I hope you’ll enjoy today’s visit from writer, J. Lenni Dorner. Today’s blog will be more of a question and answer session, and will of course include links so you can check out the anthology where you can read the short story, EGOT and the Pond King.

Bio:

J Lenni Dorner began publishing under pseudonyms at age eight, and won several awards before turning eighteen. Education includes the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Excellence in Creative Writing semi finals and Penn State University’s Honors and Scholars program. While embracing the ancient tribal traditions, J Lenni Dorner discovered a story originated by The Grandfathers. J is happily married and living in Pennsylvania (USA) on the original lands of the Lenni Lenape people. When not reading or writing, J enjoys video games (such as The Sims and Civilization), funny cat videos, finding new drawings of dragons on Pinterest, and watching movies. Look for a short story titled “EGOT and the Pond King” by J Lenni Dorner in the anthology “Wrong!” (Southern Star Publications, December 2014).

I weave fantasy with lore to unhinge your mind.

I write fantasy because I love creating new worlds and unusual species. The natural style of my writing flows toward a dark side, and I have a love of throwing in that which borders on possible just enough to make the mind itch. I love itchy minds! I was working on an urban fantasy for a while, but that’s in the edit stage now. (Sometimes a story must sit and brew before it can spread wings and fly off the page.) So my focus has returned to high fantasy- a story with knights, castles, dragons, elves and such, though they push the boundaries of your expectations. I intend for it to become a series. The later books will also fall into the category of portal fantasy, as a few from our fictional-future world will appear on my fantasy world. One character will have a strong impact on the storyline. It’s all very exciting.

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.

I weave fantasy with lore to unhinge your mind. I’ve written a few books that remain unpublished (querying, editing, totally rewriting). I’ve published short stories and poetry under several other names. WRONG!: A themed anthology 2014 includes my short story, EGOT and the Pond King.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?

For NaNoWriMo 2014, I’ll be working on The Dagger in the Darkrise, which is a high fantasy novel. It was inspired by a gaming community my friends and I began taking part in fifteen years ago.

The anthology, Wrong!, features the winners of a writing contest. We were to use the lines, “I have a list and a map. What could possibly go wrong?,” in the story. Entries had to be under 2,000 words. I was also inspired by a humorous image on Pinterest. Combining the required lines and that image, I wrote EGOT and the Pond King.

What do you think about the future of book publishing?

I think it’s going to be really interesting. There’s a big flood right now from the indie section. Some of it is great, some of it is good, and some of it is in desperate need of editors. The larger presses are going to need to adapt to this new love of authors who don’t need them. Those who can change, who can offer something amazing to writers and readers alike, will survive. Any who can’t adapt will vanish in the next decade, tossed onto the pile with Enron, MySpace, and Pontiac vehicles.

My most recent publication is the short story titled EGOT and the Pond King in the anthology Wrong! (Southern Star Publications, December 2014). I was inspired by two different writing prompts. The first was a requirement to enter the contest- the phrase “I have a list and a map. What could possibly go wrong?” had to appear. The second prompt was a bit of humor about names and American entertainment awards- it lends to a joke inside the story. (EGOT is an acronym for “Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony.” A distinction officially held by twelve people.)

I also spent my NaNoWriMo November working a fantasy book entitled The Dagger in the Darkrise. I was inspired over a decade ago by an image of a woman with a sword. The story is finally coming together properly after all this time. I’m not sure it would have made it before, as the cast is diverse (though sometimes that isn’t as heavy a factor in the fantasy genre). Timing is a big factor in the publishing industry.

EXCERPT

     “Well, to be honest, the first thing I said was that I never thought anyone would propose marriage thanks to a pack of sugar and a cardboard flag.”

     I laugh as I bend my wrist to flick the stone into the water.

     “Oh, dear. Here, you can eat the rest of mine,” Grammy says, stopping my hand just before I take a bite of stone. The rest of my sandwich lingers on the pond, waiting for the king to enjoy my mistake.

     “He should at least let me see his trident!”

    “Who?”

     “The Pond King. Our map led us here. What does the list say? Does it mention how to wake him up?”

LINKS!

http://jlennidornerblog.what-are-they.com/

https://www.facebook.com/WhatAreThey

https://plus.google.com/108415977739939832844

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/j-lenni-dorner/43/442/485

http://about.me/JLenniDorner

http://www.amazon.com/author/jlennidorner

It’s great having JoElle stop by today to share a bit about herself and her writing. She’s practically a neighbor, up there in Nevada, with me lurking her in Arizona.

ABOUT JOELLE –

JoElle was born in the Pacific Northwest. When she was a young girl, she moved with her family to Guadalajara, Mexico. She has since lived in South Texas,Central Texas, the Bay Area of California, and now her home is in Northern Nevada.

Today she spends most of her time wandering the scenic highways of America with her husband and creating new worlds and characters for her novels.

JoElle comes from a large family. With two older brothers and three younger sisters, she enjoyed the middle spot while growing up. (She was the official tattletale – a title none of her siblings ever let her forget). Though she loved playing outside as a child, she was also a bookworm.

Married shortly after graduating high school, she and her husband have been happily married over 30 years. (Which is a big reason JoElle firmly believes in happily ever afters!)

When they are home, JoElle and her husband enjoy visiting their son, daughter in law, and four grandchildren.

Ever since she was a little girl, and wrote her first multi-page story in fourth grade, JoElle knew she wanted to be a writer. She competed in Journalism in high school, winning several awards in feature writing. JoElle writes both fiction and non-fiction. In addition to her novels, she has written a number of feature stories of community interest for local newspapers on subjects such as volunteering, guide dogs, homeschooling, and the Explorer program. She served as a regional editor for a homeschooling newsletter and has had a number of short stories and articles published in print magazines and e-zines.

INTERVIEW WITH JOELLE –

Q – Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.

A – I am convinced I was a male elf in a previous life. I always find myself strongly connected to the male protagonist of my stories. Three of my novels were published, but they were released as four books because my first novel was rather long for YA. I’ve just finished my first Fantasy Romance. It is sort of a Harlequin Fairy Tale. I also have three other WIPs.

Q – What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?What are you working on now?

A – I have just finished writing Julianne’s Wish. It is about finding your true soulmate. The story sort of just popped into my head after I read Plato’s explanation of soul mates in his Symposium.

After I get Julianne’s Wish submitted, I plan to finish Chloe’s Promise. They are both Fantasy Romances. Adult modern day fairy tales. I always work on two or three novels at a time because stories come to me and I start on them while the ideas are fresh. I then set them aside to finish whatever I have going.

Q – What authors or books have influenced you?

A – Every fairy tale and romance I’ve ever read: The Snow Queen, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Peter Pan, Snow White & Rose Red, Rapunzel, etc.

Q – What is the best advice you have ever heard?

A – Be thick skinned and open minded about constructive criticism.

Q – What’s next for you as a writer?

A – Besides writing novels, I also write non-fiction articles on subjects ranging from health and fitness to community concerns. I’ve had these published in newspapers and trade magazines. I’d like to make the time to write more non-fiction. I’ve kind of neglected this side of me lately.

Q – Do you listen to or talk to your characters? How do you interact with your characters while you are writing?

A – Of course. All the time. Very often I become my characters, as I write scenes involving them.

I feel their emotions as I describe them. They laugh, I laugh. They cry, I cry. I talk back and forth in their dialogues. It is almost like I am all the actors in a play, acting out the scenes as the play is being written.

Q – What do you think about the future of book publishing?

A – I spend a lot of time driving, so I am a fan of audio books. However, even though I have kindle on my tablet, I have yet to read a kindle book. I like to turn pages. I like hunting for books on bookstore shelves. And I know I am not alone in this. Computers are changing our lives, but I don’t know that physical books will entirely disappear. Even though we have iTunes, people still play instruments and go to live concerts. Even though electronic keyboards exist, people still play pianos. Even though movies can be downloaded and bought on DVD, people still go to the theater to watch them, people still watch stage performances. I think humans have a need to physical contact with the arts, including physically holding a book.

NOVEL BLURBS –    

A Bridge in the Forest

Lily Kingman was always a little strange. On her eighteenth birthday she finds out why. Lily discovers a secret gate at the bottom of a river that takes her to FeyTerrah, a fantastic world of enchantment and danger. While there, she encounters Dreamer, the captivating elf she is destined to marry. Shortly thereafter, Lily undergoes a transformation that reveals her true nature. Escorted by a small group of elves and a fairy, Lily is taken to the land of her ancestors were she meets the fairy king. His Majesty believes Lily may just be the key to finding his missing daughter. So he sends Lily, with her escorts, back to Otherworld–the domain of the humans–to find the princess. Eventually Lily is forced to make a difficult decision. She must choose a world. Will she return to the beautiful yet strange land of her ancestors or stay among humans, even though she fears they will no longer accept her? This is the first book in the Dreamer’s Forest.

Part two – A Secret in the Forest

When Lily and her companions arrive in Otherworld, the dwelling place of the human race, Lily confronts Mrs. Rose Beth and learns the story about her connection to FeyTerrah and the startling truth about her father and his family. Lily soon discovers that there are other fey descendants living among the humans, and she and her companions make important discoveries about the history between the two worlds. But when Lily and her friends are threatened by one of her former schoolmates, they realize just how significant the connection between FeyTerrah and Otherworld is and Lily has to accept that her comfortable life has changed forever. Though she knows she belongs in FeyTerrah and at Dreamer’s side, she also feels an obligation to her family and the fey living in the human world. How can she keep her promises to Dreamer without ignoring her other duties? Lily is forced to make a difficult decision.

A Secret in the Forest

“It is not wise to make war with the unknown,” Dreamer forewarns the antagonistic human, Victor. Still, the young man remains determined to discover the secret Lily Kingman and her strange new friends are keeping; and he is gaining dangerous knowledge. Meanwhile Dreamer is experiencing a transformation that will give him extraordinary powers that, even among the elf race, are rare. When Lily and Dreamer disappear without a trace, all the evidence points to Victor. How can the Kingmans call on local authorities for help without revealing their daughter and her fiancé’s secrets? Is this the start of a war between the human domain of Otherworld and FeyTerrah?

Moonlight in the Forest

When Dreamer, Lily, and Sir Elo return to King Solren, they bring along a large entourage of fey descendants from Otherworld as well as information that will decide the future between the two worlds. The king decides to hold a council meeting and commissions Dreamer and Lily to invite the other kings and representatives of the dragon race to the event. During their journey Lily learns the entire history of magical Ninatlee necklaces. During the council meeting the dragons reveal a startling secret about the Riverlord family. It is also discovered that Lily may possess astonishing powers that could break the mysterious spell on the necklaces. But at what cost?

 JoElle’s Links

www.joellemartin.com
www.goodreads.com/JoElle_Martin
www.facebook.com/DreamersForest

JoElle’s Amazon Author Page

Today we kick of the first of several days of visiting authors. Maeve La Fay starts things off for us with some personal insights, art and a look into her world.

Stories are how people communicate lessons, feeling and desires. I have learned that even the most fantastic of stories express something fundamental about that author’s thoughts or feelings on any given topic. I have always had a passion for strong, stories that told of far away lands and times and began creating my own at an early age.
Hailing from Nova Scotia, Canada, I am twenty-four-years-old and have been writing for at least sixteen of those years, and telling stories much longer. Growing up I always loved reading or hearing old ghost stories and faerie stories. This very soon developed into a love of speculative fiction and several cultures mythologies. My pen name was born of one of two of these great loves, Mebd the great Irish queen of myth and Morgan La Fey from Arthurian legend. Stephen King and J.K Rowling were staples of my middle and high school years allowing me to branch out into the wonderful world of speculative fiction and folklore.
I am currently studying psychology for my undergrad at university and am writing a novel of the fantasy genre along with several short stories. The Otter King is my first of what will hopefully be many publications in the future.

Tree of Nine Worlds is an in progress  fantasy novel series. I am currently working on the first two novels. The Tree of Nine Worlds series is a multi-perspective Celtic and Norse fusion fantasy taking place in an original world. The tale begins with an unlikely group of characters coming together in the home country of Princess Saoirse and staying at the castle as the group discovers a horrible plot from an unknown dark force to destroy the world and rebuild it in his image. It is also discovered that there may still yet be hope, for if a fairy woman of the lost city of Crannllwynn still lives, and if they can find the Lochbhan they maybe able to save the world from the darkness taking over. Saoirse, Percy, and Aisling take off with Doug to find the city of legend in what is now a war torn land as several kingdoms fight for control both against each other and against themselves.

Excerpt: Tree of Nine Worlds:Quest for the Lochbhan

Everyone knew what a bride to be singing that song meant. This was the entire reason for betrothal ceremonies before they became an excuse to feast for the sake of feasting.

“Saoirse!” King Agnew cried angrily down at his daughter . “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Saoirse inhaled deeply and spoke as she had rehearsed it in the mirror before coming down to the hall. “I am invoking the Bridequest, as is my right by Highland Law!”

Everyone around her let out a gasp, and nobles from both highland kingdoms stared at her, wide eyed or simply squinting in anger. King Ferghus stared at her the most intently, his fair skin reddening by the minute. She knew better than to hope the Sluadaighish king would not be slighted.

“Ach! Ye cannae do this to me lad!” Ferghus announced angrily waving a large square index finger in her face. “King Agnew, your daughter can’t resurrect this archaic ritual.”

“You have to renounce the Bridequest, Saoirse,” Agnew pleaded. “No one has invoked a Bridequest in over eighty years. The match has already been made, this isn’t fair to any of the parties involved.”

Except perhaps me, Saoirse thought bitterly, but said. “It is my right by ancient highland law to name a quest for any suitor who wishes to strike a match, to prove he is a good enough match, and ensure that our sons will be strong. There was once a time that any noble man who wished to marry had no choice but to complete a quest chosen by she who was promised to him.”

“Aye,” Agnew conceded. “T’was a strong tradition, but, Saoirse, but these are dire times and we have to keep making noble matches before more houses die out.”

“Your king father’s right, your highness,” Doug stated without expression. “As my father’s only son, it is important for me to continue the line. A quest could kill me, and thus end it.”

“The bridegroom has the right to refuse the request,” spoke Queen Adelaide, Saoirse knew not to be surprised with her stepmother. “But in refusing the Bridequest, he is also refusing the right to his bride.”

“Adelaide!” Agnew choked, his hazel eyes staring widening.

“I am sorry, your grace? Is it that you want your daughter to wed a man who could not prove his worth?”

“Your grace?” asked Gawaine in amazement. “Our alliance with Sluaghdaigh—“

“Does not depend on my step-daughter’s hand in marriage,” Adelaide stood with her arms open and spoke loudly. “We are one land split into four kingdoms and we are naturally allies against those who would see us harm in this growing world. The princess’s hand in marriage is an act of friendship between two allies, no more, no less!”

“Name your quest, Princess Saoirse of Daoinebhaile and I shall fulfil it.”

Saoirse stared blankly in amazement. She didn’t expect him to accept the quest. She couldn’t remember what she had wished him to do for a second. Disbelief clouded her memory and caught her breath while her heart thudded loudly in her chest. She now remembered what it was she had wanted him to do. Never did she imagine he would accept her quest, but she would happily marry him on the morrow if he gave her the means to do this.

“I want you to help me find the sacred city of Crannllwynn and grant me an audience with the Lochbhan.”

Visit Maeve’s Web Site

I had the opportunity recently to create the cover for Chris Kennedy’s latest book, Can’t Look Back. Remember all those ramblings I made about how to run a book cover contest? Well, Chris is the perfect example of how to do it right. His design brief specifically laid out what he needed in terms of cover styles (ebook, print, audo book) and sizes. He provided a sample of his story so the designers could get an idea of what the personality of the story was like, and he provided excellent character descriptions along with some images to help better illustrate what he was going for in terms of style and character appearance. He had an idea of what he wanted on the cover, but knew that too many characters would spoil the impact, so he provided a breakdown of a story scene describing what each important character was doing. It made it easy to focus on a character that sparked my imagination.

He communicated. This is so important. He let me know what he liked and what he would like changed. He answered questions and kept me updated. This continued after the contest completed. I can’t say enough good things about working with Chris.

Now that the holiday break is here, I’m hoping to check out the inside of the book as well. Chris is better known for his military science fiction, so fantasy is a bit of a new venture for him.

Here is the blurb from the book:

Falsely accused of a crime, John Gatsby follows the real perpetrator through a mirror in an effort to clear his name. A stranger in a strange land, John arrives to find himself in a world at war, and he is immediately drawn into a quest that will save the world…or extinguish everything good in it forever.

Unable to find the mirror that brought him to the new world, John has no option but to risk his life and join the forces of good in their conflict. John can only hope for a brighter future; there’s no looking back.

You can learn more about it and Chris’ other books at Amazon.

Everyone likes getting reviews, especially when they’re nice ones. I tell people they’re the life blood of new authors, but even old pros wait anxiously to see how people react to their latest work.  I’m very grateful to everyone who has taken the time to not only read my book, but to post on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Thank you!

So where does Beverly Franklin come in? Well yesterday I happened to notice the review count had gone up one on my book. I anxiously scrolled down to see what the reviewer thought. Let’s just say I was at a loss for words. I’ll let you read the review yourself:

Well I just spent a whole Thanksgiving day with a bunch of elves. It was awesome but glad I was eating leftover pasta salad instead of turkey while reading the very descriptive battle scenes. Now if you think elves only go around baking cookies and whipping arrows at butt ugly ogres in cheap jewelry you are in for a big surprise. These elves have powers. They can mess around inside your head psi something and teleport without paying outrageous gasoline prices and actually heal themselves without a budget busting insurance policy that most doctors won’t take anyway. Now I thought there were no worse demons than my two little great nieces but like the book says if you think things can’t get any worse you lack imagination. I’m now naming my house the Abyss Auxillary. And the sound effects were amazing. Oh wait that was my niece’s cat in heat while I was trying to read. But no problem, she sneaked out the door when I took out the garbage. The sound effects got more intense but then stopped as I continued reading. I couldn’t put the book down except for snacks and bathroom breaks. And I don’t even mind the elf smoking cigarettes as he doesn’t stink up my car with them. But until they take their first bath after years in the abyss you sure don’t want to give that elf a ride unless you’ve been eating chili and can give him some stiff competition. I had a fun day. Of course tomorrow won’t be since I neglected the laundry, the dishes and the cat litter box so I could read the book.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more entertained reading a review. Fortunately, I was able to gain permission from Ms. Franklin to post her review here so a few more folks might get to enjoy her wonderful flair for expressing herself. Thank you, Beverly Franklin, you brightened my day.

It occurred to me that my first book, Exile’s Redemption owed a good 50,000 words to my participation in a NaNoWriMo a couple of years back. Granted, those rough scrawls had to go through several rewrites in order to make them presentable, but the story and characters didn’t morph into something entirely different – the spirit of that first draft remains.

So, in light of that, I have decided to do a mini celebration by putting my book up for sale via Amazon’s Countdown feature. For the next few days (4 days and 14 hours as I write this) the Kindle edition is on sale for $2.99. I realize that just about anyone visiting this site has probably already picked up and read my book (thank you!), but if you happen to know someone who might wish to take advantage of a 41% off sale, please point them in the right direction: Exile’s Redemption Countdown Sale

Wow, I thought I’d covered just about everything in my two-part blog on running cover contests. I was wrong. Since then two more items have come to my attention – very important items: copyright and 1-on-1’s.

Copyright: When you buy the rights to use someone’s design for your book cover, that is all you are entitled to do: use that specific image for your cover and promotions. It does not give you the right to distribute the title/logo that artist created for you to other artists for the purpose of designing new covers for the series. Seriously, this is a huge no-no. If you think the title/logo they created for you is distinctive enough that you wish to use it as-is, then set up a 1-on-1 with that artist and arrange to purchase the logo as a separate element.

Which brings us to …

1-on-1s: A 1-on-1 is when you set up negotiations with an individual artist for a design. After a successful cover competition, 99Designs will even notify you that you should consider working with the same author in the future using their 1-on-1 option. I won a contest recently, and the author said up front he was interested in working with me in the future so that his three-book series would have a cohesive look to it. He also said he might be interested in having me redo some older covers of his from a previous series. Awesome! Also, very smart on his part. Why? Let us explore the benefits.

• As already stated, you gain a consistent look to your series. For example, pop over to Amazon and take a look at the cover for Susan Kaye Quinn’s Third Daughter It’s the first in a series and sports an eye-catching cover promising steampunk and a setting in India. There are additional books in the series and they all utilize the same artist, using the same style. You see one of those books and you will not mistake it for anything else.
• You’ve worked with this artist before so you know they’re reliable and you know what to expect out of them. You’ve developed (hopefully) a friendly working relationship. Maybe you’ve even connected on Facebook or other social media. It just makes setting up a business arrangement easier if you deal with the same people.
• Since there isn’t a competition going on, you can communicate directly with the artist and shoot ideas off of one another. You even have the option of sending excerpts or even a full manuscript to the artist to help them along. When it comes down to it, it’s all about good communication.
• Saves you time. The contests go on for a certain period of time and even if you’ve spied the cover of your dreams, your obligated to let the entire thing play out. If you’re working directly with one artist, the minute the both of you agree on a design, you’re good.
• Saves you money. If you start a contest with a $200 prize, you’ll pay 99Designs $100 on top of that. If you do a 1-on-1 with an artist, they take a much smaller fee. A $200 payment to the author will cost you only $15 in handling fees through 99Designs, saving you $85 – woot!

Okay, I think that covers it—again. At least until next time. P

The frantic, insomnia inducing event of the year is nearly upon. No, I don’t refer to Black Friday. I mean, of course, NaNoWriMo. It’s sort of a combination of the Running of the Bulls and a fever dream. It seemed like a good idea when the notion initially entered our heads, but after the first week or two the sheer folly of our decision weighs heavy upon us. And like the fever dream it seems to never end. My father once told me you can put up with anything for six months. He obviously never sat down to partake in the NaNoWriMo. Fifty thousand words a month stretched out over a period of six months would kill many a hardened soul. A mere thirty days leaves a good many drooling, twitching victims collapsed at their laptops.

I’ve participated in the NaNoWriMo three times now, and succeeded only once. Most of the time it just grows to be too much. School or work or the simple need for food and sleep get in the way. Once a few days are missed and the need to catch up hangs heavy over my head, I often collapse under the pressure. Will that happen this year? In all probability, yes. But that won’t stop me from giving it a go. I succeeded once and from that success sprang my first book. Regardless, it’s good to challenge myself, and despite the insanity of the entire ordeal, a sense of community has sprung up around the event, making it a quest of sorts, shared by other souls anxious to leave their mark.

I don’t have vast amounts of writing wisdom to bestow upon you. For that seek the knowledge of folks like Chuck Wendig or Brandon Sanderson. I’m just here to give you a thumbs up on your decision to give the whole NaNoWriMo thing a try. Even if you don’t reach the magical fifty thousand words by the end of November, you’ll have learn something. Most of what you write will make you cringe when you go back to reread it, but you may find a few glistening dew drop gems lurking in there too. Characters you thought you knew might surprise you. This isn’t the characters running off and having a life of their own, it’s a sign of your subconscious knitting the details of the story together and responding to the changes. You’re learning more about how certain personalities will react in a given situation.

So, I’ll leave you with what little I do know in terms of succeeding in your insane quest for greatness:

• If you can escape to a private room away from other humans and pets, do so. I have five cats and they rotate between who is climbing on my computer, clawing my leg or yelling for attention.
• Get some sleep. The more tired you are, the more muddled your thoughts, and the greater your frustration levels.
• Back off the starchy carbs and stay hydrated. I won’t preach for or against caffeine, despite the fact that it acts as a diuretic. I don’t drink coffee, but I consume enough diet soda to personally keep Coke in business. Just try to add some water in there once in a while. It does wonders for clearing your head.
• Don’t go back and read and reread what you hammered out the previous days. This isn’t about quality. It’s about quantity. After you’ve recovered you can go back through the whole mess and start your cleanup job. Save that for December, January or even February. After thirty straight days of continuous writing, you deserve a break. You need to get away from your work and come back fresh.

That’s it, just simple stuff, really. So pop over to NaNoWriMo central and set up an account. Make a few friends and challenge existing friends so you can help each other get through the grueling days ahead of you. And have some fun along the way. If we’re not having fun torturing ourselves, why are we here?

No, I haven’t gone mad and put out a how-to book on self-publishing. How riotous would that be?

No, Catherine Ryan Howard is the author and she’s been at this longer than me. She is just now putting out the third edition of her book, and it’s fully updated and full of advice for folks like me – and possibly you!

Here is some more information concerning Ms. Howard and her new release:

*****

Catherine Ryan Howard is a writer, self-publisher and caffeine enthusiast from Cork, Ireland. SELF-PRINTED: THE SANE PERSON’S GUIDE TO SELF-PUBLISHING (3rd edition) is out now in paperback and e-book and available from Amazon. Follow the #selfprintedsplash on Twitter today (Friday 24th) and/or visit www.catherineryanhoward.com for chance to win an amazing prize that will get your self-publishing adventure started!

“SELF-PRINTED is my self-publishing bible. It taught me how to format, create and upload my e-books and print-on-demand paperbacks. It showed me practical things such as how to build a website/blog and how to promote my books. More importantly, it taught me how to compete with the professionals. Just look at the results – The Estate Series has sold nearly 100,000 copies and following that I got a traditional book deal with Thomas & Mercer too, so I’m now a hybrid author. Jam-packed full of hints and tips all in one place, I’m always referring back to it. In a word, it’s priceless.” – Mel Sherratt, author of The Estate Series and DS Allie Shenton Series  

 Well, Lee, first I have to give you some bad news. You’ve kind of given me a lot of clues in the wording of your sentence (“completely inept”, “didn’t think about how to market myself”, “the ONE thing”) that you’re perhaps looking for the easy way out…? Is that a fair observation? I mean, there’s free information all over the internet – including on my blog – about how to help sell copies of your book. But you want to know the “ONE” thing you could do. The bad news is, one thing isn’t enough. You have to do as much as you can. And while you say you’re “completely inept” it really isn’t that difficult to figure out how to post a tweet – I promise! The thought of using social media is actually a lot worse than actually doing it. 😀

I think what happens is that people get intimidated by all this silly talk of SEO and social media and why 5:03 GMT is the best time to tweet. FORGET ALL THAT CRAP (I say). Social media = word of mouth. That’s all it is. But if you’ve self-published, you simply will have to embrace it in order to do well. There’s no other way. I can’t think of one anyway. If you publish (sell) a product online, you must be prepared to promote it online. Them’s the rules.

Another thing I would say is that it’s not your job to help people to find your book. Your job is to make them want to buy your book, to be interested in. To make them say to themselves, “I MUST read that!” Keep that in mind. It’s an important difference.

 

So while I can’t really answer your question – because nothing in isolation works by itself – what I would recommend you do is:

 

1. Take a step back. Consider that you have to either embrace social media, or give up on your self-publishing goals.

 

2. Spend some time online seeing what other self-publishers are up to. What do they do? How do they use Twitter? What do they blog about? Have they had any great promotion ideas? Read some guides. Maybe watch some YouTube videos. Find out as much as you can about other writers use social media to sell their books. 

 

3. Use what you learned in #2 to make a promotional plan for you and your book. Give yourself enough time to get comfortable with Twitter etc. and spread your plan out over 3 months.

 

4. Re-launch your book with this plan. 

 

5. Repeat as required.

 

Good luck! 

 

Here we are at part two of my advice for people starting up a crowd sourcing competition for a book cover. I hope the first part helped you along the way toward setting up a contest with few headaches. Today I’ll add a few more items so you will avoid pitfalls in your quest for artistic glory.

1) Did you lose your mind and include the kitchen sink? It’s very tempting to wish for every single exciting thing from your story to appear on the cover. For the love of the Great Spiny, don’t do it. Pick some key elements that will show potential readers what your story is about, but don’t get carried away and ask designers to create a visual synopsis. If you write a design brief that says something like — Must have a snowy mountain range in the back with a castle that has five round towers and at least three bridges wedged in amongst the peaks (and the castle is on fire), with the sun coming over the edge and rays of light spilling into the foreground where the four heroes, one gold dragon, a magic user with mystical symbols on his cloak, a black staff with a glowing orb and a red cape, a half-orc barbarian with dreadlocks (female – muscular but not ugly), and an invisible dude (but make him look like glass or something so we can see him), are standing on a road leading to the castle, with the half-orc looking over her shoulder at a forest they just left that is full of frolicking fairies (many different colors of fairies). And a unicorn. It HAS to have a unicorn. And it has wings. And on the back I need a gigantic dragon eye like from the poster for “The Hobbit”, and here’s my author photo and my back copy — then you have committed book cover suicide.

Write a design brief like that and if you’re lucky three people will attempt to do everything you ask. However, the end result will be nightmarish. If you actually use one of those designs, it will look like a crazed smudge when it gets turned into a teeny thumbnail on Amazon.
What’s more likely to happen (assuming anyone tries at all) is that the artists will attempt to edit down your request on their own. They might latch onto the flying unicorn and the rainbow-colored fairies, but completely avoid the rest of the scene. At that point you’ll be disappointed because even though you were insistent about the unicorn, it’s only in ten percent of the story and doesn’t really convey the feel of your overall story. You would have been better off asking for the four heroes to be represented, moving toward a mountain range. It shows the journey which is a key part of your story, and folks might be drawn in by the unusual makeup of the party.
So, before you right your design brief, really think about what the overall theme of your story is. Who and what stand out as the driving forces that will make for a compelling image.

2) Did you communicate during AND after the contest? So, a while back I was chosen to do the cover for this person’s book. I sent them the ebook version of the cover and then proceeded to wait for them to give me the final dimensions for the print version of their book. I’m still waiting. Once they wrote and asked for a PNG of just the title for their web page. I sent it, along with a request for them to get the print information to me. Nothing. No acknowledgement that they got the PNG, and no info about their print book. Then they sent me a log to incorporate into the cover. Still no info about the final product. I asked and got no response.

Part of this goes back to number two from part one of this series. Be prepared. Obviously this person didn’t get their print formatting done before they dove into the cover process. They probably didn’t know that the cover dimensions will vary depending on their page count and paper weight. I understand, that is often part of the learning how to self publish. But don’t leave your designer hanging. Let them know where you’re at in the process. Do you have an ETA on when you will be ready to commit to a cover size? Be up front about what is going on, what delays you’re running into. Heck, they may be able to help you get over a hurdle or two.

The point is, the artist would like to do covers for other people, and they may be concerned about taking on a new project if yours is still hanging out there. The artist doesn’t want to be put in the position of turning down work because they may be called in to finish your cover out of the blue. Some folks thrive on chaos, but a lot do not. Many prefer to devote themselves fully to a project, complete it to everyone’s satisfaction, and then move on to the next job.

3) Are you a pompous, pain in the rear end? Don’t be rude. Don’t denigrate people’s work. Don’t tell people one thing and then when they follow your instructions get sarcastic and condescending because it doesn’t look like what you imagined in your superior brain.

If you had this great idea for your cover, but it’s just not working out in practice, be up front about it. Tell folks, “Hey, I know I thought it would be really cool to have glowing yellow rain, but now I realize it looks like nuclear pee, so I’m sorry, but I think I’d better just have you guys do regular rain. I’ve updated my design brief to reflect this.” Odds are the artists will laugh and make the alterations without batting an eye. But if you instead go on the attack and tell people they’re a bunch of incompetent dweebs because they’re not getting the right shade of nuclear green for your rain, then folks will go find someone less nasty to work for.

Be nice, answer questions, ask questions, and most people will bend over backwards to accommodate you.

I hope this short series will help you get your dream cover. I’ve seen some beautiful work get produced because the author went into the process prepared and attracted skilled artists to their contest. And remember, if you create a positive relationship with an artist, in the future you can contact them for a 1-on-1 project and that will help give your series a sense of consistency. Everyone wins!