Color my face green for Halloween. Read Maria Zanini's blog on promoting her new book, Chain of Souls. She's running a nice little contest [+], all people have to do is mention it on Facebook and Twitter so it's easy, [+], mentions her first book [+], and feeds her dog at the same time. Seriously, you should take some time to read her past blogs. I like her energetic promotion of her books.
[I'm the contrast for what not to do. All talk, and very little do.]
Ever wonder why so many "mainstream" writers are e-publishing their backlist? The Passive Guy ran a piece where Nina Bruhns, a romance writer [who I haven't read], discusses why she e-published. Seems her traditionally published print book delivered $42.50 in royalties. Over the same period of time, the same number of e-books sold = $1500. Don't need to think much about why there's an indie revolution.
Writing paranormal? If you can put an interesting twist o the cliches, I think you have a strong market. Picked up a paperback at the grocery store featuring five short stories by J. C. Robb and a bunch of other writers I had never heard of before, including Ruth Ryan Langan. In touch with the season, all had a touch of the paranormal.
My favorite story of the bunch was Langan's "The Unforgiven", a ghost story about a highland lord who wasn't too thrilled about have his castle turned into a bed and breakfast by a impoverished woman, who had just inherited said castle. The story was quite a bit more complicated than that but that's a good enough log line for writing of the fly. [Robb's monster was pretty neat, too, but I can't remember the other stories.]
Then, there's NaNoWriMo. The madness is almost here, and the Duolit team gives writers a strategy for successfully pounding out 50,000 words. Look at their other suggestions on their blog: 5 Tips For NaNoWriMo Success. My comment: If I have to do an outline, I'm doomed.
6 comments:
You always put together such interesting random thoughts, Kay.
For some reason, Blogger won't let me log in to leave a comment, so today I'm anonymous. (Shhh, don't tell anyone.)
Jenny
Maybe next time it will.
Don't expect me to explain computer mysteries. I've got all sorts of them myself ... including getting a link to my Facebook fan pages going. [Guess I'm going to have to do a little studying ... when I get the time.]
LOL. You got me on how these contests and such originate. I swear to you, I think of them five minutes before I post the blog for the day. My brain must be processing in the background while I'm typing up the post.
It works, so I won't complain. :)
I reserve the right to admire you, Maria. I've learned a lot from you ... even if I don't do it. I think I'm longing for the days when marketing departments did all that stuff.
Oh, I like that ghost of a highland lord with his castle turned into bed and breakfast!
So you write with no outline at all? I'm impressed! I used to do that but now I can't keep anything straight anymore without an outline.
Must admit I write an outline after the fact so I know where I've been. I also have a bunch of blank chapters. When I have an idea I put it in a "chapter" for possible inclusion.
I liked that Highland lord too. He was a better drawn character than the MC, mainly because the MC embodied too many cliches.
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