What I learned from books on writing

Novel Spaces is in its 10th year! Over the coming months we'll be featuring some of the most popular posts from our archives. This one was first published August 11, 2009. Enjoy!

By Liane Spicer

I sometimes miss that blissful time when I wrote my first novel, unaware that there were dozens of books out there presenting countless rules and recommendations for what I was attempting to do. I've picked up a few things since then, and the advice that has resonated often had little to do with the actual writing and everything to do with the attitudes that might make the difference between being a productive writer or a frustrated one.

On Writing by Stephen King:
I learned from King's recounting of his years spent collecting rejection slips that those little forms are not symbols for "Failed Writer". You place the slip in the appropriate file and move on.




The War of Art by Steven Pressfield:
Mr. Pressfield wrote this book for me. He turns a spotlight on writers' block in all its manifestations: fear, resistance, procrastination, obsessiveness, self-dramatization, self-medication, victimhood, self-doubt, toxic relationships, support (yes, you read that right), and rationalization. Then he tells you how to combat it all, and his recommendation is simple: You turn pro. How does a professional approach his work? Apply the same principles to your writing and see the difference.

"A professional shows up every day."
"A professional demystifies."
"A professional acts in the face of fear."
"A professional does not show off."
"A professional self-validates."

There's lots more, and it's all written with the authority that comes only from first-hand experience, aka the school of hard knocks.

Page After Page by Heather Sellers:
Here's another writer who demystifies. She knows that declarations like 'waiting for my muse' are nothing but lame excuses. "It's a matter of sitting down, conjuring a state of complete dedication and complete openness, and writing. Putting pen to paper." No hocus-pocus there.

What else did she teach me? To talk less about writing, and write more. That except for a very few lucky souls, being published (finally!) does not change your life. You won't be rich and famous, loved and admired by everyone, rail-thin and immune to chocolate binges. You'll still have to deal with all your bumps and warts; those don't disappear once you get published.

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White:
This book gives great advice on the fine points of usage, common errors, and style. There was little in there I didn't already know after having taught the language for 22 years, but that slim book clarified something vital I had hitherto understood only superficially: the US version of my mother tongue is a very different beast from the UK version I was taught.

I've got two more books on writing lined up: Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury, the title of which has just the sort of new-agey tone I'm a sucker for. (Did someone mention the word demystify?) Next to it on my bedhead bookshelf is The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I'll be sure to let you know what I learn from those in a later post.

—Liane Spicer

Instagram: Not Just for Millennials

“Instagram is a cross between Pinterest and Twitter,” says Sonja Yoerg, author of contemporary fiction and a fan of Instagram. “Instagram shares Pinterest’s image-sharing feature and Twitter’s use of hashtags for categorizing and tracking topics.”   

  

Have you tried Instagram? No? Read on. Even if you’re a veteran, read on and share your tips and best practices.

I had long known about this mobile photo-sharing app that lets users edit and upload photos and short videos. I also knew that the typical user was between 15 and 35. Since my demographic skews older, I felt no need to add this particular social media service to my platform—and my time. But two years ago my curiosity won out and I signed up. I intended to simply lurk and see what was what. Within five minutes I had two followers. So I caved and posted a photo. I’m still there, posting, following, being followed.

As for the younger folks … well, Instagram’s no longer just for the Millennials. I’m not sure if they’re leaving in droves (my college-aged niece is still active) but the older folks are arriving in droves.

What’s to like about Instagram?

It’s fun and it doesn’t take a lot of time. Well, it can take a lot of time.

There’s no limit on post length (if there is, I haven’t reached it). 

Authors can engage with reviewers and bloggers. I must admit that I haven’t done this yet, but it’s an attractive option. At the very least, they may post your book cover.

Sonja Yoerg offers book giveaways on Instagram. For a chance to win, she asks interested readers to follow her and leave a comment. For some giveaways she directs readers to her Facebook page. She seems to do very well with this promotional gambit.

What’s not to like about Instagram?

A few things. While you can create live links in your profile, you can’t in your posts. Not a huge problem, but inconvenient.

Then you have to contend with those danged algorithms. Remember when Facebook and Twitter had chronological timelines before switching to an algorithm that shows you the “top stories”—meaning what the social media gods think are top stories. Last year, Instagram followed suit.

But while Facebook and Twitter give you the ability to restore the date/time order of your timeline postings, Instagram has yet to extend that courtesy. Hopefully they will, and soon. After all, Facebook owns them.

What to post

Post pictures of anything and everything: travel, movies, pets, fall foliage, snow, spring blossoms, and, no surprise, food!; promote your writing events, books (yours and others), and blogs; send holiday greetings with a season-appropriate image.    

Many use a theme in their postings, along the lines of sunsets, trees, babies, pets, etc. This approach is fine, but use caution—seeing Florida sunrises day after day gets old fast. 

Use hashtags to reach a wider audience and attract potential followers. But don’t go overboard with the hashtags. It’s easy to do because there are so many of them and it’s such fun to go wild after Twitter’s restrictions on post length. But hashtag mania will make your postings look spammy. I’ve been cutting back on mine.

Here are my cats, Morris and Olive, celebrating National Cat Day on Instagram:   

It seems that my image is too large. No problem, you get the idea. When I post pictures of my two scamps, I typically use these hashtags: #catsofinstagram, #cats, #norwegianforestcat, #manxcat, #oliveannking, #morristhecat. Maybe too many, but I can't resist! On Saturdays, I use the #caturday tag.

Writers have an extensive selection of hashtags: #authorsofinstagram, #bookstagram, #writersofinstagram, #writersofvirginia (pick a state), and #mysteries are just a few. Plus you can create your own, just like in Twitter.   

So give Instagram a try. Follow me at authormaggieking. And, like I said in the beginning, old hands are welcome to weigh in with your experience and advice on how to make Instagram a fun and rewarding part of a social media platform. 

Here's more information on Instagram.

Making Sense, and Cents, Out of the Current State of Book Publishing

This past February, I received an email about yet one more publisher closing their doors, shutting down. The publisher is Samhain, and I signed with them last year for a title that was due for delivery in August of this year, scheduled to be released in February of 2017.

In a newsletter, the publisher cited reasons why they could no longer sustain their business, one being that they were closing due to the continuance of declining market shares. They also said that recent sales were not providing any hope for recovery, that each month their sales continued to shrink, in spite of their various marketing efforts, and that it would be disingenuous to keep contracting new titles.

As it turns out, my rights will be reverted back to me, as I had not yet turned in my title. However, I cannot help but to once again take a serious look at the big picture. Some publishing companies are making money in this business, but a lot are not. Some authors are making good money in this business, but most are not. Very few authors have book deals with majors, and some prefer it to be that way because of the independence. And another very important factor is true, that readers have so many choices as far as titles, with so many at rock-bottom prices, that there's not enough money coming back into the pockets of publishers and authors. Even those authors who had made great amounts of money years ago, are seeing checks with fewer digits.

We focus on learning how to write, but do we focus on learning how to sell? Are we as authors and/or publishers not adequately reaching out to readers to let them know about our titles so that they are aware as to what's out there? Do we need billboard ads, magazine ads, Facebook ads, Instagram celebrity shout-outs, drive-time radio spots, subway ads, that cost thousands of dollars? Independent authors have always had a hard time affording that, and now, publishers are cutting that out of their budgets as well. Or, maybe it's the covers, the plot, or the price. Is the book is lacking the IT factor, or is it the author in general who is not appealing enough to readers to make them curious enough to check out their works? More book signings, more events, more giveaways, more blog posts, more social media, more videos? Will having a book-to-movie deal help (a movie that is actually released)? Will being on Steve Harvey, Oprah, or The View help? Some say just keep writing, and focus on writing a good book, and readers will come. Well, no they won’t. Not unless you let them know the book is on the shelf, or available via the click of a mouse via ebook, and still, it's all up to the reader to decide to purchase . . . IF . . .

Yes, publishers are being undercut by the river of indie publishing. And yes, authors can post and sell a book on Amazon in ten minutes – some crafty books, some intermediate, but authors are writing, and trying. Some have gone back to work, some have taken breaks, and some of those authors who I know personally have also come back to their true love – writing, whether they make money at it or not.

And so yes, some publishers are closing their doors, book stores are continuing to close. Is part of the reason that with readers having so many online choices at low prices, they’re not motivated to spend a certain amount? I know that some readers will spend $20+ for a hardback version of their favorite author's book that they’ve been anticipating, and it's usually an established author who has worked hard to build up their readership base over time. There are the big time hits and super popular success stories that lead the way. Those stories are encouraging for the rest of us, yet they also force us to wonder what we can be doing that will propel us to that level. After nearly twenty years in this business, I wonder as well. And that's natural.

I know some readers who only buy ebooks that are $3.99 or less (mainly $.99), and some readers who claim they only buy paperback books, no matter the price. I know some authors who offer ebooks at $3.99 or less who say they're making really good money, and some authors who offer paperback books who say they’re only selling a few hundred, if that. Some say genres can be a factor, or race is a factor, though overall, I’m looking at the bigger picture. The bottom line is . . . what are some publishers and authors doing, that other's aren't?

Samhain also stated that Amazon might be a factor. Oh yes. Amazon. Amazon is the giant, the number one source of book-buying, who is now opening brick and mortar stores. Amazon claims more than two-thirds of the U.S. book buying market, and that equates to power. A monopoly. It is said that Amazon has brought publishing to its knees. They have market power and they were successful at pressuring publishers to lower their ebook prices. Publishers say that factor lowered the perceived value of books, so readers expect to pay less. And yet, as big and small publishers scramble, Amazon continues to innovate. This part of the big picture is major!

What is your opinion as to what some of the factors about why publishers and authors are not able to sustain might be? I'd enjoy reading your opinions as to what the state of publishing looks like in your eyes, as we're now into 2016.

As for the series I was writing for Samhain, I've put it on hold and moved on. Maybe I'll pick it up later. Maybe not. Everything happens for a reason, and I accept the original blessing, and the lesson. For now, I continue to write on!

Whatever your take on it, fellow authors, most importantly, we’re all in this together, figuring it out together, which is a lot better than bashing each other for what we do wrong by another author’s opinion. It’s time to take a good look and come out writing, but also, come out promoting, showing up, and selling our books! 

Write on!

Guest author Nuala O'Connor: Finding Emily Dickinson

Nuala O'Connor was born in Dublin, Ireland and lives in East Galway. Already well-known under the name Nuala Ní Chonchúir, she has published four short story collections; the most recent, Mother America, appeared from New Island in 2012. Her third poetry collection, The Juno Charm, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2011 and Nuala’s critically acclaimed second novel, The Closet of Savage Mementos, appeared April 2014, also from New Island. Nuala’s third novel, Miss Emily, is out now from Penguin USA and Penguin Canada; Sandstone (UK) will publish it in August. Nuala has worked as a bookseller, a librarian, and in a writers’ center. She was shortlisted for the European Prize for Literature, and her short story “Peach” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. 

Nuala O'Connor

I am standing in Emily Dickinson’s bedroom. Her bed is here but the wallpaper is patchy, mostly absent. My guide – a tall, distinguished, well-spoken man – tells me about the ongoing renovation. I can barely take in what he says because my mind repeats: Emily’s bedroom. I am inside Emily’s bedroom! I can imagine Emily here, fingers speckled with ink, black crescents of garden soil under her fingernails. She soaks in the light from the windows, while sitting at her cherrywood desk, her head a chatter of thoughts.

I have spent much of the previous year in this room, and all over the Dickinson house, if only in my mind. The writing of my novel, Miss Emily, about the poet and her Irish maid, brought me into The Homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts, over and over. As a girl, I recited ‘A Bird came down the Walk’ with actions, to amuse my sisters. Now I stand in the very bedroom of the very poet I loved – so much so that I specialised in her incisive, explosive poems for my final exams. Poetry brought me here. And a hunger to know how the reclusive poet conducted her seclusion. And baking too, as it happens.

Emily Dickinson was not truly the downbeat, morbidity-obsessed recluse of myth. Yes, as she grew older she secluded herself, but she was a devoted friend, and she took part in the domestic scene of The Homestead. Emily loved to bake, particularly cakes, and she would send them with a verse or recipe to her friends. She said to one: ‘People must have puddings.’

As part of the research for Miss Emily, I baked some of the poet’s recipes: Coconut Cake (now a favourite in my house); the gingerbread she famously made for local children and lowered in a basket from her upstairs window; and her gigantic Black Cake, a rich fruitcake that uses nineteen eggs and five pounds of raisins. As I baked I thought about Emily’s sassy, amusing voice in her letters, her commitment to her friends, and her need for solitary space in which to write. I wondered about her relationship with her various Irish maids – Maggie Maher, Margaret O’Brien, Rosina Mack – and, soon, I was writing a novel about baking, friendship, writing, and the mistress-servant relationship, featuring a fictional Irish maid called Ada Concannon.

Emily’s life is reasonably well documented – there are many books about her and I read a lot of them. But, for the sake of my own writing practice, I had to counterbalance her with a fictional character; I needed that novelistic freedom. It was more satisfying to me to invent a new Irish maid to slot into the year I had chosen to concentrate on – 1866 – a year where in fact the Dickinsons had no maid at all.

My research took many forms: reading the poetry and biographies, poring over pictures of Emily’s belongings in online archives – the family’s white, gold-rimmed china; Emily’s garnet and pearl brooch; her gold and citrine letter seal; the blue shawl she wore. I researched many topics including how to make butter (I bought a glass churn and made some); the use of remedies such as sarsaparilla, calomel and tansy; and Irish superstitions (Ada believes in signs and portents).

When I had a first draft of Miss Emily completed, I visited Amherst and went to the poet’s house and her brother’s next door, both of which make up the Emily Dickinson Museum. I saw her white dress in the Amherst History Museum and I went to Harvard University, to view Emily’s original cherrywood desk. I joined the Emily Dickinson International Society (EDIS) and met fellow fans at my first meeting which, coincidentally, took place in Amherst.


And although Miss Emily is published now, and I’m busy writing and editing my fourth novel, I am not finished with Emily Dickinson at all – once you fall hard for her, she will not let you go. As part of my US book tour, I return to Amherst for the third time this August to read from my novel at the EDIS conference. And I am still buying books about Emily, still obsessively reading her poetry and finding new things there. I even got a tattoo in her honour. Because it is so easy, when you immerse yourself in Emily’s company, to simply ‘gather Paradise’ and dwell there.

Reflections on Baltimore Book Festival

 As authors we get to participate in many different events that promote book sales, book writing and of course, ourselves.  For this, there is no better place than a book festival or a convention.  This weekend Carol Mitchell and I, along with the co-author of “Zapped!” my daughter, Lynelle Martin, had the opportunity to participate in the Baltimore Book Festival which ran from October 26th - 28th. For CaribbeanReads Publishing and all three authors, it was our first book festival as a vendor/participant). It was definitely an experience to remember.

Unlike past festivals that were held at Mt Vernon Place, this one was held at the scenic Baltimore Inner Harbor, a great location for tourists and Baltimoreans alike.  CaribbeanReads Publishing shared a tent with a group of teachers from Baltimore City, quite an advantage if you are selling children’s educational books.

One of the things about festivals is that you have to have something to draw people in.  Think about it, all of the hundreds of tents have the same thing: books.  People are coming there either for the well known speakers (Tavis Smiley was the highlighted speaker this year), or to get free stuff.  We had a great activity in keeping with the theme of “ZAPPED!"  Kids got the opportunity to make an edible model of an animal cell out of candy.  We used that as a jump off point to promote the children’s book, CaribbeanReads newest publication: Zapped! Danger in the cell". 

Now here is the dichotomy.  While the kids were quite engaged making (and eating) their model cells and some of the parents were inspired to purchase books, many adults were just coming for the free candy.  Some were quite rude in fact and would just grab the candy without asking and run without even glancing at the many children’s books on display.  Others were quite courteous and would listen and take a flyer with the faint promise of purchasing the books online (been there –done that…  I know what that means).   It did not translate into windfall sales at the festival, but…

…Lynelle and I were invited to give a talk and have a book sale and signing at school in a different county, we met and established contact with local NPR affiliate, and we met several bloggers and got our information into their hands and we got our information into the hands of a coalition of libraries and librarians. 

The highlight of Lynelle’s experience however came after the book festival.  She was playing “Words with Strangers” at a booth adjacent to ours when a family came and purchased her book.  Though we pointed her out as one of the authors, her back was turned and the person never got to meet her.  The next day she came home from school quite excited.  One of the girls who purchased the book was her class mate and was quite excited to discover that Lynelle was the author.  And here I was looking for a way to introduce it to Lynelle’s school without putting her on the spot.  Problem solved; it was introduced (unofficially).

Over all it was a great experience and I learned the power of free.  A booth had books selling for $5.00 for the entire three days of the festival.  That booth enjoyed a trickle of patrons for those three days, who would browse and occasionally purchase.  On the last day, within the last ten minutes they put up a sign: “ALL BOOKS FREE”.  I could not even get to the booth for the crowds that flocked it.  People were grabbing books they would never read.  Even Lynelle squeezed her small body between the throngs and got a few books that we have little interest in.  Yes, there is power in FREE.

I don't know if our experience as vendors/participants in book festivals is typical, but it sure was an enlightening experience.  If you have experiences with book festival do share them.
 

Book Launch update

A month ago I wrote about my plans to have a book launch party.  Well I did and it was awesome.  So was it successful?  That depends on how you define success.  The target age for the book, “Zapped! Danger in the cell” is 8 to 13 years old, defined as middle grade.  The book is entertaining, but it is also educational.  It correlates directly with aspects of 5th and 6th grade science curriculum which deals with types of cells, structure, organelles and their function.  It allows kids to learn about the cell, its organelles, structure and functions without the tedium of a text book, but rather the fun adventure of the four main characters who are shrunk and zapped into an animal cell.

So what happened at the launch?  Well there were book sales and signings.

There were games that engaged kids in attendance including making a model cell out of candy. And there was great food.
A few things that I consider as successful occurred at the launch party. 
1.    We got the books in the hands of several elementary school teachers book in the New York City Public School system, Westchester County Public School System and in St. Kitts (in the Caribbean) public school systems.
2.    There were people who headed book clubs for adults and middle grade kids who bought not just my new release but also my older titles.
3.    A journalist in attendance wrote an article profiling “Zapped!” Danger in the cell and the authors.  That article was published in “SKNvibes” an online newspaper/ezine that targets Kittitians home and abroad and posted to the St. Kitts-Nevis Times Facebook page.
4.    We got the book in the hands of parents of children in the target age.


So why do I think that the launch party was worth it?  It got my name out there.  It got my book out there.  It got it in the hands of people who have the potential of sharing it with others on a large scale.  It gave my older titles a booster shot.  Most of all, we had a great party that I probably would have had anyway since it was my birthday.

So should every author run out and have a launch party for each book title?  That would depend on your goals, what you consider success, how much you are willing to invest in promoting your book, and ....(you can add your goals here).

This was my first ever launch party and because of the positive experience, it is definitely something I would do again.

Guest author Nuala Ní Chonchúir: Editing - The Relief Stage of Novel Writing

Nuala Ní Chonchúir

Nuala Ní Chonchúir was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1970; she lives in East Galway. Her fourth short Mother America was published by New Island in 2012. A chapbook of flash Of Dublin and Other Fictions was published in the US in late 2013 by Tower Press and Nuala’s second novel The Closet of Savage Mementos appeared April 2014 from New Island. Nuala's third novel, Miss Emily, appears 2015 from Penguin USA and Penguin Canada. 
story collection




I love to edit my novels; I think of it as the Relief Stage of writing. The first draft is there – a real and tangible story has been concocted – and now it is time to make it as elegant and shapely as possible. I love it despite the fact I have developed RSI from all the editing I have been doing in the last few months. It’s a task that requires such close attention that I have been hunched over my laptop for hours, not taking regular breaks, madly tapping at the keyboard. There is an urgency about the editing stage that makes for a frenetic life and, for me now, a sore neck and arms.

I have been in the weird position for the past few months of putting two novels to bed at the same time. I was still making adjustments to my just-published second novel The Closet of Savage Mementos days before it went to print in March. I made fifty changes (small ones) to the final proofs. I am sure that did not endear me to the publishing house, but I was shocked to still find repeated words and bockety sentences in the MS so late in the editorial process and they had to go. A writing friend is convinced that the repeated words we banish from our novels creep back into the manuscript at night, while we sleep.

My third novel Miss Emily (due 2015), about Emily Dickinson and her Irish maid, was bought by Penguin USA and Canada in late January and my editors there sent me 17 pages of editorial notes to consider while writing my second draft. I had six weeks to ready that draft. It turned into an intense time of re-reading research and trying to get everything right; of thinking about my characters lives before the action in the novel takes place in 1866/1867. What formed them? How did the people they used to be bring them to where they are? The work was close and time-consuming (all consuming!) but deeply satisfying.

For The Closet of Savage Mementos, which concerns a love affair between 21 year old Irish girl Lillis and 51 year old Scottish man Struan, the managing editor at New Island met with me over breakfast in Dublin to discuss changes that I might like to make. He recommended fleshing out conversations, having deeper reactions to shocking news, and the tying up of a loose end concerning one character who seemed to just disappear from the story. These suggestions from someone who is ‘cold’ – and by that I mean someone who is outside the story – are enormously helpful to a writer. It is amazing the basic mistakes that linger in a manuscript even after we have edited it several times to our own satisfaction before submitting it to the publisher. I implemented his suggestions and was so much more pleased with the novel then.

I consider myself a bit of a perfectionist (or nit-picking control freak, whichever) so I am always surprised at the vast amount of copy-editing issues and annoying inconsistencies that I and my editors find in my manuscripts. But I love the buzz of working really closely on the MS towards the end, trying very hard to get everything right. I read the text aloud from start to finish to attempt to catch any unwieldy sentences and those nasty repeated words, especially. I always find that over the course of a novel I have obsession words – ones that appear again and again for no good reason other than that they are lodged in my brain. The Closet of Savage Mementos is set in the Highlands of Scotland mostly, so naturally some words will be there often (loch, mountain, sea) but my editor pointed out that the words ‘hover’, ‘grunt’ and ‘manic’ appeared frequently. I’m still not sure what those words say about my state of mind while writing that novel!

I urge those starting out on the novel writing life to embrace editing fully. Learn to become your own best editor firstly and, after that, listen to the professionals who genuinely want to help you make your book the best it can be. The great editor is like an invisible mentor – she is not all over the pages of your book, rather she steers you along, helping you to see how you can improve things. The hope is that you both have the same vision for your novel and, when that is the case, things can go very well indeed for both you and for your book.

Guest Author - John Daniel

My good friend, the fine writer John Daniel, has a new novel, and if it's anything like his last one, you won't want to miss it.  I'm going to turn it over now to John:

BOOKSTORE COP

From 1970 to 1971, I worked for Kepler’s Books and Magazines in Menlo Park, California. It was a big and exciting store, by far the best bookstore on the Peninsula south of San Francisco. It was also a gathering place for the counter-culture: peaceniks, hippies, rock musicians, and radical free-thinkers. The seventies were a decade with issues: the anti-war movement, black power, women’s liberation, gay pride, the human potential movement, not to mention the sexual revolution.

Surprisingly, the 1970s also saw an upsurge in book theft. Maybe it wasn’t surprising, given the rebellious spirit of the times; but it was ironic that the hip thieves, perhaps inspired by Abbie Hoffman’s Steal This Book, were ripping off a counter-cultural center that supported free thought.

Anyway, Roy Kepler, the pacifist bookseller who owned the store, took it personally and decided to catch these bibliokleptos in the act. He hired a series of “bookstore cops,” guys who patrolled the aisle, pretending to browse the shelves, but in fact keeping an eye out for anyone slipping a book into a backpack or under a shirt. Roy acknowledged that these cops cost him more money than they saved by catching one or two thieves a week, but at least he was fighting back against an unruly tide.

My new novel, Hooperman: A Bookstore Mystery, set in Palo Alto in 1972, takes place in a fictitious store called Maxwell’s Books and is inspired by this crime wave. The hero, Hoop Johnson, hires on as a bookstore cop whose mission is to catch book snatchers in the act. He’s wrong for the job for a number of reasons: he basically trusts people, he pays more attention to the books than the browsers, and he has a crippling stammer, which makes him no good at confronting strangers. But he needs the job. Before long the job gets him in big trouble.…

Here’s Hooperman doing his job:

Meanwhile, Hoop became more and more a hunter. Tuesday afternoon he saw a tall, attractive middle-aged woman in the Human Sexuality section slip a copy of Open Marriage into her large straw purse and head toward the front of the store. Hoop took another copy of the same book from the shelf and followed her to the front, past the cash register, and out the door. Before she reached the corner, he caught up with her and said, “Meh,meh,mem…am?”

She whirled around. “Yes? What do you want?”

“I think you fuh,fuh,forgot something.” He showed her his copy of Open Marriage.

The woman shook her head. “I didn’t forget it,” she said. She reached in her bag and produced the copy she had swiped. “See?”

“You fuh,forgot to peh,peh,pep—”

The woman’s hand flew to her flushed face. “Oh, hell! You’re right. I did forget! No, that’s a lie. I was embarrassed. But you’re right. I’ll go back in and pay for my book. Thank you, sir.”

They walked side-by-side back to the store. After paying Bill Harper at the register for her purchase, she approached Hoop with a nervous smile. She gave him a hug, breathed deeply into his bearded cheek, and whispered, “I’m so sorry. I’m so embarrassed. You’re a sweetheart. Are you…available?”

At a loss for words, Hoop stepped backwards, bumping the shelving trolley against a cardboard dump of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, which tipped over and landed in a heap on the store floor. He stooped to pick up a handful of books, and when he turned back, the woman, her book, her handbag, and her wedding band had left the store.

“Pleasant and unusually good-natured, this novel from Daniel harkens back to a time when printed books mattered and an independent bookstore could be a social club for passionately eccentric bibliophiles.” 

--Publishers Weekly, starred review for Hooperman: A Bookstore Mystery

photo by Clark Lohr

John M. Daniel is a lifelong bibliophile, having worked in eight bookstores. He’s also the author of fourteen published books, including the well-reviewed Guy Mallon Mystery Series. He lives among the redwoods in Humboldt County, California, with Susan Daniel, his wife and partner. They publish mystery fiction under the imprint Perseverance Press (Daniel & Daniel).

john@johnmdaniel.com

www.johnmdaniel.com

blog.johnmdaniel.com

amazon.johnmdaniel.com

facebook.johnmdaniel.com

Buy or order Hooperman: A Bookstore Mystery from your local bookstore, from Amazon, or direct from the publisher:

Oak Tree Press 

1820 W. Lacey Blvd. #220

Hanford, CA 93230 

217-825-4489

Publisher@oaktreebooks.com

http://www.oaktreebooks.com/

For more info about Hooperman: A Bookstore Mystery:

www.danielpublishing.com/jmd/hooperman.html

Voices Lost

Within the space of a month, three authors who've been inspirations to uncounted readers and writers were taken from us. On August 20th, we lost the incomparable Elmore Leonard due to complications from a stroke he'd suffered a month earlier. On September 2nd, I mourned the passing of Frederik Pohl, who had been a staple of science fiction writing for more than seventy-five years. And on September 6th, mere days after posting to Facebook what she suspected would be her final update to friends and fans, science fiction author and writer advocate Ann C. Crispin finally lost her battle with cancer at the age of 63.

For very different reasons, each of these three writers had an impact on me at an early age, long before I ever entertained any notions of writing at all, much less for publication. I first was drawn to Mr. Leonard due to his stories set in my home state of Florida, but before writing mystery novels he also was known for his western tales. He's long been acknowledged as someone with a gift for crafting wonderful dialogue and razor sharp, authentic descriptions to set a scene. When I started writing, I read his famous "Ten Rules of Writing" essay, then went back and reread a few of his novels to see if he practiced what he preached. Practice it, he did. My favorite of his rules are the ones you may have heard before, even if you didn't know who may have said them:

Rule #10: "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip."

And, his one rule that he uses to summarize the first ten: "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."

I'm not going to attempt to give my explanation of Mr. Leonard's "secrets for writing success." You're better off clicking on the link and reading them in the man's own words.

Frederik Pohl is someone I began reading almost by accident, after picking up a copy of his science fiction novel Man Plus when I was a teenager in the early late 1970s. I'd recently read Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and was looking for more Mars-based fiction, only to find that Mr. Pohl's novel was an altogether different animal from Mr. Bradbury's work. It didn't hurt that the main character in Man Plus becomes a cyborg in order to travel to Mars, which was something akin to Steve Austin, aka The Six Million Dollar Man, which I was enjoying at the time. Along with Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Richard Matheson, Joe Haldeman and Robert Heinlein, Frederik Pohl was part of my "golden age of science fiction reading," or the books I was enjoying at the age of 12 or 13. He's also the man behind the very wise Pohl's Law, which every writer, artist or other creator should always keep in mind: "Nothing is so good that somebody somewhere will not hate it."

Then there's Ann Crispin, to whom I was introduced thanks to a Star Trek novel she wrote in the early 1980s, Yesterday's Son. To this day, that novel remains popular with fans of such books, owing to her seemingly easy mastery of the characters and setting from what at the time was the only Star Trek television series. Her adaptation of the 1984 miniseries V still is one of my very favorite media tie-in works. I also read her original fiction, of course, but Ann ended up being one of my inspirations when I began writing tie-in novels of my own, because she never saw a need to distinguish between such novels and her own original fiction. To her, each was deserving of the best effort a writer could bring to bear. When asked about the difference between writing in someone else's "universe" and one of her own creation, her simple answer is one which also has served me rather well when confronted with such questions: "Personally, I believe a good story is a good story, no matter what universe it's written in."

Amen to that.

In addition to her fiction, Ann along with fellow author Victoria Strauss founded Writer Beware, a watchdog group with a mission to foster awareness regarding fraud, scams, and other illegitimate and illegal activities in and around the publishing industry. She and Victoria, along with everyone else working alongside them at Writer Beware, are among the best friends a new writer ever could have.

Elmore Leonard, Frederik Pohl and Ann Crispin: Thank you for decades of wonderful storytelling, and for not being afraid to mentor those smart enough to learn from your wisdom and hard-won experience.

Guest Post: author and screenwriter Dan Stuelpnagel

Thanks to Bill Doonan for inviting me to Novel Spaces for a guest spot.  As a screenwriter and visual artist I have an appreciation for the cinemagraphic aspects of fiction and enjoy fast-moving stories.

That said, two favorite authors I have followed for many years are Barbara Kingsolver and TC Boyle, literary fiction writers with a social conscience.  As I delve into creating a platform for my first novel, a thriller titled Help Me Kill, I understand the need to clarify genre distinctions and reach out to tell readers what the book is like.

Which can be frustrating, many of us would love for our genre work to be considered literary, and perhaps some writers of literary fiction wish their books could gain the broad exposure that some popular genre fiction pieces successfully grab.  But we can’t always have it both ways.

Some books come close to successfully breaking out, though.  I just read an amazing spy thriller that I think rivals the best of the genre and crosses the line into literary fiction, Red Sparrow, by career CIA case officer Jason Matthews.

It got a good review in the Times, and I think this writer accomplishes some very intriguing literary feats.

If you think this is some Tom Clancy shlock, get ready for a wake-up call.  Matthews unfolds a great deal of backstory in the first several chapters to acquaint the reader with his characters, it might seem a little slow-moving to thriller readers, but the time shifts are well-handled and effective, I think he is cleverly leaning a bit on the conventional structure and tone of literary fiction.

As the story continues, in a beautifully-orchestrated trajectory of rising action and shifts in tone, Red Sparrow winds us up with superbly-crafted layers of intrigue, but also brings us close to a love story between the strong heroine and her agency handler, subtle tension encourages us to anticipate the outcome.

The twists as you read through the mid-point and into the third act are elegant and simple yet with mammoth consequences for those involved, there is real philosophical weight here.  I think rewarding the reader is a crucial responsibility of the writer, to structure the story so that it just gets better and better and at the end leaves you satisfied but wanting more.

If that sounds like a seduction, yes, there are plenty of erotic elements to the story, and this is something I weave into my first book as well, I think it is the sparks of romance and sex between characters magnetically drawn together that adds the taste of reality, it is a powerful human motivation that deserves to be acknowledged and fully explored.  It’s also a great challenge to write erotic material that feels organic to the story and doesn’t break the spell.

I understand that literary writers perhaps don’t wish to resort to such transparent devices to push readers’ buttons, and I can appreciate an intellectual and spiritual exploration of the human condition as much as the next person, but I think it is a truly worthwhile challenge to try and incorporate the best of both worlds and write a story that tests our emotional boundaries on multiple levels, these changes in tone are part of what makes it fun to read, otherwise the arc is a predictable ride that holds closely to its genre.

Help Me Kill – a novel by Daniel Stuelpnagel:

“Rebellious French party girl Sabrina Dunand and Swiss doctor Erich Kestenholtz conspire to kill wealthy entrepreneur Konrad Albrecht, so that Erich can steal his identity, along with twenty million euros in rare art works.  This taut, suspenseful and poetic story captures the sex, romance, cynicism and violence of a peculiar slice of the European demimonde.”

And even if you don’t necessarily want to take a chance on that, do read Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews, it is a tremendous book and in my opinion sets the bar very high.

Writing for Money -- Not!

Good Morning, Readers & Writers.  Greetings from my vacation.  And because it's my vacation, I asked one of the most talented writers I know, novelist and screenwriter Bob Bernstein, to write something unforgettable in my stead.

For those who aren't familiar with Bob's work, he's the author of the Captain Grande Angil mystery series, among other works.  A sea captain himself, Bob knows his way around a salty yarn.  You can learn a lot by visiting his Amazon Author page.

I'll let Bob take it from here.

I started my writing career back in the early 90s when wholesale fish prices fell and the recession turned the charter boat business into a virtual treasure hunt for tourists. Visiting sport divers and fishermen became an endangered species here on the Maine coast, as would the cod in the decade to come. With boat and mortgage payments due, I had to try something else. I bought an old Dell computer and started punching out stories. My first was the retelling of an experience swimming with a pair of humpback whales in Massachusetts's Bay -- shh, don’t tell anyone, the Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits fraternization with whales. Anyway, the story ended-up in the pages of a regional boating magazine, which eventually led to a column and a monthly gig writing features for the same magazine, which, in turn, opened the door for gigs with other commercial and recreational boating and fishing magazines.

There’s no question the daily grind of writing for a periodical helps a writer’s productivity. Nothing motivates like a deadline, an in-your-face editor or publisher, and the threat of not getting a paycheck. Conversely, being on your own and writing on spec, particularly a novel, requires a different mind-set, one that must avoid distractions and focus clearly on an end result. For example, right now, I’m alternately thinking of: (1) heading to the marina and opening the hatches in the boat to get some fresh air into the bilge; (2) taking a shower; (3) getting a carrot cupcake with cream cheese icing from the cafe down the street; (4) edging the magnolia in the front yard; (5) bringing my 400 Sky Vodka bottles to the redemption center; (6) calling a therapist to find out if I have ADD or maybe just a drinking problem; (6) emailing M. Night Shyamalan and asking him what was going through his mind while filming After Earth; (7) figuring out how I can scan multiple pages and turn them into a single PDF without simultaneously tearing the remaining hair out of my follicle-challenged head. I could go on, but you get the point.

As Jack Parr once said: “I see my life as an obstacle, with me as the chief obstacle.”

I should be writing the second novel in my Grande Angil Mystery series. It’s there, in it’s own little Scrivener project file, just waiting for me. I feel it beckoning like the call of a Siren, a Siren because while it lies there innocuous and patient on my hard drive, it has the power to consume me thoroughly, heart and soul, holding me hostage for twelve or more hours a day, numbing my legs and turning my arm muscles to pudding. Instead of yanking out roots in the yard, chopping up stumps with a pick axe, diving on moorings, or heading to the north woods to hike a mountain, I’m living out a fantasy in my head and putting it to page and paper. For what?

Sometimes I question what it is that compels me to write. Is it my ego? Do I need some third party to validate me as a person of value? Is it the prospect of hitting the big time and making a ton of money? (HA! That last one always makes me laugh, especially on the day I get my royalty payment.)

Nope, it’s none of the above, because when all is said and done, and I take an honest look at myself in the mirror, I always see the same thing: a storyteller in desperate need of a shave, a good night’s sleep, and a new bathrobe.

Seriously, writers don’t get a lot of sleep, and a lot of them do their best work in their pajamas.

E-Book Experiment: Preliminary Conclusions

Like many writers, I’ve experienced my share of frustrations.  For me, the biggest of those frustrations is the difficulty of finding readers.  Like many writers, I’d be happy to become famous and/or rich as a result of my work, and like most writers, I probably won’t.

If you’ve been paying attention to the publishing industry over the last few years, you’re aware that it is in such a massive state of flux that even insiders don’t know what’s going on.  E-publishing, self-publishing, and an independent publishing renaissance have all been game changers.

It may never have been easier to publish a quality book.  But it has definitely never been harder to attract readers.  Two years ago, I did a promotion on Amazon.com, where I offered a Kindle version of my mystery novel Mediterranean Grave for free for three days.  I publicized this on Twitter, my blog, and on Facebook, and I gave away nearly 2,100 copies.

Last week, as part of my E-Book experiment, I offered my new e-book The Mummies of Blogspace9 free on Amazon.com for five days.  I promoted it on all my networks, blogged about it, Twitted about it, wrote several posts on Novel Spaces, featured it on all my networks, and spent $130 for promotion.  I even made an animated book trailer!  Ultimately, I gave away 304 copies.

I had my best day on Friday, April 19, when the book jumped to Amazon rank 2,640 for free books.  That means that on my best day, there were still 2,639 books being given away in greater quantities than mine.

This is saddening.

I found myself thinking of our recent California housing crash, when so many houses came onto the market that even beautiful luxury homes could he had for a fraction of what it cost to build them.  I think that’s where the publishing industry is right now.

Supply is rapidly and radically outpacing demand.  That being said, I’m not going to give up writing, and I don’t know anybody who is. 

I have been blogging, posting, Tweeting, and Facebooking regularly for a long time.  And many of my fellow writers out there are doing this as well, developing and maintaining a platform.  If anyone out there is finding that this has worked for them, and that they are satisfied with their sales, I would like to hear from them.

I’m not suggesting that a platform is a waste of time, or that it’s not worth doing.  It remains an essential part of our toolkit.  I’m not going to stop.  But as a strategy, it’s incomplete.

If the editors, agents, and other gatekeepers of old are gone, as they seem to be, then the new gatekeepers are us.  We are readers before writers, and we are reviewers.  I review books regularly and religiously, and I look at reviews before I pick a book.  I might not read all the reviews, but if a book has 200 good ones, and I was interested anyway, I’ll probably pick it up.

What I won’t do is stock up on low-priced or free e-books just because I think I’m getting a bargain.  I’ve never downloaded a book that I don’t plan to read, and I don’t know anyone who has.  I just don’t want to read something if I think I’m going to waste my time.  So without question, I’ll pick a free book with fifty five-star reviews over a more expensive one with fewer stars.

So what does this mean for us writers?  I think it means that in order for our work to get noticed, we need readers and we need reviewers.  And we’re not going to get readers without reviewers.  Maybe the most effective thing any writing community can do for its members is to regularly and honestly read and review the work produced by those members.

Because once you have fifty reviews for your book, you start to get noticed.  And once you start getting noticed, readers read.

It should go without saying that a poorly-written book is not going to sell, nor should it.  And a dishonest review is going to get you nowhere in the end.  But until we can work together as an effective guild of artists, we're just disparate groups of writers hoping to make it into the big leagues.

If that sounded like a request for reviews, it is.  Read my book.  I’ll read yours.  If you don’t like it, you can tell me.  I’m already old and cranky.  But if you do like it, hey, do me a favor and let everybody know.

The Mummies of Blogspace9

My e-book experiment isn’t over.  I’m going to wait until I get twenty-five good reviews, and then I’m going to submit it to Book Bub, in hopes that they can blast it all over creation to attract more readers.   One positive note - I had hoped that this experiment would draw attention to my other books.  And it did - I sold twenty-four more copies of my other novels than I had the week before.  Not a lot, but it's not nothing. 

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