Finding New Favorite Authors -- Do You Read Different Authors than Your Regulars?

Somewhere around Thanksgiving I figured I was in a reading rut. I kept traveling to the same worlds over and over again. I needed to read more writers than my regulars. So, I bought I bunch of books [mass paperbacks] by their covers and blurbs alone, hoping to find a new author who'd enchant me with his/her world.

Net Result: My to trade pile grew.

Which wasn't all bad.

One of the more fun of my holiday adventures was taking the grand kids

to my favorite book trading store so I had to replenish my trading balance anyway.

Then, I switched tactics. Thought I'd buy a couple of short story collections and ended up laughing at myself. 

What types of short story collections did I search?

1) The-what-looked-like a major author collection  -- Chicks Kick Butt -- turned out to offer the same old types of heroes, villains and situations. Not surprising since the writers probably established the cliches.

2) A fan fiction anthology of friends writing in a friends' world -- Elemental Magic, new tales written in Mercedes Lackey's elemental magician's world. The series is one of my favorite re-reads. 

The "fan" stories were definitely spotty and felt like an old home week for the Marion Zimmer Bradley fans who took advantage of her early welcome to young fans to write in her Darkover world years ago. Nice to see they have grown in their careers. None of the stories  tempted me to look for their newer works ... and some turned me off.

3) For the heck of it, I re-tried a group of novellas based on the same premise: a hero home from the Napoleonic wars needing to find a bride fast. Four romance writers created surprisingly different story lines, all of which I enjoyed. But I hardly ever read romances unless there's a strong mystery component.

4) The "all star" collection was the biggest disappointment -- Songs of Love and Death edited by George R. Martin and Gardener Dozois. I had high hopes the cross-genre collection of fantasy, science-fiction, and romance would reveal a new writer or two. After all the collection featured some of my favorite favorite authors -- Neil Gaiman, Jim Butcher, Yasmine Galenorn, and Tanith Lee. But I had read all the authors already.

Guess my blog readers'll be the ones to suffer. I'll keep talking about the same writers, though boredom might be enough to  make me actually get the snafu at Amazon fixed so I can download to my Kindle.
 

 So, what do I plan to do when I'm not reading?

This past year I've been playing with social media marketing, rather limply if truth be told. Did beat  the indie averages but that's not saying much. So I am thinking of concentrating on writing again for 2014. One possible conclusion: to try my hand at writing short stories again as well as working on my novels and novellas.

So, I've decided to consider subscribing to Duotrope to market my stories -- if I write them -- and to find anthologists who are actively publishing short story collections. You'll know how I fare on both writing and reading fronts.

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 Are you still searching for a way to publishing success?

Here is a quote from my dream agent, Janet Reid, that'll give you an idea about what you need to do after you finish your manuscript -- if you want to find an agent to negotiate your way into the major publishing houses.

 
"Under no circumstances do you send anything before it is revised, polished, revised, honed, revised, perfected, revised, reconsidered, sweated on, bled on, revised and then finished."

You can read the full blog about when to bother an agent with your manuscript by clinking the link.

Taming Twitter

My opinion: Social media, including Twitter, are a time-suck. Almost as big a suck as playing games when you should be writing. Have you heard that bitch before? I know I've grumbled and snarled about it ... and I read about it a lot too.

The big question is: What have I done about it?

At this point, I have two Twitter places: my normal one [@kaytheod] and the advertising/promo one. I set up the second one because I got a little tired of sifting through the "Buy-my-book" ones. They've both been up since at least 2010 and have over 2,000 followers. My guess is I engage with only about 50 of them regularly. -- I can beg people to buy my book with the worst of them.

I spend about 30-45 minutes a day on Twitter ... readng, following back, replying, and retweeting

So what good has all the time I've spent done for me?

1) Attracts People to my Websites. This is a flawed measure since the Go Daddy counters go spastic every once in a while, but I do notice an increase in visits when I promote my websites. One of my main enticements are the free short stories I offer. Visit my author website to learn more.

2) "Sells" A Few Free Short Stories. If I promote a lot using hashtags, I get a large increase in the number of people who download my free short stories. My base line comes from my epub The Foiling of Gorsfeld which I only publicize on my websites.

I also promote the links to buy my e-novellas, Troublesome Neighbors and Taking Vengeance. I'm not a stellar seller, but I don't do too badly for a self-published writer with only a few listings. My rank yo-yos worse than a chronic dieter's, but I have risen to the 30,000s in author rank a couple of times. I'm always amazed at how high one sale lifts the ranking of one of my novellas ... for a day.

3) Drives People to My Blog. This is where Twitter shines. If I come up with a catchy title my numbers soar. I post maybe once a day at both of my Twitter accounts. Usually my blogs get over a hundred reads in a week or so. My highest number of views for a blog so far is 600.

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Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be a writer, so what have I written. I did get the package for The Noticed One, a soft horror short story, ready to send off -- if Kindle Singles accepts it for publication -- though I'm still agonizing over the blurb. [Have I ever mentioned I'm lousy at doing promo c**p?

Cover

Current Blurb:

Plain Cassy Mae goes to live with her grandmother in the mountains after her mother died, in spite of GrammyJo’s working juju. But worse dangers lurk in the hills than her grandmother’s herb lore.

Thinking About Where Do Book Series Begin? End?

My obsession with series continues. You can blame it on The Grumpy Dragon and its suggestion that I write a sequel to There Be Demons. The thought's scary like jumping off a cliff without a parachute.

Why? All the novels that have come out of my computer so far have grown organically as my characters careened from one situation to the next. The Demons sequel demands a outline. Why? Because if there's a middle, there logically has to be an end. Seems to me setting up the situation is the easy part. The rest has to build an expand on what happened before.

What are your feelings on this?

Cricket McCrae, aka Bailey Cates, poured gas on my fire, aka questions. She's the author of the Magical Bakery Mysteries among others. I recently read the last two in the series ... trilogy? ... close together -- Bewitched, Bothered, and Biscotti and Charms and Chocolate Chips. Yeah, the titles reek of cozy cutesie, but I read and enjoyed them anyway -- without having to control my gag reflex. McCrae/Bailey has a light touch with murder. I'll take my smiles where I can find them.

The first book,  Brownies and Broomsticks, sets up the series when Katie Lightfoot moves to Savannah, GA. She hopes to start a new career helping her aunt and uncle set up a bakery. Lightfoot's running from a bad job, a relationship gone teminal, and a mother who forgot to tell her she was a witch-in-waiting. The most important "man" in her life is the stray mutt who sets himself up as her familiar though the book sets up two possible suitors.  The storyline follows her trek of discovery -- including a knack for sleuthing when her uncle becomes the prime suspect in a murder. 

Bewitched, Bothered and Biscotti has Lighfoot learning her magical abilities mean more than charming the baked good with herbs and good intentions. She continues finding murdered bodies and solving crimes, in spite of police opposition. She's also in the enviable situation of choosing between two hunks -- one with magic and one normal. Lightfoot also comes to terms with the fact she's a witch and learns about the various permutations the Craft can take. The most important revelation in the second volume is that Lightfoot is more powerful than a common hedge witch ...only she has no one to teach her.

Charms and Chocolate Chips continues Lightfoot's journey -- and leaves me hanging. Is the book the last of a trilogy or the third in an ongoing series? 

Lightfoot is becoming part of the community now and is volunteering for a local conservation group when the director is murdered, supposedly because she opposed the sale of a swamp to a consortium who wants to build a golf course. She settles on the normal guy for romance, but she doesn't know if she can make it work, especially when she puts him in harm's way. 

Her mother coming to Savannah to reconcile with Lightfoot makes me wonder if there will be more Lightfoot mysteries. Many of the protagonist's problems are wrapped up in an acceptable way in this book, including a reconciliation with her mother. I can see where the series could go on as Lightfoot solves more murders in Savannah. But took a look at the author websites, but didn't find any clues as to the writer's intentions.

So what about the writing craft aspects of these novels? I especially admire how McCrae/Bailey draws her characters. Even the tertiary ones are well-rounded. The plots twist enough to be interesting. Her villains are well motivated. McCrae/Bailey puts together a nice paranormal mystery, based on nice people you wouldn't mind knowing. Maybe even make you wish you did know people like them.

McCrae/Bailey stirs up a nice, cross-genre confection. I'm stuffing all three volumes in my overloaded book shelves. Five stars to the series as well as the individual books.

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Writers write, right? Sometime during the day, I know I'm supposed to write. I try. Really I do. I even have a schedule. Toy with Forbidden Fruit in the evenings. [I still want to publish more novellas about the my Half-Elven world.] 

In the morning, I was working on edits for Black Tail's War. Now, I'm launching a new project. Why?

1. Taking Vengeance is finally up on Amazon, Nook, and Smashwords. I need to promote it.
2. I've submitted The Noticing One, a short story, to Amazon singles.
3. Since it worked the first time with Night for the Gargoyles, I'm writing a short story set in the world of the sequel to There Be Demons. Even have a tentative book title, Crossing the River.

Think that's enough on my plate.

Oh, I've been offering Taking Vengeance free on Smashwords to people who follow me on the various social media that consume too much of my time. The code is EG75E, and it's good until 30 November 2013. Link to buy

If you like it, I'd appreciate a review. Just a short paragraph. No Master's Thesis.

Do You Have the MOJO to Write a Series?

While I haven't been keeping up on this blog very well, I have been reading lots of books connected with a series. Even re-reading some old favorites such as Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series about the second new Tortall Lady Knight. But Barb Hendee's The Mist-Torn Witches started my trend.

My first impression about Witches was that it was ideal for a series, even if the two poor, orphaned sisters eked out a living in an obscure village. The elder sister pretended to be a seer. Fortunately, the warlord of their district tries to kill them for not following his orders. Pretend seer gave a true reading when her unsuspected powers manifested. 

See what I mean about cliches?

Barb Hendee is lucky to be an experienced writer. She quickly turned the lukewarm fantasy into a mystery. While book wasn't engrossing, it was a pleasant read -- that I read in a couple of sittings.

Four stars out of five because I'll probably go out of my way to read the sequel. 

Hendee rates high because I finished the book in good time. I'm still trying to wade through Kevin Hearne's last Iron Druid story where the chase back to fairyland where he hopes to be safe from the Olympians, Nodic gods, and vampires trying to kill him. [You can note I can't remember the title at the moment and am not going downstairs to find where I left the copy.]

Yeah, Hearne is still funny ... or, at least Oberon is. Hearne sort of lost his edge for me when Coyote took a hit for him. The story lines have really slowed down in following sequels.

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 Marketing Lament

Of course, I don't have an edge to lose. I manage to stay solidly in the lumpen of self-published authors who make a few sales here and there. Of course, most of my posted works are free. I must say I'm good at selling free stories. But I'm not going to get rich on 99c sales either. 

I get a laugh, though, when someone puffs their book ... and I do check because I like to like author pages ... and their Amazon ranking is lower than mine with one short novella up.

Just got the new version of Taking Vengeance up. Will start promoting it when the upload doesn't have two copies of the cover in it. Don't ask me how it happened. I'm a star computer klutz. Just as the "help" departments of where I post or self-publish stuff.

Maybe I'd do better if I liked marketing and promo. Any authors out there have any semi-good suggestions on linking with actual buyers? I don't expect you to give away your best secrets. Just a place where you can contact engaged buyers of books. 

Of course, it'd be nice if they read their downloads and gave reviews. I'd be happy for just a few more sales.