Building Your Author Platform / Fan Base by Bob Spear

You’ve worked very hard to write your book and submitted it to appropriate agents only to be told they and the publishers aren’t interested because nobody knows who you are. That quickly becomes a dog chasing his tail or a catch-22 problem. How can you become a known and admired author if no one will publish you? The fix for this is to develop a platform or a fan base. The larger your followership becomes, the more books you will sell. The publishers want to use this as a marketing guarantee. It makes their marketing efforts easier and makes them more money sooner. So, how do you build a platform?

It’s not easy but it is doable. Here are some suggestions you may find helpful.

Facebook, UTube, & Twitter—Social networks are a free, excellent way to become known to people who count. Seek relationships with readers, other authors, book publishers, agents, reviewers, genera bloggers, and anyone interested in whatever you write about.

Book Signings—Don’t expect many sales at the signings. Instead, seek positive relationships with owners, managers, and staff who will hand sell your book long after you’re gone.

Interviews—This is a potential treasure chest. Radio interviews are the best because you do them from phone wherever you want to. I did so many radio interviews, that I was eventually offered my own show, which did for two and a half years. TV is more difficult because you must do it from or through a studio. Newspaper interviews can be done from anywhere that is mutually convenient; however, they are getting more difficult to get because of the weakening newspaper industry. Seek a good media booking agent to help you make all these connections. Make the interviewer look good.

Book Fairs—These are good ways to meet the reading public. Some are expensive, so pick and choose wisely.

Industry Trade Shows— These worked very well for me. I would book a couple of adjoining booth spaces, fill them with tables, put colorful table clothes on them, and set up collapsible wire racks. I would fill them with my books and other good books in my genre. I would give speeches and/or workshops and provide my mobile bookstore. I became very well-known for this customer base.

Regional Bookseller Trade Shows— Yes, the Book Expo America is better known, but it’s huge and very expensive. It is worth attending for the networking opportunities and education. If you really want to sell your books, however, go to the regional trade shows. To learn about these, go to http://www.bookweb.org/resources/regionals.html

Book Reviews— These are useful to let book buyers know about you and your book. Even the largest review services have begun charging for their reviews, so use them wisely Reviews make for a good source of marketing blurbs. Never send a book in the blind and expect to get a review—huge waste of money. Be sure to check the reviewer’s submission guidelines and adhere to them.

Book Award Contests— These can get expensive, so be judicious as to how many you register for.

Email Campaigns to Bookstores— Check with the American Booksellers Association for mailing lists at http://bookweb.org/indiebound/indiessentials and at http://bookweb.org/membership/products .

Speaking Engagements— As I mentioned before, this is a wonderful way to become known and respected.

Book Clubs— I went to a mini-trade show for military books, linked up with the editor from Doubleday’s Military Book Club, and sold 25,000+ copies each of two of my titles. They also used my printer and allowed me to participate in their printings of my books at greatly reduced prices because of the economy of scale.

These are some platform enhancing venues I have used to good effect in the past. If you find only one or two that work for you, you’re ahead of the game. Remember, you’re competing against 500,000+ new books a year. You have to work hard to get seen in a crowd like that.

Goal Setting for Writers by Bob Spear

So many of us become interested in a fresh start at this time of year. We want to do better, get more done, become more successful, etc. For writers, this can include a number of approaches such as:

• Work or projects accomplished
• Entering new areas
• Improved skills
• Improved discipline
• Greater recognition

Work or Projects accomplished– This pertains to getting the work done. Goals in this area are focused on various combinations of word counts, pages, number of articles or projects such as books written. Whatever it is, try not to bite off more than you can chew. Be realistic and plan ahead. In the military, we use a method called backwards planning. If you want to plan an attack for a certain time, start at that time and work backwards as to what must be done before that attack is accomplished in reverse order. For example: Let’s say you want to write a book and submit it to an agent/publisher or begin the self-publishing process. What’s the last thing you’ll have to accomplish in that process. If it is to submit the manuscript first, you’ll need to write a query letter or proposal package. Before that happens, the ms will need a final proofing. Before that, you’ll need a professional edit. Before that, you’ll need to go through the self-edit process. Before that, your final draft needs to be finished. Before that, you will need to write the book. Before that, you should outline the book. Before that, you will need to come up with a character bible/data-base. You should have conducted a good bit of your research before that. Before that, you will need to come up with a problem(s) to be solved or a theme and context.

Note, each one of these steps takes time. Some can be done simultaneously with others. Each takes a finite amount of time and effort. By doing a planning process like this, it will insert a degree of reality as to what is doable. It will also provide a series of sub-goals and steps to be accomplished and you will be forced to consider most of what needs to be done.

Related to all of this is setting realistic work effort goals such as when you will work, how long you will work, and how much you will get done each time you do.

If you’re working on projects of lesser scopes, such as magazine article, you can still use a similar planning process, but do it multiple times.

Entering new areas– Lets say you have been writing mysteries or thrillers but would like to try your hand at a different genre this year, such as paranormal romance. Lately, a number of well-established writers have been doing this when they depart from adult writing, changing over to young adult or mid-grade level writing in an attempt to capture more of a market earlier on. There are several important things which must take place before doing that, specifically: read, read, read. Become familiar with what that new genre or form looks and feels like. What kind of structures and language are used? Who are the big-gun writers in the new field and what are their reputations based on?  What’s done and what’s not done and why? Who in the industry specializes in the new area and how should they be approached, be they agent, publisher, reviewer, or market segment. You probably did something like this when you initially began writing in your specialty. Now you have to do it again.

Improved skills– So you want to be a better writer, then you need to learn to do so through self-study and with help from professionals. Although I have written several screenplays, I knew I wasn’t writing them as well as I could be. I had read “Screenwriting for Dummies” and several other good books on the subject. I had also read a number of screenplays of successful movies. I watch a lot of movies and TV episodes on Netflix. Still, that wasn’t enough. I finally signed up for and took a 10-day intensive internet course in subtext writing. I count the tuition I had to pay as an investment in myself. Do you see a pattern here? I did my due diligence with my self-study at several levels and still paid for professional guidance. I’m not saying I will now write great screenplays, but I know what I write will be much better than when I first began buying formatting software and trying my hand at it back in 1997.

Improved discipline– Be firm with yourself. If you set goals, work toward them on a regular, systematic basis. It’s just like setting weight-loss goals. You have to do it the right way and work at it constantly. The key word here is “work.” Have you ever met someone who is constantly talking about their someday dreams but who do nothing to actualize them? All the dreaming in the world will be for nothing if you don’t make the efforts to make them happen. New Years always puts people in the frame of mind to set goals, but that’s the easy part. The hard and meaningful part is attaining them.

Greater recognition– The most successful writers understand how important it is to gain recognition. They are always marketing themselves through the social media, industry organs, public appearances, and creating a fan base. The book industry is like the music industry. Who knows of you and who will buy your product? As iffy as this business is, the powers that be will always consider someone with a strong fan base or platform before they will consider a complete unknown.

OK, this may not be everything, but hopefully it will give you a few things to consider when setting those New Years goals.

Nasty Publisher Practices by Bob Spear

This posting may explain why more and more authors, especially those with marketing abilities, are going the self-publishing route.

Low-Balling Royalty Percentages—This is often done to inexperienced, unrepresented authors. It is so difficult to get a publisher to accept one’s work, that new authors are very reluctant to rock the boat. The publishers know this and really screw the authors on the percentages they offer.

Cooking the Books—playing devious number games with the sales reporting figures. Never ever agree to base your royalties on net results. This is a common practice in the movie industry and is often used to leave the writer penniless.

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy—New writers rarely have a large following initially, so the publisher spends little if any on marketing; therefore, the books don’t sell well. And, the publisher says “See, we told you so.”

Print Runs—This is related to the last item and is especially egregious. It has been done time after time to Piers Anthony and was recently done to talk show host Michael Savage. The publisher announces plans for a large print run to raise the hype level, then only prints half or less than that. The book takes off and runs out of inventory within a couple of weeks. By the time the publisher can get more printed, the buying public has moved on to the next hot item and the book is forgotten.

As you can see, some practices happen because of ethical problems and some happen out of sheer stupidity. There are several others of that ilk, especially when it will make an editor or upper level publisher management look bad. Blame for doing something wrong is rarely admitted because of the egos involved.

Bottom Line—If you’re going to work with major publishers, use a competent, reputable agent. You pay him a percentage to watch out for deals like this. One of the best things that can happen is a bidding war. If a publisher has to put out a major investment to get a work and its author, he will back it with hype, marketing, and decent-sized print runs.

There’s nothing personal about all this. It’s just business as usual.

Settings by Bob Spear

Let me caveat this article by saying I wasn’t an English or a Literature major. I double majored in music and business at Indiana University. I state this to explain why the following article is only my perception and opinion. I won’t use standard literature terms but my own.

Settings for writers of fiction and nonfiction are absolutely critical. They are far more than geographical locations in my opinion. Because of my intelligence background, I tend to think of settings as the context. It includes location, but it also includes contextual elements such as culture, dialects, customs, costumes, architecture, manners, and even time frame. All these elements impact on what and how people say and do. They are the glue and rules that hold together societies. A character violating the setting becomes wide open to criticism and conflict, which is fine if the writer knows how to capitalize on it. Put a 2011 Wall Street Stock Broker on a ranch in Wyoming in 1930, and you’ve got one hopeless individual. Likewise, put a cowboy from that time and place into a corporate setting of 2030 (a common theme in sci fi) and you’ll have a totally bewildered, endangered person.

Now I’m not saying don’t do these things. What I am suggesting is that you understand the impact such a change of setting may have on a character and a story. As you develop characters, you must consider the setting and how they interact with it. For example, one of the things that makes writing historical fiction so difficult is doing complete and accurate research so that you get the setting right and keep your characters consistent with their interaction within that time period, locale, and society.

Is your story line plausible within that setting? What impacts has that setting have on people. What activities are expected from an English butler as compared to an Irish street urchin at the front door of a mansion bordering Central Park in 1903? Do you think that might be a setting for conflict?

If you have been having difficulties with word counts that are too low, expanding on setting descriptions and impacts would be a good way to pump up the word counts. On the other hand, I’ve also read writers’ materials that went overboard in the other direction. I’ve come across this problem a lot in romance and gothic tales.

Setting accuracy is also a dangerous area. Let me illustrate this with a real-life example. I once reviewed a historical western set in the 1870s. This is how the author described a particular scene: “We crossed the Missouri River and traveled for hours into the setting sun until we finally reached Fort Leavenworth.” So what, you say? Here is the reality of that setting: The train bridge across the Missouri River was just downstream from Fort Leavenworth, which borders and overlooks the river from some bluffs. There certainly wasn’t any need to travel westward for hours to reach it. The same author mentioned several place names in Arizona, when they actually lay in New Mexico. Making mistakes like these shows the writer didn’t even bother to look at a map of the setting areas. All credibility is destroyed. Don’t you make mistakes such as these. Although they make for great hilarity in the reader’s mind, they also label the writer as a complete idiot.

I think now you should have an understanding of the importance and complexities of settings.Do your due diligence to discover the full composition of a setting and how elements and people within it interact. Enjoy your research and analysis.

Word Counts by Bob Spear

Writers who do so for a living have been focused on word counts over the years. During the hey days of pulp fiction and pop magazines, writers used to be paid by the word. This sometimes led to excessively wordy books and articles. Today, with the internet’s space and attention constraints, writing tends to be much more tightly structured. This has led to articles for a set fee within certain word-count boundaries.

Today’s book recompense is basically focused around a percentage of a book’s retail or net price, depending on the terms of the publishing contract. Various genres tend to have different standards based upon what the reading public is accustomed to. Generically speaking, if a book is less than 50,000 to 60,000 words, it’s creeping into the novella region. Most publishers (and therefore agents) have submission requirements, which are based on the pragmatic realities of the bottom line.

An unknown, first-time author should try to stay within the 60,000 to 75,000 word range. Why? To keep the publishers’ pre-production and printing costs down. They are taking a major risk on an unknown entity–a gamble that the book will at least break even. I once had an editing client, who at the ripe old age of 20, had written a 3,000 page tour de force military thriller. Mechanically, he was a good client. He learned from his mistakes and caught them in future self-edits. His stories were gripping and accurate. He would never be able to sell such a book until he had established a major reputation and fan platform. The book would be way too huge to  risk its initial costs.

First-time-authored books often become self-fulfilling failures. Since the publishers are unwilling to take on the risks of production and marketing, everything is cut back or eliminated. This results in a low-cost cover that won’t attract anybody’s attention. few will get the word because the ad campaign just isn’t there. The bottom line is, there is no bottom line–no profit. Constraints on the word count also contribute to a dismal prediction.

What To Do

So what can you do word count wise to improve the chances your work will make it through the agent/publisher submission process?

• Know your genre of interest in regard to writing styles (tight? not so tight?)
• Know your genre agent/publishers’ submission requirements in regard to word counts
• Pre-plan your word counts and be flexible about what goes into your story

Let me expand a little on this last point. Sometimes, especially if you don’t have much experience) you will write your story and suddenly discover it’s not long enough. Oh oh, what now? Go back through the story. Look for places where scenes that create more tension or more emotional quandaries might be added without creating a sense of padding. This approach is one of the best ones I know to expand a story while adding to its interest.

Of course, if you can plan for this ahead of time, it will make your life a lot simpler. Let’s say you’ve created scenes, chapters, and acts or sections. You’ve arranged them into a logical outline and you suddenly realize, “Hey, all this ain’t long enough!” I faced this while outlining my new fantasy. I’m accustomed to writing snappy little mysteries of 50,000 to 65,000 words in about 42 short chapters. My new fantasy only had maybe 25 or so chapters, which definitely won’t cut it these days. What could I do to lengthen the work while increasing its tension?

I made two lists. The first was all the dangerous animals my questors might confront and what might happen if they did. I then did the same with a list of all the natural and man-made catastrophes they might encounter while traveling on their quest. I then when through the outline seeking logical places where items such as these might be placed in order to increase tension and make the reader think, “My gosh, what next?” You want to give the reader encouragements to keep on reading, even if it takes all night.All this hails back to when I was a lonely little boy on my grandparents’ farm without playmates. I would tell stories out loud to myself for hours on end. The most common phrase you might have overheard from me was: “..and then…, …and then….”

Another way you can pump up the word count is through the use of additional or expanded subplots and characters. I have used these to good effect in the past. I have found one of the easiest methods of doing this is to add a scene. One way to identify or mark these places is with a break symbol of three asterisks centered or with a new chapter designation

There you have: the importance of word counts and how the plus them up if need be..

The Ageism of Screenwriting by Bob Spear

Unlike Andy Rooney, I’m just old, not really old. Still, being 65 years old is, in my opinion, a disadvantage when it comes to writing screenplays. Books often gain in content detail and descriptiveness by authors who are well seasoned in the world. Movies, however, require very different writing skills. Now I realize what I’m going to say is opinionated; however, I base it on what I’ve seen, heard, and logical understanding.

For the most part, movies aim for a younger audience. Screenwriters must be totally “with it,” in terms of language, issues, and societal norms. A common complaint by producers and their readers is that submitted material is too “dated.” A successful screenwriter needs to stay on top of current language and trends. One has to be careful about mentioning music that is out of date and styles of dress that are too square, (or whatever the most recent term is for being uncool).

Even if an older person has managed to stay socially current, his or her very appearance works against them as far as their acceptability as a screenwriter is concerned. After all, anyone who looks that old couldn’t possibly write for a younger audience. I say this despite the fact that many wonderful YA and Mid-grade books have been written by older authors. The movie industry is very youth oriented. (Just ask any aging female star). Its screeners and decision makers tend to be much younger than the book industry’s. They tend to identify with a younger mix of talent.

I don’t have an easy solution for this, but it is a trend I’ve noticed. Perhaps some of you will tell me I’m full of it, or more importantly that there are constructive suggestions for dealing with the problem. In any case, unlike book writing, screenwriting is much more difficult to enter late in life.

Dealing With Characters in a Series of Novels by Bob Spear

I’m preparing to write the 6th mystery in my Enos Hobson Leavenworth Mysteries Series; therefore, some of that which I will share with you is fresh in my mind. As a professional storyteller, I have always believed that the best stories are based around their characters. If we don’t consider characters, there is no basis for plot. When I wrote my first book in my series, I considered who I would need to tell my story. I named them, assigned them roles, defined their appearances, defined their interactions, and considered their back stories to explain who they were and why. I developed a computer data base to keep all that straight, which became my Bible or ready character reference. That data base has become rather extensive now. I needed a system to determine how my characters should change or stay the same. The following is a method that seems to work well for me:

Character Development Spreadsheet

You can use a spread sheet or a table in a word processor to do this. Create three columns, 1 for the character’s name. 1 for the good things, & 1 for the bad things. This is not a Bible but a simple set of statements of where each character is at the start of the story and in what directions should he or she go in this story. It looks something like this:

Character                                                  Good                                                      Negatives

Tommy (protagonist): Proud of HS graduation.                       Doesn’t know where money for college will come from.

Lucy (Girlfriend): Happy she & Tommy graduated.         Going away to college. Needs to break up with Tommy.

Bill (Tommy’s Brother): Looking forward to being star of football team.  Will become paralyzed by a car wreck soon.

Dad: Plays favorites w/ Tommy.                    Bill’s injury causes Dad to begin drinking heavily again, losing job.

Jimbo (Hoodlum): Has been gone to reform school.          Gets out, gets drunk, crashes into Bill’s car to cause the injury.

Now, this is way too simplistic of an example, but it helps to develop character motivations and directions in the story. You can see the possibilities for conflict already. Is Tommy going to possibly be placed in a position of either ignoring the family problems, forget about college to help the family with Bill since Dad is no longer capable of doing so? Should he acquiesce to the breakup or try to go to Lucy’s school? What will happen to Jimbo. Should he become a major character who reforms and takes on responsibility to help Bill throughout the story? Or, should he be sent to jail for the rest of the story?

A lot depends on what has happened in previous stories and deciding if the characters should stay the same or should they grow and develop in different directions?  Once all this is decided, you can decide how they fit within the context of a set of plot points. In other words, where have they been, where are they right now, and where will they be going.

Outline

Now it’s time to list the chapter numbers and consider what happens in the story along the way to the end by considering the good and negative aspects of the characters. I write a few sentences about what should happen in each chapter right under the chapter number. Those stay in as a reference until I write each chapter, after which I delete them. This insures the characters go in the directions I felt they should be going. Now I realize this process may sound too much like a strait jacket to you seat-of-your-pants writers, but there is plenty of room in this structure for your muse to run wild. None of this has to be locked in concrete. There are times when I have changed the descriptive sentences under a chapter number to accommodate a creative idea I got that would change everything. The methodology is meant as a means to energize creativity while keeping the story on track with good reasons for all the characters doing what they do.

Blending Techniques

I do the spread sheets and then I use Contour software (designed for screenplays, but I’ve found it works for novels as well) which asks pertinent questions that cause one to create a meaningful story framework. Once I’m done with that, I combine the considerations of both approaches to create the chapter outlines.

It’s A New Year by Bob Spear

In deference to storage space and other issues, I have cleared the boards, so to speak, of all the first year’s posts. There is a lot of good information and comments in them which is now contained in an ebook titled TRENDY TIPS FOR WRITERS AND PUBLISHERS, The first year of the Book Trends Blog, 2009–2010, which you can see, sample, and even purchase at Smashwords, http://bit.ly/9E4saz . The posts have been rearranged by theme to make it easier to find the subjects you’re looking for. I will continue to add to the current year’s crop through September of next year, so you will continue to have good, timely info and a ready reference for it next year.