What Are You Reading?

I hate to admit this, but between my different email accounts, twittering, blogging, commenting on other blogs, weekly newsletter and book research, I have little time for reading. If I’m going to read, it has to be a book that really catches my attention.

I’m reading such a book now -- a memoir called The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It came out in 2005 and was a New York Times Bestseller. I can see why so many people read it. It’s very good.

While the story is captivating, what hooked me was a light bulb flashing in my head: this is the way to write a memoir. Admittedly, I don’t read many memoirs. I tend to pick up mysteries or suspense.

The Glass Castle starts off with three pages in the “present,” then goes back to the beginning, when she was a child.

Nowhere does she say anything like, I had a crappy childhood. She tells you her life from the child’s point of view. She doesn’t use childish words, but she pulls you in so that you experience her life with her. She doesn’t have to say, my childhood sucked or was raw. She, in fact, felt her life was normal, even happy. You’re reading about it and you know she got a bad deal. But she doesn’t say that because at the time, she didn’t know that, so she tells you how she experienced it as a child.

Once I started The Glass Castle, I thought to myself, If I ever write a memoir, this is how I would do it. Not telling the reader about your life, but letting them live it with you.

What are you reading? What do you think of it? Are you learning anything? What draws you in to the book or to that genre?

Another Thing to Learn

There's always something new to learn if you're a writer. You have to learn to write, to plot, to plan the book, to flesh out your characters, etc. You have to learn to keep a book bible. You have to learn how to write a query letter and how to pitch. You have to learn to work with an agent and how to read a statement. You have to learn how to market your book, how to ask for cover blurbs, how to conduct a virtual book tour, how to act at a book signing and work with booksellers. The list just goes on and on.

And here's one more that I'm going to add to that list, especially if you're not yet published.

You need to learn to edit. Now, this may sound strange coming from a freelance editor whose job it is to edit author's books. But you need to learn how to do at least the basics for yourself. If you don't, then you're doomed to pay editors to do it for you.

Learning the basics of editing doesn't mean you'll never need an outside editor. If you can't teach yourself, an editor can be a great teacher, in fact. But the more work you put in yourself, the less it will cost you to have a professional edit done. An editor often bases her fees on the time it takes to do the edits. If you do the small stuff, then she charges you less or she has more time to spend on the big stuff and on explaining why she's making changes in your manuscript. And that's important. If an editor just makes changes and doesn't tell you why, then how can you learn and begin to not make mistakes? So look for an editor who will work with you, not just for you.

It's easy if an editor says, "You're using too many -ly adverbs -- cut them and use stronger verbs." You can search your manuscript and change the problem. She might even change one or two to show you what she means, then leave the rest to you so you can learn and avoid making the same mistake in the future.

It's less easy if the editor says, "This passage bothers me. This is why. I think you need to rewrite this so that it does such and such." Trust me, it's better if she does this than if she rewrites it for you. You re-work it, send it back to her, and she says, "yes, that's much better." Then you've learned and you'll be a better writer for it.

Guest Author: Pat Browning

Author Pat Browning is stopping by Straight From Hel today to talk about piles of paper and timelines. She knows a lot about both. She's an ex-teacher, ex-reporter, ex-travel writer and current author.

In the 1990s, Browning signed on fulltime as a newspaper reporter and columnist, first at The Selma Enterprise and then at The Hanford Sentinel. While at the Enterprise, her lifestyle coverage placed first two years in a row in the California Newspaper Publishers Association Better Newspapers Contest. She was also a finalist for the 1993 George F. Gruner Award for Meritorious Public Service in Journalism. At the Sentinel, her feature story on the Japanese-American "Yankee Samurais" of World War II, placed second in the CNPA contest.

Now, she pens the Penny Mackenzie mystery series. The first book, FULL CIRCLE, came out in 2001. Last month, it was re-released as ABSINTHE OF MALICE. While working on the next in the series, she writes non-fiction articles for The SouthWest Sage, the monthly journal of Southwest Writers. In addition, her memoir, WHITE PETUNIAS, will appear this winter in the Red Dirt Book Festival Anthology -- Oklahoma Character.

In her blog, Morning's at Noon, Pat talks about writing, her books, marketing, and her life. She also contributes to a co-op blog called Murderous Musings. You can read the first three chapters of ABSINTHE OF MALICE at her website: www.authorsden.com/patbrowning. Order the book through any bookstore, or buy at www.amazon.com, www.bn.com, or www.krillpress.com (free shipping).

I know Pat will be open to questions about her work as a reporter, travel writer, and author. She'll especially be ready to answer any questions about keeping up with all your piles of paper and what she went through to get FULL CIRCLE re-released.

Welcome, Pat Browning.

“This incredible pile of paper”

The piece of advice I got most often when I decided to write a mystery was “Don’t give up your day job.” To that I would add, “Never throw away anything.”

ITEM: March 2007

Reuters report in the Gulf Times Newspaper:

AMSTERDAM: An 89-year-old Dutch novelist has stumbled on a pot-boiler she wrote that had been lost for decades, and plans to publish it later this year. Hella Haasse’s Sterrenjacht (Hunt for the Stars) was published as a serial in a newspaper in 1950, but the manuscript was lost. However, Haasse, often called the “grand old lady of Dutch literature”, cut out and kept all the installments.

“I have this incredible pile of paper at home – and by chance I came across a stack of yellowed newspaper,” she told yesterday’s edition of the newspaper De Stentor. She showed the work to her editor as a joke, but the company decided to publish it.

ITEM: Dec. 5, 2008

From the New York Times top 20 sellers in Paperback Mass-Market Fiction
Of the 20 top titles, three are reissues:

THE MANNING GROOMS, by Debbie Macomber. (Mira, $7.99.) A reissue of two novels: “Bride on the Loose” and “Same Time, Next Year.”

FOUL PLAY, by Janet Evanovich. (Harper, $7.99.) A veterinarian hires a woman who has lost her TV job to a dancing chicken, then helps her prove her innocence when the chicken disappears; a reissue of a 1989 book.

LOVE BY DESIGN, by Nora Roberts. (Silhouette, $7.99.) A reissue of two novels from 1989: “Loving Jack” and “Best Laid Plans.”

ITEM: December 2008

FULL CIRCLE by Pat Browning, revised and reissued by Krill Press as ABSINTHE OF MALICE.

That came out of the blue. It was a three-month ride on a Tilt-A-Whirl, and I’m still dizzy. Krill Press is a small, start-up micropress in Oregon, with a multi-tasking publisher who puts the pedal to the metal. As in:

SEPT. 1 -- Krill Press was formed, more or less in the mind of said publisher, after the idea was kicked around in an Internet group we both belong to.

First bump in the road: He asked for a Synopsis of FULL CIRCLE, which I self-published in 2001, and also one for my half-finished second book, working title SOLSTICE. I started to sweat out that horror of horrors, the synopsis, for not one but two books.

SEPT. 6 -- Publisher said forget the synopses. He was reading FULL CIRCLE and liked it. He had already read the first three chapters of SOLSTICE on my web site.

SEPT. 14 -- Publisher loved FULL CIRCLE, suggested bringing out an “updated, refreshed 2nd edition” with a new title and new cover. Offered me an advance.

I fell over laughing when I read the proposed new title, ABSINTHE OF MALICE, and saw the jazzy, sexy new cover proposed. But the more I thought about it, the better I liked it. We jumped right into proposed changes and details of a business relationship.

SEPT. 17 – We signed a two-year contract for publication in trade paperback, E-book and other electronic download formats, and Amazon’s Kindle.

SEPT. 24 – Advance check. I printed out a copy suitable for framing.

Second bump in the road: Publisher wanted manuscript by E-mail, in Word. I couldn’t find my computer file anywhere. I did have a printout of my iUniverse proof sheet from 2001. Nothing to do but make a new Word file by scanning in that proof sheet, one page at a time. More than 200 pages, one – page – at – a – time.

OCT. 26 – Publisher finished book block and e-mailed it to me for proofing. Last minute updating of cover blurbs and reviews for Krill Press web site, which was still under construction.

NOV. 3 – Book uploaded to printer (Lightning Source). Publisher signed contracts with Lightning Source and Ingram Book Group to have book distributed in Canada, the UK and Europe.

NOV. 6 – Lightning Source sent proof copy to publisher via UPS 2 nd Day Air. Publisher made plans for virtual launch party on NETDRAG podcast.

NOV. 7 – Pursuant to my notice of cancellation of contract, iUniverse gave me written acknowledgment and washed their hands of it. It’s no longer listed on their web site.

Ongoing blip: FULL CIRCLE is still listed for sale by online booksellers and will be until they get rid of their last copy. If I could afford it, I would buy them all up.

DEC. 4 – I had copies of my brand new book on hand for a book signing at the local library.

Krill Press is promoting ABSINTHE OF MALICE in every known market. It’s displayed on Google Books, as far afield as an Italian library. Amazon.com has it displayed for sale in the UK, Germany, France, China, Japan … It’s print-on-demand but the publisher, bowing to marketplace realities, offers a heavy discount to bookstores and makes it returnable. He’s sending sell sheets and queries to Internet book review sites.

The publisher is doing his share and then some. I’m more of a hand-seller: “Pssst! Wanna buy a good book?”

It’s an ill wind, as the saying goes. Having to scan the book a page at a time gave me a chance to polish it up, tighten it up, and generally shape it up. It also gave me a chance to rewrite a couple of key scenes.

One has to do with my protagonist, Penny Mackenzie, a baby boomer whose first love shows up after a long absence. I had written her as a bit of a schlump, in a rut. The publisher picked up on a short scene where she whacks off her hair and throws her dowdy duds into a wastebasket. He took it a step further, seeing her as a woman whose long-suppressed vanity reappears when her old flame shows up. I rewrote the scene to fit the sassy, sexy new book cover.

The other has to do with DNA testing of an old bone. When I wrote the book in 1999-2001, DNA testing was fairly new. I misinterpreted a news article I read about a portable DNA machine developed by the military for battlefield use. Since then, of course, I’ve learned that DNA from old bones is mitochondrial DNA, passed down only through female ancestors. The test destroys the bone, making it impossible for a character to run it through a portable machine and then replace it in the police department’s evidence room. I feel a lot better for having rewritten the scene to reflect the differences in DNA, keeping a character from subjecting an old bone to the wrong kind of testing.

While all this was going on, my work-in-progress was shoved to one side. Now I’m picking up where I left off four months ago. Touching base this week with a friend, I mentioned that finishing the second book is essential to the success of the first one. His e-mail reply is taped to my computer monitor.

He wrote: “And if I were you I'd finish that second book. There's only so much promotion you can do without turning into a used-car salesman, and there's hardly anything worse than a used-car salesman who only has one car to sell.”

Words to live by!

Thank you Pat.

Be sure you visit the Comments Section here on Straight From Hel. You can ask Pat questions or just let her know you came by. Pat and I will both be around all day.

Author Pat Browning

Tomorrow, Pat Browning, former teacher, reporter and legal secretary turned world traveler and wonderful mystery author, guest blogs on Straight From Hel.

Born in Oklahoma, Browning moved to California, where she became an avid traveler, even turning her love of travel into a career as a travel agent and correspondent. In the 1980s, her travel articles bore such exotic datelines as Tangier, Bombay, Budapest, Vienna, Dubrovnik, Pompeii and Shanghai. Next, she became a news reporter until her love of writing took her into the mystery field. In 2001, her book, FULL CIRCLE, was released. Recently, it was re-released as ABSINTHE OF MALICE. She's already hard at work on the next in the Penny Mackenzie mystery series.

Before Browning drops by tomorrow, I welcome you to visit her blog, Morning's at Noon, as well as the blog, Murderous Musings, where she's a contributor. You can also read the first three chapters of ABSINTHE OF MALICE at her website: www.authorsden.com/patbrowning. Then come back here tomorrow armed with questions.

Browning's going to talk about how FULL CIRCLE came to be and how it came to be re-released as ABSINTHE OF MALICE. She has an interesting story of the timeline for the book, as well as The Incredible Pile of Paper.

Don’t Suck that Lemon

A while back, I got smacked with the Happy Stick. Now, Vivian Zabel has thrown lemons at me. She’s not, however, trying to hit me with them. She’s given me the “When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade” Award.

I’m honored. I’m guessing she read my post about having to go have an author picture taken and she’s hoping I’ll take that lemon, squeeze the life out of it and somehow come out with a glass of sweet lemonade.

The requirements for this award are: Nominate 10 blogs you feel are worthy of the award.

This was the first I’ve heard of this award, so forgive me if you’ve already been nominated. Here are my nominees:

1. Healing…Through the Eyes of Autism

2. Annay Dawson

3. Oak Tree Press

4. A Writer’s Haven

5. Mystery Mania

6. Shadows

7. Eliza Gayle

8. Kurt Maxxon Racing News

9. Mary Gordon Spence

10. Wanderings of an Internet Goddess

Now, I sit back, relax, and drink my glass of lemonade. Mmmm.

Children’s Book Publishers

There’s a dark cloud looming for children’s book publishers and the storm may hit as early as February 10th. It’s possible that these publishers will be required to give 3rd party proof that any books published by them does not contain lead.

Now, it sounds good. We all know that lead is dangerous to children. But providing such proof for every title published would put some publishers, especially small presses, out of business.

According to Publishers Weekly,

On January 22, the Consumer Products Safety Commission held a public meeting, requested by the Association of American Publishers, during which AAP, along with representatives from major children’s publishers, printers, and manufacturers of components, presented additional evidence to the CPSC’s science team and General Counsel that children’s books do not contain lead. The presentation included additional results from more than 150 tests of finished products, which have been added to the mass of evidence already compiled about the safety of components.

This is something all writers, especially children’s authors, should keep an eye on. Vivian Zabel with 4RV Publishing has been doing a wonderful job of getting the information out to writers, including names and contact information for representatives.

Bookmark her site if you’re a children’s author, hope to be published in the children’s and YA genre, or want to support small publishers and fellow writers.

Self-Portraits

Let me start off by saying that I do not like having my picture taken. I always look weird. Either I’ve got a goofy smile or I’m looking away from the camera, laughing at something off-scene. Or, if I’m posing, I’m very self-conscious and it shows. I just don’t take good pictures.

And, yet, authors have to take pictures. Some take wonderful pictures -- they’re lying on a motorcycle, leaning against a barn door, relaxing on a couch in the middle of a country road, or just looking thoughtfully into the camera.

Some author pictures are on the inside flap -- small head shots that make them look studious or expert-like. Some best-selling authors plaster their whole body on the back of the book.

And then there are those of us who would rather remain sight-unseen.

My publisher told me I need a short bio and picture for the book due out in March.

I’ve been putting off calling a photographer for a week now. So far, the publisher has not called and told me that he’s changed his mind and I won’t need to have one taken. That means I’m going to have to schedule a sitting and have one done.

What do you suggest? Head shot? Looking straight at the camera? Profile? I’d prefer back of my head, frankly.

What have you done for your author picture?

Writing the Story

Everybody leveling out after the high of the Obama inauguration? Was anyone actually in D.C. for the events? I’m not sure it would be possible to write the excitement of being there and have it come across so vividly as it would have been in person.

But if you were going to write a fictional account of the last four or five years in a Barack Obama character, could you? Do you think you could write a character like him and make it believable? What tidbits of back story would you sneak in so the election to the presidency is believable? Would you tell the story in third person or first? How would the story be different if you told it from the perspective of the wife instead of the man running for office? At what point would the book end? With the dance with his wife at one of the inaugural balls? A year into the presidency?

And what genre would your book be?

Tell us your ideas and thoughts about such a book.

Starting a Book

Yesterday, my free newsletter for writers, Doing It Write, went out. It’s been going out to subscribers around the world for over nine years. Every week. Amazingly, I’ve never missed an issue. In yesterday’s column, I talked about starting a book.

Fiction books seem to start with a character or plot point in the writer’s head. Perhaps a voice that won’t quit yapping at the author until he starts plotting out the book. Or maybe the writer starts writing because a scene plays over and over in her head.

Non-fiction can begin with some of the same “events.” Perhaps a relative seems to be speaking to the writer, telling him to write her story. Or maybe the author reads an intriguing diary. It could be a subject that fascinates the writer.

For me, though, my latest project involved the publisher asking me to write it.

My question to the Doing It Write readers and to all of you stopping by Straight From Hel today is, once you make the decision to write the book, what’s the first step you take? I begin the research, since I’ll be working on the next in a series of TechCareers books.

What do you do first?

Happily Tagged

I’ve been tagged by Jean Henry Mead. There’s no name for this tag that I know of, so I’ll call it the Happy Tag.

I’m supposed to tell six things that make me happy.

1. My children. They’re grown now, but I love talking to them, hearing about their lives, and just looking at them.

2. My husband. He’s an early riser. Our dog is an early riser. I’m not. My husband will hear the dog stirring, let her out of the bedroom and take her out -- and let me sleep until 5:30 or 6 -- or even later on weekends.

3. My friends, all of them amazing.

4. Writing…when I’m in the “zone.”

5. Working with writers on their manuscripts.

6. Reading. I love to get lost in books.

And now, I pass this on to Dani Greer. Dani does so much and is involved in so many things. I’d like to know what brings her joy.

Butterflies Are Beautiful

L. Diane Wolfe at Circle of Friends Books gave me the Butterfly Award. How wonderful is that? It’s especially apropos now during the Winter as we look toward Spring. Here in central Texas, it’s already feeling like Spring, although we know Winter is not over yet. Soon, though, butterflies will be flittering around. In the meantime, we have some beautiful butterfly blogs to visit.

Thank you so much, Diane.

Here are the “rules” of the Butterfly Award:
1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Award up to ten other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message for your awardees on their blogs

What a great way to network with other bloggers. I am happy to pass this award on to:

The Speakeasy

Grandma is a Writer

Out of My Mind About Books for Children

Ask Angela: Market My Novel

Arts and Words

I chose five wonderful, personal, and unique blogs and bloggers. I hope you’ll all stop by each one, say hello to them, and put them on your own blogroll of interesting blogs to visit.

Marketing Your Book

Just like books are going digital, the way of marketing books is changing. On Straight From Hel, we talk about virtual book tours (and host authors on their tours, as well), Twitter, blogs, websites, and other ways of promoting books.

A recent article in the Austin American-Statesman had some interesting ideas that I thought worth sharing.

The first one is from Tam Thompson, a publisher and writer, who scheduled an author signing at a local library. But there won’t be any copies of her book there. No, they aren’t missing. There just aren’t any copies of her book that she can sign. It’s a 60-page ebook.

Thompson will be printing out color copies of the title page of the PDF file and signing it for buyers.

An author who is a firm believer in promotion,

Thompson is spending $7,000 on her e-book's promotion, much of it going to an Internet consultant and Web team who helped her set up a blog and a payment system for selling "Busy Sexy Body" online.

It’s hard to say this will translate into sales. It’s too early to tell since the book is only about two weeks old (it had sold one copy as of the time of the news article).

Today, YA author Sarah Mlynowski is holding a virtual online party for her book, Parties & Potions. “There'll be virtual costumes and prizes for the online author chat.”

The news article lists some other ideas for authors to consider:

Other self-published authors (as well as many authors who are published by mainstream publishing houses) are promoting their work with blogs that supplement what's in the pages of their books.

In recent years, some books have even been promoted in unexpected places like YouTube; video trailers have become an increasingly common way to promote a new book. Stylized titles, dramatic voice-overs and publicity blurbs are common in these videos. If they'd been around a few centuries ago, one might have begun, "In a world ... where it was the best of times ... and the worst of times."

Here’s hoping the publishing world is headed into the best of times.

A Twisted Road

Over in the UK, one author has embarked on a twisted path to publication, according to The Guardian.

First, Craig Murray published his best-selling, “explosive,” memoir, Murder in Samarkand. Then he wrote the prequel to that book. The prequel, The Catholic Orangemen of Togo and Other Conflict I Have Known, was scheduled to be release last August. It didn’t make it, though, because of threatened legal action by someone named in the book. Then his publisher dropped Murray.

So Murray “made the 226-page book available for free on his website and other sites across the internet, as well as self-publishing a number of hard copies which he is selling for £17.99. He says that 15,000 people downloaded the book in the first day.”

His story doesn’t end there, though.

He said he was "expecting and hoping" that if no legal action is taken against him, he will be able to sell the book back to a major publisher, which could then bring out a paperback edition this autumn.

What would you have done?

Ebooks for $1

I recently read this in Publishers Weekly:

Orbit has launched a promotional program offering a different book each month, selling for just one dollar each. Vendors include Amazon and Sony, along with Stanza, eReader, Fictionwise, Diesel, and MobiPocket.

I don’t have an e-reader, but one dollar a book sounds pretty good for those of you who do, so I checked it out.

On its website, Orbit says:

We've partnered with the top ebook vendors to offer readers in the USA an ebook a month for just $1. Visit this site for the currently discounted titles, and links to buy. Each book will only be available at this special price for the promotional month, so act now!

Their title this month is The Way of Shadows, book one of the Night Angel Trilogy. The site also lists the books that will be available for February, March and April - and has a link to the complete list of Orbit titles available as ebooks (not just the ones being sold through this special deal). You can also sign up for an announcement list that will send you a reminder each month about the latest discounted ebooks.

So, if you have an e-reader, check out the site and see if any of the $1 ebooks interest you.

Reading Habits

A recent article in The New York Times had good news about adult reading habits. With all the publishing woes and cutbacks lately, we could use some good news.

After years of bemoaning the decline of a literary culture in the United States, the National Endowment for the Arts says in a report that it now believes a quarter-century of precipitous decline in fiction reading has reversed.

The report is from a survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2008.

Among its chief findings is that for the first time since 1982, when the bureau began collecting such data, the proportion of adults 18 and older who said they had read at least one novel, short story, poem or play in the previous 12 months has risen.

Of course, it wasn’t all good news. The proportion of adults reading poetry and drama continues to decline. But today, we’re reporting good news.

Nevertheless the proportion of overall literary reading increased among virtually all age groups, ethnic and demographic categories since 2002. It increased most dramatically among 18-to-24-year-olds, who had previously shown the most significant declines.

Dana Gioia, outgoing chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, attributes the increase in literary reading to:

community-based programs like the “Big Read,” Oprah Winfrey’s book club, the huge popularity of book series like “Harry Potter” and Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight,” as well as the individual efforts of teachers, librarians, parents and civic leaders to create “a buzz around literature that’s getting people to read more in whatever medium.”

The Bookmobile

Have you ever lived in an area where a bookmobile came around? I don’t know how popular those things are now, but they used to travel rural areas or to places that didn’t have easy access to libraries. Although it’s hard to believe nowadays, those bookmobiles were greeted like ice cream trucks. The books inside the bookmobiles brought travel to different lands and escape into other lives, with no calories. But you don’t hear about them much anymore.

At least not in the U.S. You do hear about them elsewhere.

In Ethiopia, there’s one that is hugely popular. It’s not a traveling bus filled with rows of books, though. It’s a cart on wheels pulled by two donkeys. When it comes into town, children run to it. The “librarian” lets the donkeys rest in the shade, parks the brightly painted wooden cart, lowers the sides to reveal the shelves of books, and the kids choose a book and sit in the shade to read.

In the homes of these children, there are rarely books. There’s not many at school either. The children look forward to greeting the donkeys and filling their minds with the words in the books.

When it’s mid-afternoon and time for the traveling bookshelves to move to the next destination, the children help put the books and the stools they have been sitting on back into the cart and harness the donkeys. The books are not the only teaching tool of the mobile library. The donkeys are as well. In Ethiopia, donkeys are generally despised and ill-treated. By using the donkeys to pull this precious cargo, the project tries to teach children to respect animals, even the lowly donkey.

The children are leaning many things through this Ethiopian Books for Children and Educational Foundation (EBCEF) project.

The staff say the children have made great strides in their learning and in their behaviour since getting regular access to books.

Most are from poor families; for them, even the modestly priced picture books published by EBCEF cost something like two days' wages.

Mezrasha Kibret, EBCEF’s project manager in this area, believes books are the key to everything.

"If we are interested in changing the world," he says, "then we have to read."

If you’d like to read the full story of this project, check out the article in the BBC News.

Guest Author: Joan Upton Hall

Author Joan Upton Hall is stopping by Straight From Hel today to talk about how she brands herself so readers will remember her and her books. Before I give the blog over to her, though, let me tell you a bit about Joan.

Here are the titles of two of her nonfiction books: Ghostly Tales from America's Jails and Just Visiting Old Texas Jails. Plus, she's contributed to Haunted Encounters. With all that ghostly and haunted work, you might think that makes Joan a scary person. Nah. And neither does the fact that she writes a futuristic suspense series featuring a reincarnated King Arthur. What makes her scary is that she's one of those diabolical freelance editors! Plus, she used to be an English teacher!

I know Joan will be open to questions about her work as an editor, author, writing instructor and speaker. She'll especially be ready to answer any questions about creating your "trademark" as an author, which is what she's blogging about today.

Welcome, Joan Upton Hall.

Use Columns and Articles to Spread Your Trademark

Making your name the proverbial household word to potential readers is no small feat, but it’s vitally important. Picture this scenario: In a bookstore, Ima Customer has narrowed her choices to three or four books. All factors are equal except that only one of the authors’ names has a familiar ring to her, even though she can’t recall whether that familiarity is positive or negative. Which one will she pick? Most likely, the “known” name. Let’s say it’s yours, and she enjoys the book. That means your name, as the author, will insert itself into her memory bank, and she’ll buy your next book too.

For that reason, it behooves us writers to think of our names as trademarks, worth remembering. In my case, the name, “Joan Hall,” like “Jane Doe,” is about as memorable as melted ice cream. Therefore, it behooves me to insert my maiden name, “ Upton,” as a hook to hang a reader’s attention on. My point is that your trademark will work better if it’s easy to remember.

Once selected, it helps to get that trademark before the public as often as possible—preferably in a positive way. Let’s face it, if you’re new, you need to search for ways to keep your name in the reader’s mind. Expecting readers to wait for your next book stretches the recognition factor considerably. In the meantime, what can you do to keep your name familiar?

One name-recognition strategy is to write columns and articles. Helen Ginger does it with this blog/newsletter, and almost everybody knows Helen. I do it by self-syndicating a monthly column, called “Demystifying Writers’ Demons,” to numerous writer newsletters. It’s free to editors for the asking (contact jmuHall@aol.com ), and it provides a helpful service to a large number of writers and readers. I have begun doing likewise with another column called “Ask the Book Doctor.” For each issue, I footnote pertinent biographical facts that give me credibility and give a link to my book page.

To gain recognition as a nonfiction writer and attract attention to my nonfiction books, I do a monthly travel column called “Tank of Gas and a Whim” for the Williamson County Sun. To reach a wider audience, I have also written magazine articles, blatantly pushing those nonfiction books in publications as diverse as Texas Highways and American Jails. Have you acquired some specialized knowledge while writing your book that you could use to write an article for a magazine?

While gathering research for your book, fiction or non, you are likely to discover special interest groups. Do any of them have newsletters or magazines to which you could contribute? Possibly there is a service or entertainment column you might write for your local paper or a special interest newsletter or magazine. (Don’t forget e-publications.) Such a column could keep your name before the public.

Another thing about special interest groups is that members are usually hungry for books on their particular subject. Having written a series about a modern day King Arthur, I have discovered the pleasure of conversing online with a group who read widely on the subject, both popular and scholarly. Not only do I learn a great deal, but they tune in on what I write and have chosen Book One of my series for one of their monthly selections. It will definitely be one of the simpler books they read, but think of the publicity this brings to my book.

Fiction books may present a whole different set of challenges. Mystery writer, David Ciambrone, has carried his character’s interest in quilting to a loyal following of like-minded groups. Similarly, many writers center a column or blog around food of their novel’s settings. Might you collect recipes relevant to your setting from reader fans?

An experience of my own, however, might save you some trouble. Having read Book One of my urban fantasy series Excalibur Regained, one book club, who always include dinner with their gatherings, suggested that by Book Two, I provide one recipe for the favorite food of each of my major characters. You can imagine how short that turned out to be. It was more time-consuming than I expected, but at least, I now have these mini-cookbooks to give to anyone who buys the two books that are now out for the series.

To promote my novels, I manage to work in references as examples in workshops, presentations, and the e-newsletter I edit called “PageTurners.” Unfortunately, I’m still looking for a column idea (sigh). Any suggestions?

Thank you Joan!

Be sure you check out Joan's website where she offers pictures, sample columns, sample novel chapters, discussion guides, and more (even a tee-shirt). Today, in the Comments Section here on Straight From Hel, you can suggest column ideas and ask questions. You can also tell us what you do to keep your name "out there." Joan and I will both be around all day.

Author Joan Upton Hall

Tomorrow, Joan Upton Hall, freelance editor, writing instructor and speaker will be the guest blogger on Straight From Hel. Joan is also an author, having penned books that range from historical nonfiction to urban fantasy and the paranormal. Her latest is The Shadow of Excalibur, the second in her futuristic suspense series.

Joan taught English for twenty-eight years and wrote a book called Rx for Your Writing Ills. Plus, she writes articles and short stories. Joan definitely keeps busy with her writing. She even coordinates a newsletter called PageTurners with eleven other authors.

You’ll probably want to read more about her at her website, including information about her books, PageTurners, and the services she offers. She also has a links page of interest to writers.

After you've looked around her site, be sure to come back tomorrow to read her post on how she gets her name out to the public, aka, readers. She'll tell you how you can spread your "trademark" as well. Be sure you stick around long enough to ask a question or leave a comment for Joan.

Copyrights Elsewhere

If, as an American, you’ve assumed that the publishing rules are the same all over the world as they are here, you’ll want to read an article in The Sydney Morning Herald called “Revoke the Rules and Help Book Pirates.”

It starts off by talking about the book industry in India:

It is a free-marketer's nirvana. India for books is what Thailand is for CDs - a land of piracy. For what you would pay for one Rushdie book in Australia, in India you could get his entire oeuvre.

Then goes into what it’s like in Australia.

We have a separate copyright territory. If a book is written, designed, edited and published by Australians - as is about $900 million worth of books sold in Australia annually - an overseas publisher cannot sell an edition of it here. If it is produced overseas, Australian publishers must publish it here within 30 days of its foreign release, or it can be "parallel-imported" to Australia. If it is out of stock, the publisher has 90 days to replenish it. This "use it or lose it" principle is commonly called the 30/90 rule.

Definitely an interesting article for those, like me, who know little about how it works in other countries. Malcolm Knox, the author of the piece, ends with:

Lifting the restriction on parallel importation would not send us immediately into a copyright free-fire zone like India. But there are plenty cautionary tales about unregulated markets right now and, unlike finance and banking, our cultural industries do not sprout again in a few years. Once second-hand, a culture remains second-hand for a long time. Ask the Indians.

I think most American authors would agree with me when I say, copyrights are important. And in this age of the Internet, copyrights are being challenged even here in the states.

Speed Reading the Bible

Recently, I was reading a blogger’s post about serialized books on the Internet. Some new writers and even well-known writers seem to be trying to put their books out to the public a chapter at a time. Now, the Kansas City Star comes out with an article that publishers are now putting God, bit by bit, out on the Internet or in print.

The article asks the question,

When do you ever find time for God?

Here are some of the answers:

The One-Minute Bible, Day by Day, whose brief readings promise to inspire your “daily walk with the Lord.”

Or check out 5 Minute Theologian: Maximum Truth in Minimum Time.

And let’s not forget Aunt Susie’s 10-Minute Bible Dinners: Bringing God Into Your Life One Dish at a Time.

The American style of worship, like everything else in overloaded lives, is speeding up. Call it God on the go.

This hurried search for the Almighty partly explains the rise of a niche industry of books, DVDs, podcasts, text messages and e-mail blasts that distill the essentials of faith.

If you need something in-between the 5 Minute Theologian and the 10-Minute Bible Dinners, there’s the 7 Minutes With God. And if your kids are as hurried as you, try The Kid Who Would Be King: One Minute Bible Stories About Kids.

Faith leaders are working to capitalize on that spiritual hunger, not just with convenience but with high production values — adding JumboTron screens, live music and other novelties to services.

President of the National Association of Evangelicals, Rev. Leith Anderson, says:

“My father used to say, ‘Going to church over the radio or television is like kissing your girlfriend over the telephone,’ Anderson said. “It’s a good thing to kiss your girlfriend over the telephone. But it’s a whole lot more fun in person.”

What do you think?

A Press Release that Works

Yesterday, I blogged about a press release that I felt missed the mark. So it seems only fair that I let you know about one that I feel did a good job. This press release also focused on a book: The Soul Influencer: The Power of One - Through the Voices of Many by Maria Woodrow.

The big difference between yesterday’s example and this one is that today’s PR actually talks about the book. It starts off with a link to purchase the book, then goes straight into the book’s Hook. The next three paragraphs expand on the Hook by enticing us with more information and uses some key words and phrases like: “challenges,” “packed with,” “go beyond the written word and directly to the Soul of the Voice,” and “inspiration.”

Then it closes with a paragraph about the author and where the book is available.

All of these words fit not only the book, but the publisher, Yorkshire Publishing Group, which, according to the info about the publisher, “strives to be one of the top Christian Book Publishers … in the world.”

Any of you out there have a press release you feel is great and you’d like to share? Email me and we’ll schedule a date for you to post it here and get comments.

BuzzWord: Green

Apparently “green” is the new buzzword in publishing. We’ve been talking here on Straight From Hel and elsewhere about ebooks becoming more acceptable and more popular as the younger generation who knows no world without computers grows up, as older people get used to the Internet and the Kindle and other e-readers, as the print publishers are hit hard by the sagging economy. All that aside, the buzz word, the word that apparently will sell e-books is…green.

A press release for Elizabeth Eagan-Cox’s cozy paranormal mystery series touts that the books are “green” and “environmentally friendly.” The majority of the press release is taken up by statistics like:

When it comes to the traditional paper-printed publishing industry, before the wood pulp is made into paper, 62.7% of the negative ecological footprint comes from getting the timber to the mill. Another 26.6% happens during the paper production at the paper mill. Another 8.2% comes from the landfill release of the methane gas from the paper-printed books that are not purchased. The energy used in transporting and storing printed books is another 12.7%.

Keep in mind, this is a press release. PR is meant to provide a new angle on a product that will attract buyers. And the angle of this PR release is “green.” Still, for me, it didn’t work. I came away knowing very little about the series except that it comes out in e-book before it appears in print. That sounds like a good press release for the publishers. But it doesn’t make me want to go buy the book.

When you release a promotional piece about your book, think about the message. What is your hook? I think it’s a good angle to remind people that e-books are environmentally friendly, but don’t forget to sell your book, as well.

Poetry Sales

Today on The Blood-Red Pencil I’m blogging about selling poetry. The Blood-Red Pencil is a co-op blog of editors. A new feature (I’m kicking it off with my post today) is called Ask the Editor. Readers can ask a question and one of the participating editors will answer.

Today’s question was sent in by Patricia Neely-Dorsey, author of a book of poetry called Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia - A Life in Poems. She asked three questions -- why is poetry a hard sell, why is it so difficult to get reviewers to review poetry and can poetry have a mass appeal?

I hope you’ll bounce over there and add your answers to mine. Give Patricia some ideas on selling her book and reaching the niche places where poetry readers hang out. If you know where she could send her book to get reviewed, help her out. If she decides to go on a virtual book tour, what blogs should she be looking at?

I’ll see you over there -- and here as well.

Self-Publishing

If you’re thinking of self-publishing, I recommend you read David Carnoy’s December article in CNET Reviews. In fact, copy it and save it for future reference. After he gave up on getting his manuscript published by a big publisher, he started researching self-publishing companies. He eventually decided on BookSurge, owned by Amazon.

He titled his article, “Self-Publishing a Book: 25 Things You Need to Know.” After talking about his journey of deciding on a publisher, he goes through the tips. He starts out with: “Self-publishing is easy,” but tip #6 is: “Creating a ‘professional’ book is really hard.”

He offers bad news (“Even if it’s great, there’s a good chance your book won’t sell.”) and good advice (“Niche books do best.”).

He gives suggestions about how to spend your money, like “Buy as little as possible from your publishing company” and “If you’re serious about your book, hire a book doctor and get it copy-edited.”

And he tells the truth: “Self-published books don’t get reviewed” and “Electronic books have potential, but they’re still in their infancy.”

All in all, an informative article from someone who has first hand knowledge and a platform to share.

Books in Braille

Bestselling author Ian Rankin is taking the lead in the UK to promote making more books available to the visually impaired.

According to a Guardian article,

Just 4% of books published in the UK currently make it into Braille, large print or audio formats, according to the Royal National Institute of Blind People…

According to David Mann, campaigns manager at the Royal National Institute of Blind People,

Because Braille exists and does give the potential for equal access, it is very alarming that even now, 200 years after it was invented, it is not routine for things to be available in Braille.

Since this is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Braille’s inventor, this is a timely campaign. It’s also a good idea, and I salute Rankin for launching this campaign, asking writers, publishers, and booksellers to make more books available to the visually impaired.

Read It or Run Screaming?

I was reading a book review in the New York Times yesterday. The more I read, the more I wondered, do I want to read this or do I want to run screaming away from any and all bookstores? Janet Maslin reviews Charlie Huston’s latest book called The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death.

I’ve not read anything of Huston’s. Apparently, he writes Pulp Noir and Stephen King adores his writing. Maslin calls his new venture into crime novels, “Smoking-hot.” And I have to admit, she makes the book sound enticing, in a weird, off the wall, sort of way. Here’s how she describes the three-sentence opening paragraph of The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death:

The first sentence sounds tough: “I fingered my knife and thought about sticking it in his ear.” The second introduces a note of reason: “But it was plastic and would probably break before it went deep enough to hit his brain.” And the third trumps the threat of violence with a bon mot about a witless adversary: “And beside, even if I jammed it in there, I was uncertain it would do any real damage.”

Okay, now that’s good. But keep reading the article. Here’s a couple of descriptive phrases from the article:

graphic nipple-piercing

With its fine points about how to remove brain residue from walls and rugs and a plot point about suicide by suppository-bomb on a waterbed

But she also says things like:

scorchingly good dialogue and banner-worthy chapter headings

delivers a book that anyone can admire

tart, quick-witted, sharply funny trip, hijacked only by certain conventional plot touches and brushes with sentimentality

Don’t know if I’ll buy the book, but I’ll definitely look at it the next time I’m at a bookstore.

The Premio Dardos Award

Straight From Hel has been honored with the Premio Dardos Award. Jane Kennedy Sutton and Holly Jahangiri nominated Straight From Hel -- Thank you both!

According to Jane, Premio Dardos means “prize darts” in Italian. She said it’s given for

recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing.

Holly went even further in her explanation, writing it out in both English and Italian. I don't speak Italian, although I do love lasagna, so I'm quoting her English translation:

The Prémio Dardos is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.

Wow! And in case you’re wondering, the tiny letters on the award say: "Best Blog Darts Thinker."

Here are the rules:
1) Accept the award by posting it on your blog along with the name of the person that has granted the award and a link to his/her blog.
2) Pass the award to another 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgement, remembering to contact each of them to let them know they have been selected for this award.

Here are the wonderful bloggers that I choose for the Premio Dardos Award:

Writers Plot - I’m counting this as 5 nominations since 5 authors post here and all their posts are wonderful: Lorraine Bartlett, Jeanne Munn Bracken, Sheila Connolly, Kate Flora, and Leann Sweeney

Ramsey’s News Corner - Gwyn Ramsey does a great mix of posts, from previews of her books to interviews to updates on her research to publishing news.

Lifescapes - Susan Albert’s beautiful blog is worth coming to again and again for her pictures, her writing news, and her wonderful tales of her life in Texas.

On the Edge of the Chair of Literature - Gayle Carline blogs about her book, Freezer Burn, as well as her life. Just seeing what she has on her “Read Books” shelf is worth a daily visit.

Women in Crime Ink - If you write mystery, suspense, or true crime, this is a blog you have to bookmark. The bloggers are true crime writers, prosecutors, mystery writers, police women, journalists and more. Talk about experts! Twenty of them, all in one place.

Count those up, and I’ve nominated 28 bloggers at five blogs. They’re all blogs I have bookmarked to check every day. I hope you will become a regular visitor to them as well. Let me know, if you do!

E-Book Winner

This past Thursday, John M. Wills guest blogged here on Straight From Hel. He talked about researching how to write novels and also about getting started on his book, Chicago Warriors, Midnight Battles in the Windy City. It was a really interesting post, followed by a great discussion in the Comments section. If you didn’t get a chance to read the post on Thursday, click here to go directly to it (be sure to check out the Comments, too).

As part of John’s appearance here on Staight From Hel, he offered to give away an e-copy of his book. Afterwards, he wrote:

I put the names of folks that commented on my post on "straightfromhel." I had my wife pick the names from a hat.

So, from both John and myself:
CONGRATULATIONS Morgan Mandel

Memoir Fakes

If you’re a writer of memoir, or a writer of any kind for that matter, you probably remember James Frey and A Million Little Pieces. His book was not totally fake, but definitely highly embellished. You probably remember that Oprah took a big hit for promoting the book and making it a bestseller, although she didn’t know he had fictionalized a lot of the story.

Now comes another fake memoir, once again promoted by Oprah. Actually, this book hasn’t been published yet (and now won’t be), although another author wrote a children’s book based on the story as told to Oprah by Herman and Roma Rosenblat. The Rosenblats supposedly met when he was in a concentration camp and she kept him alive by sneaking apples to him.

And once again, people are questioning Oprah Winfrey. The New York Times says:

Certainly, industry observers wondered how editors at Berkley and producers for Ms. Winfrey did not at least question the veracity of Mr. Rosenblat’s story, given some improbable details. In the book, he wrote not only that he reunited with his wife in New York years after she threw apples to him over the fence, but also that he had actually gone on a blind date with her in Israel a few years earlier but did not recognize her when he met her again.

“You’d think somebody would say, ‘Hmm, that’s amazing, let’s just spend an hour or a day seeing how plausible that is,’ ” said Kurt Andersen, the novelist and host of the public radio program “Studio 360.”

I think it’s a bit unfair to blame Oprah. First off, Rosenblat wasn’t writing a book when he first appeared on the show, so she wasn’t having him on to promote a book for her club. And secondly, is it the responsibility of media personality to vet each author? Is it her fault that he lied? Is it her fault a publisher signed a book deal with him?

I think the blame should be laid on the perpetrator. In this case, the author. He didn’t just make a mistake in his research. That can happen to any author. He lied. He made up a huge part of his story and only owned up to it when he was caught.

According to the Boston Herald,

Rosenblat maintains that his descriptions of people and events inside the Buchenwald camp in Germany are true. But he now concedes he made up the romantic tale about his future wife sneaking him apples at the fence of the camp. He came clean only after several Holocaust scholars, writing in blogs and in an article in The New Republic, pointed out that it would have been impossible for such a meeting at a fence because of the camp’s layout.

The Rosenblats are now taking a lot of heat for what was done. The book has been cancelled. But others, including Oprah, are also taking the heat. Even the author and the publisher of the children’s book are being hurt. The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune notes:

The Minneapolis-based Lerner Publishing Group released a children's picture book, "Angel Girl," about the Rosenblats this September through its Carolrhoda Books imprint. About 15,000 of 18,000 copies were sold, said Harry Lerner, founder and chairman of the board. Marketed as a true story, "Angel Girl'' was written by Laurie Friedman, who based it on interviews with the Rosenblats and who reviewed the manuscript with them.

According to the Boston Globe, the publisher has offered a refund to buyers.

The fallout continues from Herman Rosenblat's discredited Holocaust story. Laurie Friedman's "Angel Girl," a children's book inspired by Rosenblat, was pulled yesterday by the Lerner Publishing Group. Lerner Publishing is offering refunds for returned copies of the book.

It isn’t like Herman Rosenblat could have been easily found out as a liar. He had credentials. He was a Holocaust survivor. He had been speaking publicly about his experiences for many years. He had the credentials.

What do you think? How much responsibility and blame should Oprah have? How about the publisher? And the children’s author who wrote a book based on what Rosenblat told her? And what about the readers who buy, read and believe books such as Frey’s A Million Little Pieces? Do we have a responsibility to question memoirs and nonfiction?

Resolutions

It’s the start of a brand new year. I say, Yea! 2008 was a pretty good year for me, writing wise, but not so good for the nation as a whole. So, I say, Do Overs! Or, actually, New Resolutions!

Do you do resolutions? If you do, do you tell yours?

Each year, I come up with resolutions, but I don’t tell others. Perhaps not a good idea, since I’m not held accountable. But if others knew my resolutions, I wouldn’t make them so hard. I’d make them easy to achieve.

I try to make resolutions in different areas of my life, like health, writing, editing, family, etc. I don’t always achieve them. I think the problem isn’t that I don’t tell others, but that I don’t make my resolutions specific enough. I tend to do vague resolutions, like, finish writing a book. I also need to make them time specific. Not just some time this year, I’ll finish a book -- but by such and such a date, I’ll have the outline completed for the book, and by such date, I’ll have the first 10,000 words written, etc.

How about you? Do you always accomplish all your resolutions each year? If not, what do you plan to do differently this year? Do you do one resolution each year, or multiple ones? Are you vague, like lose weight? Or are you specific, like attend 3 writing workshops or conferences before November 2009? Do you post your resolutions somewhere so you see them every day? Do you track your progress on achieving each goal? Each year, have you forgotten your resolutions by mid-January?

What kind of a resolution maker and keeper are you?

Guest Author: John M. Wills

Author John M. Wills is stopping by Straight From Hel today to talk about how he wrote his suspense novel, Chicago Warriors, Midnight Battles in the Windy City. Before I give the blog over to him, though, let me tell you a bit about John.

John Wills is certainly qualified to write the character Pete Shannon, a Chicago police officer, since John was a Chicago police officer for 12 years and received numerous awards and commendations. After that position, he became an FBI Agent, a career he retired from after 21 years. John has been published in Police & Security News, Vegas Beat, The Rap Sheet, Law Enforcement Technology, and New American Truth, but this is his first novel.

I know John will be open to questions about his work in the police force or as an FBI Agent, but he’ll especially be able to answer questions about his book and how he set about writing it, which is what he’s going to talk about today.

Welcome, John M. Wills.

I first found “Straight From Hel” last year while scouring the internet for advice on how to write a novel. I came across Helen’s blog and found it, as well as all of its many links, to be informative and helpful. I had been writing professionally for several years, mainly articles for law enforcement websites and magazines, but the urge to write my first novel finally became so strong that I could no longer ignore it. Until then I had shrugged it off, thinking that I was not prepared for such a daunting task. I had not had any formal instruction, nor had I researched how to write a book. But the desire to finally tell the story that had been rattling around in my head finally won out.

Where to begin? I had no clue. I was spending a lot of time on the road with my job which gave me time to read. Being a logical thinker, I went to a bookstore to buy a “How-To” tome that would show me the footsteps that I should follow. Of course when I got there and looked at an entire section of books devoted specifically to “writing your first novel,” I was back at square one—too much information. I did some research on the internet. Have you ever Googled “how to write a book?” I found that there were hundreds of titles that purported to explain the process. I finally decided on reading a sampling of a few internet summaries, and then purchased The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing a Novel.

I poured over chapters in “The Guide” that explained abstract ideas such as having the right temperament, creativity, plot engines and developments, characters and settings…I now was more confused than ever. I almost decided to postpone writing my novel until sometime later—except that I had already done that. I finally made a command decision: Just sit down and start writing!

And so that’s what I did. I had no outline, no written plot or characters, but what I did have was a story in mind that I believed people would enjoy reading, and more important, one that I was anxious to write. And so I began…writing…chapter after chapter. Learning as I went along—developing characters, multiple plots, tying and connecting people and places. It was a marvelous experience. I found myself getting so involved with my characters that they became real to me. I agonized over needing to kill one off, feeling guilty about it and trying to think of a way not to kill him. My wife thought that I was crazy, “John, it’s only a book. Get a grip!”

I continued with the process, getting deeper and deeper into wordsmithing like never before. When did I write? Just about every day, but it had to be something that contributed to the story, not just writing for the sake of writing. The time of day was really unimportant; I wrote when I had the time, be it day or night. I wrote at home, in airports and hotel rooms. I even wrote aboard cramped airplanes enroute to jobs. It didn’t matter the time or place. All that mattered was the story. When I was finished with the book I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment, but also sorrow—it was now over.

I discovered that my anxiety about writing my first novel was due in large measure to fretting about the mechanics. What’s the process, how does one begin? Once I convinced myself that the best way to write anything is to simply start putting the words on paper, I was fine. And as the chapters increased in number, so also did my comfort level. When I approached writing as an enjoyable endeavor, rather than a task that needed to be done, the words flowed.

This post may help someone in their quest to write their own novel—I hope that it does. And even though I have completed my first book and have had it published, Chicago Warriors Midnight Battles in the Windy City, I do not consider myself qualified to give advice on the subject. But here’s what I do know… There are thousands of “How To” books written on this topic, and there are countless numbers of people that have written books. Did they all follow the same formula? I think not, and so I’ve decided that the best way to write a novel is to just start writing!

Thank you John!

John will be available today to answer questions, so feel free to join him in the Comments section. Also, he’s going to give away a free e-book of Chicago Warriors, Midnight Battles in the Windy City. All you have to do is leave a comment and you’re entered in the drawing!