More on Finding an Agent

Someone asked if I’d elaborate a bit more on finding agents’ bios.

Clearly, you can go to the agency’s webpage and a lot of the time find bios for each agent. Sometimes, though, it’s more of an agency’s philosophy rather than individual agent information.

A lot of agents, though, go to conferences each year. If you go to that conference’s page, you’ll usually find a link for something like Conference Speakers or Conference Attendees. Click on it. If you find a list of the agents coming, there will often be a bio and/or picture.

You don’t have to be attending the conference to read the bios or to copy and save the bio to your folder of agents, if the agent interests you. I recommend you date when the bio was posted, since agents change their preferences over time.

Look at the page for the agents attending the 2009 Writers’ League of Texas conference. Sixteen agents, all but two with bios.

Check out the page for the Mad Anthony Conference, where they have links to a couple of agents.

Any conference that’s having agent pitches or agent one-on-ones most likely has bios up.

Looking for an Agent

A lot has been said about preparing to market your book. You most likely remember when L. Diane Wolfe stopped by Straight From Hel and talked about promotion. She advised authors to start planning for promotion from the moment they started writing the book.

The same can be said about looking for an agent. Start from the moment you begin writing the book and continue it until you find an agent. It’s not like you have to spend hours every day searching the Internet either.

Do something like this:

Create a folder on your computer called Agents.

Then every time you come across an agent that interests you, create a document with that agent’s name. Add to the document with each new piece of information you find about the agent.

You’ll find agents of interest by reading the acknowledgments in books of your genre or in books you feel are similar to yours. You’ll find agents guest posting on blogs. Or being mentioned on listservs you belong to. Or you’ll find their bios on conference pages. Or on their own blogs. Or on their websites. You’ll see agents listed in Publishers Weekly as having made a sale on a book in your genre or for your favorite author.

There are a lot of different ways to find agents. There’s also a lot of information to find. Don’t wait until you’re ready to begin querying. Work on it as you write. Be ready to start sending those queries once you’re through with the editing.

Writing Schedules

When do you write? Are you an early bird? Do you get up hours before anyone else and pound away on your computer until the dog is howling to be let out and the kids are howling to be let in?

Are you a night owl, staying up after everyone else is in bed, fast asleep? Do you sit at your computer and write as the moon rises and then begins to set?

Are you most creative during the day? Maybe you have the days open to write. Maybe you have to sneak in thirty minutes during your lunch break.

Perhaps you save up your words and thoughts until the weekend when you tell the kids they need some Daddy time, shut the door to your writing room, and sip hot tea while your fingers fly over the keyboard.

I used to stay up til 2 or 3 in the morning. That was when I got the most and best writing done. Now I write during the day, although I have to admit, I’m not getting much writing done. Not fiction writing, anyway. I’m doing mostly non-fiction now.

When are you most creative? When do you actually write, even if it’s not when you’d like to be writing?

Avoid the Dump

Today in my post over on Blood-Red Pencil, I talk about Character Dump. That’s when you start your book by introducing way too many characters in the opening chapters. So many names are thrown at the reader that she forgets who’s who. She can’t keep them straight, let alone remember how they’re all related to each other and to the plot.

So many times, as I read a book, I have to flip back through pages to figure out who a character is. Sometimes it’s because too many were dumped in the book for me to remember them. Sometimes not only were a lot of characters named, but then some of them don’t even reappear for many chapters. By then, I’ve forgotten them.

As an editor, I create character legends. But I’m not going to do that when I’m reading for pleasure. I might flip back to find a character. Or I might just put down the book and walk away.

Hop over to my post on Blood-Red Pencil to read more and to learn about creating your own Legend of Characters.

Going Digital

We often talk about books going digital. Ebooks and e-readers are becoming more and more popular. So, it was only a matter of time before a major publisher went digital.

Publishers Weekly recently broke the news that HarperCollins will drop its traditional bound catalog and go digital. For fall 2009, HC will produce a digital catalog with the standard information, plus “reviews, interviews and promotional videos.” Unlike a paper catalog, this digital one won’t be stagnant. The online catalogs will be “updated frequently, reflecting any evolving changes with the publication details or marketing efforts surrounding titles. The digital catalogues will also feature access to authors' backlists and, on select titles, link to browsable galleys. The search functionality will allow users to create lists of titles based on categories like genre, format and on-sale date.”

HarperCollins is not the first publisher to go green, though. In 2007, Clarkson Potter, a Random House imprint, started using e-galleys. At that time, Publishers Weekly reported concerns about the security of electronic files. Those concerns have lessened, but not disappeared. There were also concerns about getting reviewers to read digital files.

Mary Kate Maco, head of publicity at Harvard University Press, wanted to invest in e-galleys until she heard what review editors had to say on the subject. Maco had her marketing staff contact book review editors at PW, the New Yorker, the New York Times and other publications, and all the respondents said they wouldn't accept electronic editions for review. Other publicity directors, many at Random House, agreed that press folk still want bound galleys. “At the moment, I think the world at large is not ready [for e-galleys],” said Knopf publicity director Nicholas Latimer.

While a lot of the print reviewers are still reluctant to embrace ebooks, other reviewers are not. And now HarperCollins is testing the waters to see how many booksellers are willing to browse online digital catalogs.

Guest Author Mark H. Phillips

Please help me welcome author Mark H. Phillips. Mark writes mysteries with his author wife, Charlotte, as well as his own works. His new book, The Resqueth Revolution, a sci-fi/horror novel, has been getting great reviews.

Cash Anthony, Director and Screenwriter, said:

If you like to be scared until the hairs rise on your neck when you read science fiction, you’ll love this book. Mark Phillips has created a fascinating, scandal-driven scientist in his character, Steven Marks, and he’s put him in a more-than-adequately evil world. Even the skeptical will be disturbed by dialogue like, “You’ve brought meat.” A great read.

Mark has a BA from the University of Illinois and an MA from Northwestern University, both in Philosophy. Currently, he teaches pre-calculus and political philosophy at Bellaire High School in Houston.

The Resqueth Revolution is both scary and mesmerizing. The opening chapter will capture you. If you’re a wimp like me, though, you’ll lock the doors while you read.

Welcome Mark!

How, When, and Why to Write About Violence – Part 3

We ended our discussion yesterday with the example of the victim-hero and I’d like to continue with a few more thoughts on that before moving on.

This trait of victimization as a necessary prerequisite for justified violence even plays out in our international relations, with sometimes tragic results. Remember the Alamo, the Maine, the Lusitania, Pearl Harbor, 9/11. I’ve read history texts that make out a semi-plausible case that Churchill and Wilson practically invited the Germans to sink the Lusitania as a way to draw the U.S. into WW I. Robert Stinnett in Day of Deceit amasses considerable circumstantial evidence that FDR knew about the planned attack on Pearl Harbor well in advance from decrypted Japanese transmissions, and deliberately withheld that information from the military in Hawaii. Washington rerouted carriers to put them out of harms way and mysteriously canceled exercises in the areas through which the Japanese navy planned to travel. The implication is that FDR needed a dastardly enemy sneak attack to motivate the American public out of its isolationist inclinations, and that he arranged the situation accordingly. The Internet is full of bloggers convinced that both the Oklahoma City bombing and the 9/11 attacks were false-flag operations perpetrated by our own government to make the public more amenable to our leaders’ agendas.

Whether any or all of these are true or not is irrelevant to my point. Those who write history into existence with their policy decisions and those who distort history with paranoid interpretations are manipulating the same plot devices used over and over in violent fiction.

One last approach to violence is the most disturbing for many people.

There seems an ever-growing portion of our population who simply revel in gore: the fans of the most grisly special effects of slasher and horror films, the fans of the novel and short story subgenre called splatterpunk. This sort of extreme blood lust is exhilaration in violence not very distinct from sexual lust. Many before me have noted that, unlike most other horror films, when the slasher approaches his next young female victim, we often see through his eyes. In a slasher film the director encourages us to identify with the hunter, not the hunted. The filmmakers often portray the female slaughteree as loose or morally suspect in a way that is inviting the killer. It is not at all different from crude rape pornography where the woman “invites” her rape by wearing sexy clothes, or being a haughty tease. Slasher films seem designed to satisfy the vicarious psychopathic revenge fantasies of loser teen boys spurned by the cheerleader. Hollywood, to the consternation of many, is eager to provide such visions to a young demographic with disposable income. It has made billions of dollars mixing sex and violence into ever more exciting/disturbing combinations.

Those of you who believe this phenomenon is a sign that our civilization is tottering may be right. But other generations have had the same reaction to the reading material favored by their own teen psychopaths. Go back and look at the lurid sex/violence combinations of the cover art of the old pulp magazines from the 1920s through the 1940s. Go back and look at the gruesome EC horror comics that were so popular in the 1950’s and caused a nation to crack down on comics in a witch-hunt analogous to McCarthyism. The psychopaths who read that material are your parents and grandparents who wouldn’t be caught dead going to a slasher film. Maybe it’s something that teens grow out of. Maybe it’s something that civilization helps us bury, but is always there waiting to reemerge.

We live in a culture that is still working out its relationship to violence. For all I know it is endemic to the human condition. Perhaps all civilizations, perhaps all individuals within their own souls, must work out the balance between the bloodlust of the savage and the revulsion to violence of the ethically sophisticated. We writers should explore these tensions creatively. Fiction writers must learn to surf the currents of tension within their culture and within themselves. The bigger the tensions the more opportunities to elicit emotion and insight. Want to be a popular writer? Let the current take you in the currently accepted patterns. Want to push the envelope? Then get out ahead of the cultural wave and cut a new swath—you might even get to contribute in some small or even large way to the ongoing cultural solutions to those tensions. Perhaps you will be able to strike a new and more satisfactory balance between the pleasures of the outer civilized citizen and the inner barbarian.

Thank you so much, Mark.

I've only been to one slasher film. Years ago, my now-husband took me to see "Last House on the Left." We didn't stay long before we got up and walked out.

Be sure you go over to Char’s Book Reviews for a give-away tomorrow. You can buy The Resqueth Revolution on Barnes and Noble.Com or, if you prefer, Amazon.

I'm sure everyone noticed that this was Part 3 in Mark's violence series. You can still read Parts One and Two of the complete violence series:

• March 24 - How, When, and Why to Write About Violence in Fiction and Film ,part 1 of 3 at Brain Cells and Bubble Wrap


• March 25 - How, When, and Why to Write About Violence in Fiction and Film, part 2 0f 3 at Free Spirit

But before you race off to buy your copy, leave a comment or question for Mark.
My first question would be: What do your high school students think about The Resqueth Revolution?

Author Mark H. Phillips

Mark H. Philips is stopping by Straight From Hel tomorrow to talk about violence in film and novels. Mark certainly knows about writing violence in both mediums. He’s been a member of the Houston Scriptwriters for three years and the Final Twist for one. His new book, The Resqueth Revolution, has been getting great reviews.

Although he grew up in Illinois and received both his B.A. and M.A. there, he now lives in Houston. In addition to his own writing, he co-authors the Eva Baum Detective Series with his wife Charlotte. He’s nearing the end of his blog book tour for The Resqueth Revolution. You can find his complete tour schedule, along with links to each post at: http://charsbookreviews.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow, he’ll be giving us the final part of his talk on violence in writing. You can read part one on Vivian Zabel’s blog, then hop over to MarvinWilson’s blog for part two, then come back here for the wrap-up, where you can ask lots of questions. Plus, the day after he’s here, you can take a quiz for a give-away.

So remember, come back tomorrow to read Mark's post about violence in novels and film.

Another Book Market in Trouble?

This past weekend, the Christian Book Expo held its first event designed to connect publishers and authors with readers in the evangelical Christian market. To put it bluntly, the event flopped.

Could the problem have been where it was held? Not likely since it took place in Dallas, Texas, what Publishers Weekly calls, “the buckle of the Bible Belt and a top market for Christian publishers.”

To be fair, the event was planned two years ago, before the market downturn. And, despite having only a minimal marketing budget, it was designed as three days of panels and programming like a conference. It appears that “minimal marketing budget” pretty much consisted of word of mouth via Dallas churches.

“We can’t afford these kinds of risks,” said Dennis R. Hillman, publisher at Kregel Publications. “In a year like this the last thing we want to do is something that has no payoff.”

Michael S. Hyatt, president and CEO of Thomas Nelson seems to believe there will be an event next year. Others are not so sure.

“InterVarsity Press will be looking for a more concrete, specific marketing plan for the event – with some strings attached – before we would consider setting aside money to participate,” said associate publisher Jeff Crosby. “Viewed in total, the event was a major disappointment.”

Baldacci Thrillers

Thrillers are not all the same. Just like books within any genre, thrillers vary in their composition and presentation. Newsweek’s Louisa Thomas wrote an article over the weekend about David Baldacci and his 16 bestsellers. Part of “Thriller Instinct” was looking at how he researches and part of it was examining how he became a bestselling author despite being pooh-poohed by the elite.

Baldacci’s first book earned him a $2 million advance, plus another $3 million for the movie and foreign rights. He publishes about two books a year and they immediately go to the bestseller list. Yet, the critics dismiss him. Thomas says, “Critics rarely take Baldacci's novels seriously. The reviews of his books (when they're reviewed at all) can be nasty…” She also notes that New York Times readers, especially, don’t take him seriously. But Baldacci continues to write, continues to sell, and continues to support his literacy foundation. But how does he continue to write these bestsellers?

According to Thomas:

Like other thriller writers, Baldacci depends on a mixture of inventive plotting, appealing characters, luck and consistency. Unlike others, his books rely more on characters' relationships than whiz-bang technology or procedural twists….his heroes are often accidental. Rarely rich, brilliant or handsome, they're no James Bond. They're awkward in love, paranoid and they have imperfect pasts. Some of them would rather be watching "Monday Night Football" than saving the leader of the free world, but such is their plight. In Baldacci's Washington, outsiders are forever coming to the rescue—which may explain why Washington insiders, as well as those beyond the Beltway, read Baldacci's books.

Baldacci does extensive research for his books.

He loses himself in the hands-on process of immersive research and writing—and fans in the fields he writes about claim that he gets their world right. Baldacci reads books on taxidermy and terrorism and concocts ways to fix the lottery, and studs his books with little lessons on geography, history, ballistics, rare-book facts—whatever. (This is another key to the thriller: an overwhelming abundance of sheer—and fun, if sometimes useless—information.) He's staked out landing strips, shot machine guns and befriended snipers and Secret Service agents.

Link over and read the full article. Be sure you read all the way to the end to discover what Thomas sees as “The Best of Baldacci.” I liked this one:

Best terrible motto: "Why waste time trying to discover the truth, when you can so easily create it?" From "The Whole Truth"

Coming To America

There’s a book, written by a man who died in 1885, that is finally being translated into English and brought to America. It’s called The End of the Present World (and the Mysteries of the Future Life), by Father Charles Arminjon.

A fourteen year old girl read it in 1887 and was so inspired she became a nun. Not just any nun either. She eventually became Therese the Little Flower - a saint.

While the book's exhortations on hell, purgatory, and Heaven were what seems to have most inspired the saint, it's not known what she thought of the lengthy discussion in the book of the anti-christ, Second Coming, and end of the world. Father Arminjon does not claim special knowledge, but presents intriguing scenarios based on the Bible and tradition. In fact, it's how the book -- chapter after chapter -- starts.

Here are the opening lines of the book:

"It has seemed to us that one of the saddest fruits of rationalism, the fatal error and great plague of our century, the pestilential sources from which our revolutions and social disasters arise, is the absence of the sense of the supernatural and the profound neglect of the great truths of the future life."

I think I’m going to look for this book.

Comic Books

Anyone been to see Watchmen? Let me rephrase that, any of you been to see Watchmen? Clearly, a ton of people have been since it broke records on its debut weekend.

If you want to find out more about Alan Moore, the author, there’s a good article in the Chicago Tribune.

Initially a 12-issue series with artist Dave Gibbons, the collected volume has become one of the most acclaimed graphic novels ever, hailed by Time magazine as one of the best 100 novels of the 20th Century. It's about aging superheroes, nuclear politics and social engineering.

One interesting thing to note is that Moore has apparently sworn off movie profits of his books.

About "Watchmen" he said, "I will be spitting venom all over it for months to come."

Despite his spitting venom, the article has this description of Moore:

But there's also a British cheekiness about Moore, 54, who claims to be a recluse. There's a playful fussiness to him that, at worst, comes off like a teenage affectation—the muddled philosophical arguments driving the story of muddled anarchists in "V for Vendetta," for instance. He is also a cultural treasure chest, spilling over with connections that mash up a century of literature to create something new that honors the old.

Anybody read Watchmen? I started it but didn’t finish.

Cookbooks

I have a sister who loves to cook. Naturally, she loves cookbooks. She probably has more cookbooks than most people have books in general. As you might guess, she’s a great cook. While she searches Julia Child, I count to make sure there aren’t more than five ingredients in a recipe. If on a given night, you’re invited to her house and my house for dinner, I will totally understand if you go to hers.

So in honor of big sis, Cathy, I present part of the list of the 2009 International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Award Finalists. (The list is too long to give them all here, so zip over there to find all of them.)

First, the categories:
American
Baking
Chefs and Restaurants
Compilations
First Book/ The Julia Child Award
Food Photography and Styling
Food Reference and Technical
General
Health and Special Diet
International
Literary Food Writing
Single Subject
Wine, Beer and Spirits

Being as Straight From Hel focuses on writing, I’ll list the finalists for First Book/The Julia Child Award and Literary Food Writing.

First Book/The Julia Child Award:

A16: Food & Wine
Author: Ed Anderson
Co-Author: Nate Appleman
Editor: Aaron Wehner
Publisher: Ten Speed Press

Puff
Author: Martha Holmberg
Editor: Bill LeBlond
Publisher: Chronicle Books

Yolele! Recipes from the Heart of Senegal
Author: PierreThiam
Publisher: Lake Isle Press

Literary Food Writing:

Bottomfeeder
Author: Taras Grescoe
Editor: Jim Gifford
Publisher: Harper Collins

Raising Steaks
Author: Betty Fussell
Editor: Rebecca Saletan
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China
Author: Fuschia Dunlop
Editor: Maria Guarnaschelli
Publisher: W.W. Norton

Okay, I’m gonna throw in one more ‘cause it caught my eye.

Health and Special Diet:

The Food You Crave
Author: Ellie Krieger
Editor: Pam Hoenig
Publisher: Taunton Press

The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great
Author: Pam Anderson
Editor: Rux Martin
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Techniques of Healthy Cooking, 3rd Edition
Author: The Culinary Institute of America
Editor: Pamela Chirls
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Does that say Pam Anderson as the author of The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great? THE Pam Anderson? And she’s up against The Culinary Institute of America?

Hmm. Possibly a cookbook Cathy doesn’t have yet. Maybe it’ll be on sale by Christmas time.

Digital Rights

Publishers Weekly recently had an article about agent Robert Gottlieb who has been one of the leaders advocating for authors to retain digital and multimedia rights. He’s been fighting for that since the mid 1990s.

Gottlieb, as head of one of the most powerful New York agencies, used his leverage to make it clear that authors (and, by extension, their agents) weren't going to miss the boat.

Now, many years later and many changes in publishing later, Gottlieb seems to be still waging the fight.

When asked about the recent scuffle authors waged against Amazon regarding the text-to-speech option on the new Kindle 2, Gottlieb takes a familiar stance: “Companies can't eviscerate copyright.... They can't incorporate rights they don't have; if those things are allowed to happen, it only serves to deteriorate the industry as a whole.”
Gottlieb also believes, as many agents do, that renegotiation on e-book royalties is inevitable. Because it's cheaper for publishers to produce e-books—with the physical production and distribution removed from transactions—the “cost of doing business,” as Gottlieb puts it, is lower for publishers. This means “authors should share in that additional profit.”

Gottlieb dismisses the idea that publishing is dying.

The challenges ahead excite him—“I don't see [any of] this as the end; I see it as an ever-evolving adventure.”

Pitch the Lunch

To continue our ongoing look at agents, here’s an article from The National about those dwindling agent/editor lunches. More and more, the failing economy is cutting into the lunch budgets of agents. They're having coffee instead or drinks after hours. This article, however, is an explanation of why the networking lunches are so important to agents and editors (and, thus, to writers).

“The idea of the lunch is that you’re looking for the place where your passions overlap,” said the literary agent Larry Weissman. … It’s the job of the agent to match the product with a suitable editor.

Mel Flashman, an agent with Trident Media Group, says that he’s made deals over lunch.

Flashman likens the lunches to dates. “Publishing is really a matter of taste, and taste is subjective. If someone debated in high school they might be more susceptive to a policy book as opposed to a meandering narrative. … “People will spend most of the time just talking about other things. I generally don’t talk about business for 95 per cent of the lunch. I let business arise organically, but maybe that’s just the Mel Flashman way of doing things,” said Flashman.”

If you’re an author invited to lunch, though, you need to know the rules and etiquette apparently.

Authors, however, are usually worse lunchers than agents. “Agents work in the business world, so they have to be at least borderline acceptable. Authors are often freaks. Often, they mistake my interest in their manuscript for my interest in them as a person, so they hit on me or provide too much information about things like failed marriages, extramarital affairs, or childhood trauma.

Eater beware.

P.S. I’m in Key West today.

Happy Writer

Whether you thought yesterday’s post about #Queryfail Day was a fun idea for agents to do or not, I’ll take you today to an agent who’s decided not to participate. Nathan Bransford with Curtis Brown started what he calls Positivity Week. He did a post called “Ten Commandments for the Happy Writer.”

You can click the link to read what he says about each commandment, but here is the list:
1. Enjoy the present
2. Maintain your integrity
3. Recognize the forces that are outside of your control
4. Don’t neglect your friends and family
5. Don't Quit Your Day Job
6. Keep up with publishing industry news.
7. Reach out to fellow writers
8. Park your jealousy at the door
9. Be thankful for what you have
10. Keep writing

Some Real Punchlines

One agent, Colleen Lindsay, with FinePrint Literary Management, has started what she calls “Queryfail Day” on Twitter. Other agents and editors have joined up. The plan is to tweet, once or twice a month, the worst lines they’ve received in queries. The first tweeting of bad query lines took place on March 5. You can read the list of participating agents and editors at http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2009/03/queryfail-day-on-twitter.html.

I either missed the tweets, or I’m not following any of the participants, because I didn’t know what was going on when I started seeing other Twitterers tweeting about #Queryfail Day. The people I saw tweeting about it seemed to think the lines were hilarious. But I’ve heard others who thought it was wrong and a bit cruel.

In Lindsay’s intro to Queryfail Day, she wrote:

What is #Queryfail Day, you ask? * rubs hands together gleefully * A group of online agents, book editors and periodicals acquisition editors are posting about their queries in real time. The idea is to educate people about what exactly it is in a query that made us stop reading and say "Not for me." We're being very careful not to include personal identifiers of any kind. The idea isn't to mock or be intentionally cruel, but to educate.

I don’t know, but the “rubs hands together gleefully” seems to contradict “the idea isn’t to mock or be intentionally cruel, but to educate.”

As I said, I didn’t see the first go-round of bad lines, but here’s a few that The Guardian put in an article:

"My book is differentiated from Twilight because the vampires have wings, and are half-breed angels"
"My book is about a friendship based upon mutual vomiting practices in high school"
"This book is The Notebook meets The Lord of the Rings"
"43 years of toiling within my own mind have come to an end with this manuscript!"

Social Networking: Feed It, Ping It, Tweet It

No need to guess where I am today. I’m still in Miami - hey, a girl’s gotta eventually spend more than one night in a city. But, next week, I’m off again.

We’ve talked about spending time building up your core brand and loyal readers. But if you want to expand, and I know you do, you’ve got to reach out to the Internet world.

To do that, you’ve gonna have to Feed, Ping and Tweet.

Put a Feed button on your blog. That’s Feed as in an RSS Feed. A feed sends out notice to the world that you’ve put a new post on your blog. Think of it as syndicating. I use FeedBurner. I also have a way for readers to Follow me or Bookmark me. They can subscribe to me via FeedBlitz. Make it convenient for people to follow you easily.

Even though I have an RSS Feed, I ping myself as well. After my post goes live, I go to Ping-O-Matic and with one keystroke, I make sure a ton of services know I’ve put up something new. Another type of pinging I do is to let my social networks know I’ve got a new post up. For that, I use Ping. I choose the social networking sites I’m on, like Twitter, LinkedIn and Blogger, type in a short message, click and out it goes. But I don’t do that more than once a day.

A great way to get the word out is to Twitter. It’s easy, it’s fast, it’s addictive. You create an identity, find people to follow, people will find you and follow you, then you tweet. Not once a day, not twice a day, but several times a day, over the course of the day. The longer you’re a part of Twitter, the more followers you’ll get. They’re not all online at the same time, so you tweet your blog three, four times a day, spread out. You include the link to your blog. You make your tweet interesting so people will want to click over and read what you have to say. But remember… Twitter is a way of socializing. Interact with others on the board, tweet about other things than just your blog. Don’t become that annoying Twit who is constantly selling and whom people go un-follow. Incidentally, if you’re on Twitter, you can click the little “Tweet This” bird at the end of this blog and tweet this post. It will automatically write the tweet and provide the link - but you can also delete the automatic wording and put in your own, if you want. And if you're new to Twitter or an old hat, but aren't following me, follow me and I'll follow you.

Feed, Ping, Tweet. Do it. It’ll bring readers to your blog.

Whew! A week of talking about Social Networking. I’m pooped. Okay, not totally pooped. I’m gonna go tweet and ping now.

Social Networking: Google Thyself

Where am I today, you ask? Keep thinking about it while we talk Social Networking.

You want to know where you’re being talked about or where others have linked to you. Why? So you can go visit them. So you can include them in your blog roll. So you track how you’re doing on your social networking quest.

One good way to find out is via the bots we talked about yesterday. They do the discovering for you. And the easiest way to see what the bots have found is to Google yourself.

Go to Google and put a Google Alert on your name, your book’s title, and the title of your blog. Google will then send you an email with a short bit of information about who’s linking to you along with links to that site. I have Google Alerts on Helen Ginger and Straight From Hel. When I see that someone has linked to me (often times it’s via their blog roll and I get notified each day that I’m on their list), I click the link and go to their site. If it’s a blog, I read the latest post and comment.

I’m networking in my social group. Those people are now putting my name out to their readers. I thank them by leaving a comment. I list people on my blog roll and they thank me by leaving a comment on my blog.

Why do you want comments on your blog? So that those who come by will know that your blog is active. Nobody really wants to be the only commenter. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. We are, after all, social beings.

I bet by now, you’ve guessed where I am in Florida. Yep. I’m in Miami.

Social Networking: Internal Linking

Remember to be thinking about where I am today. I’ll let you know at the end of today’s post.

By now, I’m sure you’ve gotten the idea that blogging is about Social Networking. You’re visiting other blogs, leaving comments and a link back to your blog. You’re making your own blog inviting, you’re interacting with your visitors. In your own profile, you’ve put your blog at the top of your list of blogs (if you contribute to more than one).

You can see that links are important. You want people to find you, so you add a link in your comments that you leave on other blogs. You make sure people can find your blog if they go to view your profile. And I’m sure you have your blog linked to your website (and vice versa), right?

Now, let’s do another kind of linking. In your posts, leave links to others. What? You don’t want people hitting the link you put in your post and leaving your site, do you? Yeah. You do. Except you don’t.

Let me make that a bit more clear.

You want to embed links in your posts. Look at the two I embedded in this post. The one on the words “view you profile” will take you to my Profile page. The one I embedded on the words “your website” takes you to the homepage of my site. But you don’t want to only embed links that take readers to your site. If you quote from an article, which I often do in my posts, embed the link to the entire article in case they want to read the full text. If you review a book, link to the author’s excerpt of that book. Find ways to embed links to others.

Why? Because will raise your chance of getting picked up by crawlers, those little bots crawling the Internet looking for active blogs. You’re more active if you don’t just live in your little world, but you link to others in the blog-o-sphere.

BUT (I capitalized that because it’s a big but), make sure your links open in a new window. Do not let embedded links take your readers away from your blog by opening in the same window, thus causing them to leave your blog.

What’s the theme of this series? Say it with me -- Social Networking.

Hey, hey, don’t link away yet. Have you left a comment? Did you guess where I am today? I’m in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Social Networking: Invite Participation

I’m starting this post off with a guessing game. Guess where I am. Here’s a hint -- I’m not in Austin, Texas.

Back to Social Networking via your blog.

Give your blog readers a reason to comment, either directly or indirectly. Ask a question, like, What do you think about this? Or, if you’re talking about something like self-publishing, Have you ever published your work yourself? Or… remember how I ended my post on Day 2 of this series? I said: “Start today. Start here. Leave a comment and add your link.” I invited you to comment.

You don’t want to ask a question every single time you post. That can get boring.

Sometimes you don’t have to. Like in this series I’m doing. I’m giving advice, offering tips. There are plenty of people out there who blog and who read this blog. They have advice to add in the Comments section. That’s great. I, for sure, don’t claim to know it all. And that’s another reason for you to read the other comments on blogs -- you’ll find out even more than what was in the original post.

The more your readers feel they are invested in your blog and that they have a say in your “forum,” the more likely they are to come back. And the more people you have coming and commenting, the more people will want to come and be a part of the group. The more welcome you make them, the more they feel like they have a say and can be heard.

“Social” means more than just your voice.

Okay, here’s where I am today -- Orlando, Florida. Where will I be tomorrow?

Social Networking: Finding New Blogs

Okay, you went out and found some blogs to check out. You found some you liked enough to add to your blog roll.

Some of those bloggers have reciprocated by visiting your blogs. Some of their commenters have noticed you and your link and visited your blog. Now what?

Now that people are starting to comment on your blog, you must do two things.

One: Answer them. If they make a comment, comment back, right there on your blog in the Comments section. If they ask a question, answer it, right there on your blog in the Comments section. Your blog should not be static. It should be active, a give and take -- it should be Social Networking. That means you have to check your blog off and on during the day.

Two: Visit them. It’d be great if they left you a link in the comment box. But if they didn’t, take the time to find them. Click their name. It’ll take you to information about them. Scroll through that information and find the link to their blog (it may be easy to find - or it may be hidden among things like My Favorite Books or My Favorite Stupid Things I Say While I’m Sleeping or My Favorite Whatever). Some people (like me) have one blog. Some people have ten blogs. Unless one of them clearly is the one you want to visit because its title is a subject you’re interested in, choose the first one on the list.

Don’t just go, read the latest post, and disappear. Make a comment (see Day 2 of this series). Two words -- Social and Networking.

Tomorrow, Part 4 in Social Networking

Social Networking: Read My Link

Part 1 in this Social Networking series focused on visiting other blogs and adding favorites to your blog roll. Today, we focus on what to do when you comment on other blogs.

First off, if you’re going to take the time to visit other blogs (and I know you are), then don’t leave without saying something. Most of the time, you’ll have something to say about the post subject. Add something relevant or pithy. Other times, you’ll read the post and think, okay that was interesting, but I have nothing to add. Sure you do. At the very least, comment and tell the blogger that the post was interesting or funny or inspiring or made you think or whatever is appropriate.

Say something. Otherwise, they’ll never know you were there. Sure, they can see that someone was there when they look at their stats, but they won’t know it was you. And if they don’t know it was you, you’re not networking.

When you comment, you’re going to have to leave your name and a link on the comment form. (Sometimes this is done automatically.) Even so, I recommend you leave your name and the link to your blog within the comment form. If that blogger or another commenter there likes what you have to say, you’ve made it easy for them to pop over to your blog. (More networking.)

Now some of you experienced bloggers know that if you want to visit someone’s blog and they don’t leave a link in their comment, you can click on their name and most of the time you’ll be taken to a profile page that will list their blogs. Then you can click from there. Why put those two steps in there for them? Make it easy.

Keep in mind, though, this is not your blog. Don’t put in two, three or more links. Stick to one. You’re not putting up a huge billboard - just a small sign helping others find their way to your blog. (This is the social part of networking.)

Start today. Start here. Leave a comment and add your link.

Tomorrow, Part 3 in Social Networking

Social Networking

Today, we start a week-long series on Social Networking.

When you use the words “social networking,” people think Twitter or FaceBook or YouTube. The first thing you should be thinking is your own blog.

If you want people to visit your blog, you have to do more than just create a blog and post every once in a while. That’s like opening a store in your house without putting out a sign or any notices about it, then wondering why you have no business. The blog-o-sphere is not an If You Build It They Will Come world.

Pages and pages and entire blogs are written about blogging. But, today, let’s just look at the social networking aspect.

The focus of Straight From Hel is books, writing, and publishing. So, since you’re reading this, you’re most like a writer. Why would a writer start a blog? To get readers, to give advice on writing, to promote a book or books, to brand him or herself - just a few ideas.

To be effective at all of that and more, you have to have people coming to read what you have to say (and jumping over to your website, your FaceBook page, etc.). And to make that happen, you’re going to have to network with other bloggers.

If you’re new to blogging (therefore, no one knows about your blog), you’re going to have to search around and find blogs you think are interesting. Start reading them, every day, for a week or so, leave comments, and if you decide you like them enough to recommend them to others, add them to your sidebar blog roll.

Now, you may say, why would I do that? I want people to come to my blog, not zip off to someone else’s. If they found that other blog through your blog, then they did come to you first. And, if you put someone in your blog roll, that blogger is more likely to add you to their blog roll. Remember the word “networking” in Social Networking? It’s a give and take.

Tomorrow, Part 2 in Social Networking

Taking a Chapter from Music

The Washington Post has an article comparing the changes in publishing to the changes that took place in the music industry. It’s an interesting comparison.

In music, DIY is a source of credibility for acts that take pride in circumventing the music machine and the compromises often required to release an album through a record company -- especially a major label.
With books, by contrast, do-it-yourselfers are usually regarded with skepticism, if not outright derision, when they pay to publish their own work through what is disdainfully referred to as a "vanity press."

The Post does say, though, that the stigma within publishing seems to be lessening, although not by much.

Books released through publishing houses also have a perceived measure of legitimacy that can help attract attention from reviewers, who tend to avoid self-published works.
Besides the sense of legitimacy they project as gatekeepers, publishing houses have a logistical advantage by taking care of distribution, which is crucial for an author who wants the widest possible readership.

The article cites a couple of examples of writers going it “alone” by self-publishing, but each one seems to also long for a publisher to legitimize their books and make the selling easier.

Films for Book Lovers

This is a posting of an email I received from the Texas Book Festival. Those of you living in the Austin area or visiting for South by Southwest might find it interesting:

Book-Friendly Films at this Year's SXSW Film Festival

Hello Book Lovers! The SXSW Film Festival (March 13-21 in Austin) wants to let you know about a few book-friendly feature films that will screen at this year's 16th annual event. Below you can find films, schedules, and their descriptions. We hope to see you at SXSW! For more information on SXSW, visit: http://sxsw.com. You can find the schedule for these and other films at: http://sxsw.com/film/screenings/schedule. These literary films include:

Awaydays
Director: Pat Holden. Writer: Kevin Sampson

A blade-sharp rites-of-passage that buzzes with the post-punk energy of its late-70s Liverpool setting. Based on the classic novel by Kevin Sampson. Cast: Nicky Bell, Liam Boyle, Stephen Graham, Oliver Lee (North American Premiere)

3/13/2009, Alamo Ritz 2, 6:45 PM
3/18/2009, Alamo Lamar 2, 11:45 AM
3/20/2009, Alamo Lamar 2, 4:00 PM
________________________________________

For the Love of Movies
Director: Gerald Peary

The first documentary to dramatize the rich, fascinating history of American film criticism. (World Premiere)

3/16/2009, Alamo Ritz 2, 8:00 PM
3/18/2009, Alamo Ritz 2, 12:00 PM
3/21/2009, Alamo Lamar 3, 4:00 PM
________________________________________

Monsters from the Id
Director: David Gargani

The untold story of 1950’s American Sci-Fi Cinema and the role of the Modern Scientist.
The 1950's was an idealistic time in American history. It was also the Atomic Age where new technology promised to both save humanity as well as destroy it. All of these factors gave birth to the most prolific genres in film history, 1950's Sci-Fi Cinema. Features interviews with Patrick Luciano and Gary Coville, the authors of Smokin' Rockets: The Romance of Technology in American Film, Radio and Television, 1945-1962.

3/13/2009, Alamo Lamar 3, 9:45 PM
3/18/2009, ACC, 11:30 AM
3/21/2009, Alamo Lamar 2, 2:00 PM
________________________________________

Over the Hills and Far Away
Director: Michel Orion Scott

This documentary chronicles the journey of the Isaacson family as they travel through Mongolia in search of a mysterious shaman they believe can heal their autistic son. The book about the Isaacsons’ journey, The Horse Boy, is being published by Little, Brown in April.

3/17/2009, Paramount, 11:00 AM
3/19/2009, Alamo Lamar 2, 1:30 PM
3/20/2009, ACC, 7:00 PM
________________________________________

Blood Trail
Director: Richard Parry

At times war photographer Robert King resembles a heroic misfit straight out of the pages of Scoop, thrown into the heart of battle, struggling to adapt to the brutal environment he finds himself in. Occasionally comic, often touching, more often dark, the documentary Blood Trail, the tale of Robert King, is a unique and personal journey, a film which follows him over 15 years and through three wars.

3/13/2009, ACC, 9:30 PM
3/16/2009, Alamo Ritz 2, 12:00 PM
3/18/2009, ACC, 4:30 PM
________________________________________

Drunken Angel: The Legend of Blaze Foley
Director: Kevin Triplett

Born in a tree house, killed in a friend's living room, 86'ed from his own funeral, Blaze Foley is now a bona fide country music legend. His heartfelt songs are covered by Merle Haggard, John Prine, Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett. Drunken Angel reveals the secret of failing in the music business while succeeding as a legend. Sybil Rosen’s memoir of Foley, Living in the Woods in a Tree: Remembering Blaze Foley, was published last year.

3/18/2009, ACC, 7 PM

Enjoy!

Faith in YA Books

The Boston Globe has an interesting article on faith in books, specifically the emergence of Mormon women writers, “who are surging into the genre of young adult literature, finding a happy marriage between the expectations of their religion and the desires of a burgeoning publishing niche.”

Michael Paulson, author of the article, attributes this rise to “several unique characteristics of their faith and culture: an aversion to the sex and swearing that prevails in adult fiction, a propensity for large families that often means a child-focused life, and an affinity for fantasy writing.”

Chris Crowe, a professor of English at BYU, said:

And there also seems to be a high level of appreciation for fantasy literature in Mormondom - a phenomenon that is striking because it contrasts with the critiques of wizardry and magic often heard from evangelical Protestants, who, like Mormons, are often socially conservative.

"With a lot of conservative religions - and Mormonism would definitely qualify - there is a taboo against fantasy concepts, against magic, and you hear people speaking against Harry Potter," said Hale, the author of "Princess Academy."

"But there's never been any fear of fantasy or science fiction among Mormons. I think Mormons believe a lot of things that are pretty fantastic - we believe in miracles and angels and ancient prophets and rediscovered Scripture - so maybe it is almost natural for us to dive into these other stories."

As I said, it’s an interesting article. If you write YA, it’s well worth reading.

Speaker and Author L. Diane Wolfe

Today, professional speaker and author L. Diane Wolfe stops by Straight From Hel to talk about promotion. Wolfe is the author of Overcoming Obstacles With Spunk! The Keys to Leadership & Goal-Setting, as well as the young adult series, The Circle of Friends. She conducts seminars through community colleges, organizations and club, and travels the East Coast extensively for media interviews and speaking engagements, averaging over one hundred appearances each year. Today, she tells us ways to promote our books through reaching our audience.

Welcome L. Diane Wolfe.

Promotion Begins With the First Word

When do promotions begin? Too often, promotion does not enter the minds of writers until after the book is completed. Passionate to express themselves through words, few consider the potential market for their work. Without this knowledge, we may be doomed to failure, because our chances for success are determined by that very first word.

We write because we love to write. However, unless it is just for personal satisfaction, we need a purpose and a plan. We must consider the marketability of our work before pouring heart and soul into a project. Why work long hours on a project that will be impossible to sell? The publishing industry is tough enough without making it even more difficult to succeed!

Before putting pen to paper, we need to be sure our book will fill a real need. Explore several bookstores to determine if the niche is too small or genre over saturated. Examine the competition in depth. Remember that most book purchases are determined by either subject matter or the author’s reputation. Do we have enough status to be considered an expert in the field? If writing fiction, will our story’s hook be powerful enough to make our work stand out from all the other authors in the genre? It is important that we take all of this into account before passionately writing a book we cannot sell.

If our work fills a real need, do we know how to reach that audience? The world will not beat a path to our door! Book promotion is a multi-faceted endeavor and we must reach our readers by any means possible. Great effort will be required both in the physical and virtual worlds. Do we have the necessary resources? Are we willing to devote the proper amount of time? If we aren’t prepared to do whatever it takes, we’ll set goals for our book that are impossible to attain.

Tie-ins and endorsements play a key role in the success of a book as well. We need to ask ourselves – who would endorse our book? Mentioning specific products, companies, individuals and locations may garner endorsements if done so in a favorable light. The setting of our story might be of great interest to the residents of that location. (In fact, they could be our target audience.) A celebrity endorsement, whether from an actor, an athlete or another author, can greatly increase the credibility of the work. Do not forget organizations, non-profit groups or even political parties that might recommend the book to their members or use it for a fundraiser. We should consider all of these aspects before we create our book.

The promotion process begins with the writing phase. If we fail to prepare during this time, we’ll find it difficult (if not impossible) to properly market our book. In order to spare ourselves the aggravation, we must write success into our book right now!

Thank you Diane. It’s easy to see how you got the nickname “Spunk on a Stick.”

In addition to Wolfe’s travels, she also maintains a dozen websites and blogs, manages an online writers’ group, and contributes articles for several other sites. If you’re interested in her insight into writing, she does characterization sessions for schools and speaks to writers’ groups.

Before you rush off to check out her site, leave a comment or question here for her.

Spunk on a Stick

Tomorrow, author and professional speaker L. Diane Wolfe comes to Straight From Hel. There’s a reason why she’s known as “Spunk on a Stick.” She travels the East Coast extensively, averaging over one hundred appearances each year, for media interviews and speaking engagements. She also manages an online writers’ group, maintains a dozen websites and blogs, and contributes articles for several other sites.

In addition to all that, she writes. Her book, Overcoming Obstacles With Spunk! The Keys to Leadership & Goal Setting, ties all of her goal-setting and leadership seminar’s information into one package. She also pens a young adult series called The Circle of Friends that appeals to teens and parents through positive stories.

She’s going to talk about book promotion: when to start planning your book’s promotion, how to start that planning, and what to consider.

So, check out her site and her blog, then come back tomorrow with comments and questions.

Publishing Internships

In college and looking for a summer internship? According to the Mount Holyoke News, there are plenty of opportunities in the publishing industry.

The publishing industry, though retracting, is not disappearing, and companies depend on the (often free) labor of interns. For students interested in books, reading and writing but seeking an internship outside of publishing, opportunities exist at literary agencies, communication agencies and libraries.

Note that word “free,” though. However, if this is a field you think you’d like to go into after graduation, then an internship is a good way to get acquainted and get your foot in the door. You’ll probably be able to find opportunities in a lot of different areas, from “children's literature, adult fiction, textbook publishing, mass media, poetry, literary magazines, fashion magazines, women's interest magazines or something else.”

And it’s not all editorial work.

students can intern in publicity, marketing, subsidiary rights, contracts and design departments.

Where do you find these openings? Look on the publishers’ websites. Check literary agents’ websites to see if they have listings. Check individual magazines or look at the American Society of Magazine Editors, which coordinates internships for over 30 magazines. Check you local libraries or writing organizations. If you’re really looking for an internship, you’ll need to cast a wide net and don’t overlook unpaid positions. (Paid is even better, though.)

Interviewing

I’m now on the third book that involves interviewing people. And I’ve pretty well got the process down, although I admit that finding interview subjects for this Avionics book is proving difficult.

But the actual interview itself is not.

I ready my questions ahead of time. Actually I prepare several lists of questions so I’m ready in case someone new should come into play. I have questions for students, instructors, employers, supervisors, working techs, experts. Even if I’m going to interview a student, I take all the lists with me so I’m prepared.

But I pretty much know the questions.

For the interviews I did last week, I didn’t actually lay the list out in front of me. I usually start the interview off and then follow the subject’s lead. I let him talk. If there’s a lull, I ask a question and by that direct him where I want him to go. For this round, I had sent the questions to the subjects ahead of time. One gave me his written answers to take with me. Two did not. One of those two, after we had talked, asked me if I was going to ask him the questions on the list. We actually had already covered most of them. But I took out the list, scanned down and found one we hadn’t covered.

The Movable Office

Is your office movable? Mine is. It wasn’t meant to be. I set up in my daughter’s room after she moved out, graduated college and clearly wasn’t coming back home to live. I bought a desk, took my husband’s old chair, put up my 8 foot bulletin board, put book shelves in the closet and got my own printer.

I was set.

And yet, I keep having to move. Every time guests come to stay over night or a kid comes home for holidays. Upstairs I go to the bedroom, laptop on folding table, lamp on the TV to put light on my dark corner.

At first, I felt put out. Now I realize that my office is actually movable. I need a business card that says, “Have laptop and card table, Will travel.”

How about you? Could you grab stuff and move? And still function?