That Spooky Time of Year

I've definitely written my share of spooky books. I've always been fascinated with haunted houses and things that go bump in the night, and that's probably why I tend to write about such things.

My very first mystery, The Astral Gift, was about a young woman with the ability to astral project but unable to control it.

http://www.amazon.com/Astral-Gift-Marilyn-Meredith-ebook/dp/B001TUYVJG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1444658950&sr=1-1



One of my favorites is more of a romance--though there are mysterious elements is Lingering Spirit. And of course, there is a ghost.

http://www.amazon.com/Astral-Gift-Marilyn-Meredith-ebook/dp/B001TUYVJG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1444658950&sr=1-1

I even ventures into the spirit world with my Rocky Bluff P.D. series with Violent Departures, when Detective Milligan and his family move into a haunted house.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_16?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=violent+departures+by+f.+m.+meredith&sprefix=Violent+Departur%2Cdigital-text%2C272

And of course, all of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mysteries have some form of supernatural goings on--but when it comes to haunted houses, Spirit Shapes has the most haunted house I've ever conjured out of my imagination.

http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Shapes-Tempe-Crabtree-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00FEJDA04/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1444659852&sr=1-1&keywords=Spirit+Shapes+by+Marilyn+Meredith

Over the years I've had a lot of fun writing spooky stories.

Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith

What Works Best at a Booksigning?

First, how do you get publicity?

In our town, and it's not a big one, it's nearly impossible to get the paper to print anything about a new book, the author or a signing. I've considered paying for an ad to have some publicity for my next event.

What about the place?

The only bookstore in our little town is a used book store. I've had some signings there, but it's very small and no room for people to hang around, or even to give any kind of presentation. One of my friends had one at our local art museum and was well-attended by her friends--but no outsiders. (Lack of newspaper publicity, I think.)

Our library has a nice meeting room but if you're going to sell books you are supposed to get a business license from the city.

Do you give a presentation of some kind? Or just sign books?

I prefer giving some kind of presentation, that brings in more people, though not necessarily people who want to buy a book.

One thing I've noted over the years--if it's in a place where the author must handle the money, it's always best if someone else is assigned the task of the actual selling.

However, the author should remain available to sign the books. I was recently at a signing where the author wandered around visiting and had to be called back to the signing table.

Do you have a guest book? What do you want the people to put in it?

I want their name and email address and I always ask them if they want to get my monthly newsletter.

For me, just having them sign a guest book is missing a good opportunity of collecting email addresses, even if you only send out announcements about your next book or event.

And time frame--what are the best hours for a signing? I've done them at all hours.

I recently went to a tiny bookstore in a mountain community (I love going up there). It was on a Friday night from 6:30 to 7:30--bookstore's decision. There was publicity in the local newspaper, three people came because of that. I promoted on Facebook and two came from that. (My grandson's mother-in-law and an author friend I only see occasionally at book events.) Four out of five people bought books. I sold another to a friend who couldn't come, but whom we had dinner with before the event. We stayed overnight because we had an event to attend in the big city in the valley the next morning. (Sold a book there too because I had them with me.)

On November 23rd, I'm giving a presentation on How to Get Published with another author in the art gallery. It's had some minor newspaper coverage and we'll be in competition with many Christmas boutiques around town.

Any other do's and don't's, successes and failures, you'd like to share?

Marilyn

Life Interfering with my Writing

Well, not just life--I've really been busy lately, and I have three chapters written in my next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery. I need to get with it because I'm going to read the last chapter of my next Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel to my critique group next week.

Most everyone knows I've been on a blog tour for Spirit Shapes (the latest Tempe Crabtree mystery) and that take a lot of time to promote. There's no point in doing a blog tour unless you promote it every day and go back and see who has commented. Necessary, because the person who comments on the most blogs will have his/her name used in my next Tempe.

This month I went on a trip to Portland with the publisher of my Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novels. We drove from Central CA to Medford OR in one day, and then onto the convention center that was holding Wordstock in Portland. We unloaded tables and chairs and lots of books and carted stuff to the other end of the convention hall. After that we drove around Portland's freeways (as bad as L.A.s with just as crazy drivers) to find a place to eat and then our hotel. And by the way, I was the navigator for all this with the help of a GPS.

The next day we attended Wordstock and talked to many people about the books on display. That evening, we found a nice place to eat close to the hotel before heading back to bed. No sooner did we get into our room when I had some kind of scary heart incident.

The next day we went back to the convention center, again talked to people about the books, and in the late afternoon, packed up everything and headed back to the hotel. No problems. The next morning we left for home.

The first night home, I had another heart incident. Next day went to my doctor, had an EKG. Was sent for blood work--which turned out to be okay, but an appointment was made with a cardiologist.

Saw him, he thinks I had a heart attack and I'm signed up for a bunch of tests. Meanwhile heart is still weird at times though usually I feel fine.

I have some book events scheduled, and guess I'll just keep moving on and pray for the best. And maybe I'll get back to writing soon.

Marilyn

Write What You Don't Know

I decided to use my day on Make Mine Mystery as one of my blog stops on my tour for my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Spirit Shapes. Coming up with new topics to write about has been a challenge. For this one, I thought I’d go against the usual advice of writing what you know.

Truthfully, don’t most of write about what we don’t know as well as what we do know? J.K. Rowling didn’t know about wizards, magic and a school of wizardry, she made most of it up. Same thing with the Twilight series, did the author have first-hand knowledge about vampires and werewolves? What these authors did know is how people act during all sorts of disasters and calamities, and how much a person will do to reach a goal. As an author we use what we do know and our personal experience and build on that with our imaginations and any necessary research.

We take what we do know and use it to write what we don’t know. With today’s technology we are able to research anything and find out at least enough to make us sound like we know what we are writing about.

In my own case, I’ve never been a resident deputy sheriff like my heroine Tempe Crabtree. But I have known several, interviewed one, and talked to others. I have relatives and friends in law enforcement and for the most part, I know they are like all the rest of us.

I’m also not an Indian like Tempe, but again I have friends and relatives who are. I can research Indian legends and lore to use in my mysteries.

When it comes to haunted houses and ghosts, I have had some personal experience, but that was the topic of another blog.

Of course it’s much easier if you do know what you’re writing about, but when you have a good story idea, let your imagination go wild.  Do the research you need later. And remember, less is more. I’ve read too many stories where the author was so knowledgeable about what he or she was writing, the story suffered because of too many facts.

Marilyn Meredith

Blurb for Spirit Shapes: Ghost hunters stumble upon a murdered teen in a haunted house. Deputy Tempe Crabtree's investigation pulls her into a whirlwind of restless spirits, good and evil, intertwined with the past and the present, and demons and angels at war.

To buy direction from the publisher in all formats:


http://mundania.com/book.php?title=Spirit+Shapes
  
And of course, Amazon.

I've been putting up different photos of me on each blog, so here's today's:

Middle daughter Lisa and me

 Bio: Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series. She borrows a lot from where she lives in the Southern Sierra for the town of Bear Creek and the surrounding area, including the nearby Tule River Indian Reservation. She does like to remind everyone that she is writing fiction. Marilyn is a member of EPIC, three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and follow her blog at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

Contest:

The person who comments on the most blogs on this blog tour will have the opportunity to have a character named after him or her in the next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery.

Tomorrow I’ll be visiting here: http://rabbiauthor.com/

What Kind of Planning Ahead Do You Do for Promotion?

When I first started out on this journey we call being a published author, I had no idea that I would be the one doing the majority of the promotion of my book. In fact, the only thing I did for promotion all those many years ago, early 1980s, was to arrange a book signing. Of course there was no Internet back then or anyway to promote except sending out mailings and book stores appearances.

As each book came out, I got smarter and smarter. And some of the publishers that I queried wanted to know what my marketing plans were--so I realized I need to have some.

Over the years I've done many different things--and now, of course, a lot more on the Internet through Facebook and of course, blogs.

For my latest, Spirit Shapes, a Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, this is what I've planned so far:

A blog tour--wow, that is a lot of work Here's the first week's stops:

September 30    http://Mariaruizauthor.com/ 

October 1   http://SavvyAuthors.blogspot.com/

 

October 2   http://Marilynlevinson.com/blog/

October 3   http://krisneri.blogspot.com/

October 4   http://anastasiapollock.blotspot.com/

October 5   http://mmgornell.wordpress.com/

October 6  http://poluckwithjudy.blogspot.com

October 7  http://lornacollins-author.blogspot.com/

You can find all the stops on my blog:http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

 The person who comments on the most blogs will have their name used for a character in the next book in the series.

I have several in person events:

I'm meeting with a book club, going to be one of six mystery authors on a panel at a new bookstore, will have a booth at Taste of the Arts, and doing a signing at another new bookstore.

Next to plan is a book launch of some sort in my little town, just looking for the best place to do it.

What I'm not doing is going to Bouchercon this year--airplane travel has just gotten to be too big a pain. I do plan to attend Left Coast Crime in 2014 though because it's drivable, actually being on the left coast. Maybe I'll see some of you there.

Tell me what your favorite promotion is? Maybe you can give me some fresh ideas.

To buy directly from the publisher:

 http://mundania.com/book.php?title=Spirit+Shapes

Marilyn