know. I even had to cut out the word 'ecumenical' before the word 'spy' in my descript of Children of Salem which might've helped with the how and the why of Jeremiah Wakely's going into the village to spy on his former neighbors, and why he held a grudge against them in the first place....but there's the limit of space and speed.

However in other venues, 'ecumenical' can and perhaps should be returned to the discussion as who else speaks of 'ecumenical spies' running about in his/her book but I?  It makes the book unique. It behooves me to find venues to speak in more detail about the various 'platforms', issues, threads, and themes found in the novel, to cast a wide, wide net across the landscape of the ebook world.  And so I do not hesitate to do blogs and speak of issues of interest to my featured characters in my various series of books or stand-alones.  Witchcraft may be a word that 'begets' readers to the novel, but Religious Intolerance may also be a word that 'begets' other readers to open the pages of the book, as might the practice of Excommunication and Shunning as in The Scarlet Letter.  The closeness of the book to Scarlet Letter, as Hawthorne's great grandfather figures as a character in my book and a quite flawed one at that. What of interrogation techniques in an American Colony called Massachusettes?  Or what was considered a jail aboard the Titanic in 1912?  What other cargo than passengers was aboard Titanic?

There can be an endless list of discussion points plucked from your novel which you can take to facebook, twitter, and other social media and chat groups such as a history forum.

Food for thought.  If it gives you ideas, so be it; then I have done my job as I see it!

Please do leave a comment or question!
Rob Walker
http://www.robertwalkerbooks.com/

The Hungry, Hungry Indie Author/Publisher - What Sells Kindle Titles?

Since Feb. 1st of this year, I've been monitoring a thread on KDP which I put up as "What Mioves Kindle Bks. off Shelves" and the staggering numbers of views, comments, and pages has surprised me, but perhaps I shouldn't be surprised at I understand 20,000 new Kindle titles by new authors are being put up daily now.  I didn't verify that number but it would not surprise me either. But my thread numbers blow me away.

Recently, another person on the thread asked, "Rob, what do I make of the growth in this thread?"  And he listed the dates showing huge bumps in numbers.

The thread is a monster now, as big as the White Whale as it is now 24,200 plus views, 760 plus comments, 52 pages. But the question was, what do I make of it?  Aside from being totally and completely FLABERGASTED, Astonished, Amazed, left wanting to shout like the King of Siam, "Is a Wonderment!" -- I dunno!  How should I know what is stoking this? Perhaps it is due the fact the thread became a recommended Amazon.com/Kindle 101 class but frankly, I think it was going up and up and spiraling up long before it was given this great recommendation.  Something else is afoot here, I suspect, Mr. Watson.


I certainly can't explain it except to say that apparently people are starved for authentic, tried and true, proven advice on the subject of "iMoves" - a term that came of my error in the Title of the Thread, misspellx of Moves, which means moving books on the iNet (iMoves).


And we ain't charging anything for admission to the "writers conference" and no one has stolen the mic or gone off the deep end. I keep waiting for the shoe to fall and it still hasn't.

My only fear is that I will run out of rabbits to pull outta me hat, but if I do, I can count on hundreds if not thousands of smart other authors experimenting and learning their way; that  others can, will, and without reservation leap into the breach!

One thing I stress in the thread is to not get hung up on efforts that bear no fruit or such little fruit as to be a waste of time, energy, money, or all of the above. Currently, I am not going to waste a lot of time on the newly opened Germany Kindle Store. Why?  Because I tried and failed there, so 'iMove on' since I have sold NADA, ZIP, NINE in Germany Kindle Store, and I do not mean 9 but NINE as in nothing!!! Ugh and urrrrrrgh! I am going to keep my focus and concentration on Kindle US thank you where I am on at least two top ten Kindle lists if not more.

I just reviewed that first post I put up on this now humongous thread, and it is very simple and straightforward steps to take, tips to put to use. It certain touched a chord in ebook and kindle Indie authors and publishers. Here is where you can find the thread  on Kindle Community Forums:  https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/dashboard

Should you wish to look in on the thread, let me know! And please leave a comment here.

Rob Walker
http://www.robertwalkerbooks.com/

PS - iMove from #20 to #6 in Kindle Store Historical Fiction - Children of Salem!!!! Yah-Rah!! Witchcraft, the geography of it, the land grab, the prejudice that leads neighbor to hang neighbor. It is Gunsmoke in 1692 with Jere Wakely as Matt Dillon. A commercial retelling of the Salem Witchcraft episode. A lifelong project rejected by every publisher and agent I submitted to, yet soon to be #1.

And perhaps it is time YOUse GUYse give out with a few well-chosen sentences here about your books in our comments section. You have a huge audience here! Never miss an opportunity to talk premise and platform.

WHAT’S THE HOOK? by Austin S. Camacho

Not all holidays were invented by Hallmark. You should seek them out to promote your work.

Hi. I’m Austin Camacho, an infrequent guest here (my own fault) but when I do appear I’m invited to discuss one of my areas of concentration: mystery writing and marketing. Today I have an excuse to talk both.

When you have a new book about to hit the shelves writing the news release is easy. The news is that you have a new book. But after your book’s been out a while it’s a bit harder to scrape up interest. You need news to attach your book to, to make it feel fresh and relevant to the happenings of the day.

If no REAL news is happening that’s related to your book, you can always hook onto a holiday. There are tons of the out there, and several will fit your book. I like the listing at http://www.brownielocks.com/march.html because it’s light and fun. There I learned that March is, among other things, Irish American Heritage Month, Ethics Awareness Month, Women’s History Month and Poison Prevention Awareness Month.

If your detective is female, it should be relatively easy to set up a reading and the news release almost writes itself. If the victim in your book is poisoned, you may have to work a little harder. “March is National Poison Prevention Awareness Month and Jane Doe knows all about poison, having used it to kill off the victim in her latest novel...” But you should still be able to set up a presentation in which you share some of that research you just couldn’t work into the book.

I walked into an opportunity when the manager of a store I signed at mentioned that March is Mystery Month at Borders. I quickly proposed a presentation on the popularity of crime fiction, even as I was wondering “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

So if your book’s been out a while, find a holiday news hook for a fresh news release and a timely reading or signing event. And if you happen to be a mystery author, wander into your nearest Borders, let them know you know their secret, and offer your services.
Until next time -
Austin S. Camacho
http://www.ascamacho.com/