Publicity and Privacy - How Much is Too Much?

by Janis Patterson

The hardest thing about blogging regularly is coming up with an idea for a post. After the basic premise is secure, writing the post is a breeze – and usually takes no more than half the time. But coming up with that idea…

I’ve blogged about technique until I feel I should hand the most faithful of my readers a degree of some sort and about my personal life until, being a very private person, I feel half naked. Besides, I really don’t think that people are or even should be interested in the cute things my animals do or the new curtains I’m putting in the guest room, what I’m cooking for supper that night or my political/religious beliefs. While such things affect my writing, they should not affect my books, and my books are the connection with readers – not my supper plans or curtain colors.

I truly do not understand the need some readers feel to know the minutiae of a writer’s personal life. While I admit to a vague curiosity about if my favorites are married, and in what part of the country they live, and the most general of information, none of it is necessary to my enjoyment of their books – or really any of my business. Their books are the connection between us – not the color of their drapes or dinner plans, to continue my rather tired example.

I find, though, that I am in the minority. Far too many readers today feel entitled to know the daily details of a writer’s life, as if they were next door neighbors or long time friends and the only reason they aren’t welcome to come over every morning for coffee is distance. As writers we are encouraged if not demanded to befriend our readers, interact with them, share with them and no one ever seems to realize that the more time we spend befriending and interacting and sharing with them is time we are not spending writing the next book. Ah, but, says the entitled reader, that’s for everyone else – not for them.

So is it the books they like, or being ‘intimate’ with a writer? I’m afraid it’s what we in the talent industry (I used to work in an actors’ agency) the ‘stardust factor’ – the belief that by being close to someone even semi-famous some of their fame and glamour sprinkles down on them. (I can hear all you writers chortling at the concept of writing being glamorous!) Of course, this doesn’t apply to everyone – I have made several dear friends who began as fans, but in every case it is an organic relationship that grew naturally and not something deliberately sought.

Maybe my insistence on a certain level of privacy and distaste of feigning a relationship that doesn’t really exist is why I’m not as popular as I think I should be. Or perhaps it’s just that I was raised with the belief that putting oneself forward constantly saying “look at me look at me” is vulgar. Either way, so be it. If my animals and curtain colors and dinner plans are more important to readers than my books I pity them.

My Newsletter Le Coeur de l’Artiste, and Why I Created It.

I'm happy to  have D.J. Adamson as my guest today on Make Mine Mystery. Diann is the author of the Lillian Dove Mystery series. She is also the publisher of Le Coeur d'Artiste, a monthly newsletter that reviews books and interviews authors. I was lucky to have her review my YA horror-suspense, The Devil's Pawn. 
Marilyn Levinson

Diann:
As writers, we're told you must write a blog so people can get to know you.  I tried that. I've had  many blogs. I’ve written about writing, positive thinking, and my life. Boy, was that a mistake. I ran out of things to say. I felt I was forced to take on an additional job for the sake of my writing. I already have a day job I love and my writing schedule.

Some authors have a group blog. Well, no one asked me to write one with them. Since I’m pretty shy, I didn’t ask to join one. Another idea ditched.

Instead, I started a newsletter.  The first newsletter echoed lectures from my classroom. I began including students’ creative work. I published my first poem at the age of twelve, but there are few outlets for students/beginners to publish. I wanted to offer that accessibility.  They began offering their poems, photography, song lyrics. Some told me it was the first time they’d ever shown anyone their work. One student excelled beyond my newsletter and published in a UCLA literary journal.

It was a great start, but I was promoting myself to a small audience.  Two hundred a semester, but still relatively small. I closed down that newsletter and started Le Coeur de l’Artiste. I took on the mantel that to do for others is to do for yourself. I review an author’s work and interview them to a readership of almost two thousand.  I have interviewed celebrated Indie authors like Hugh Howie, Edgar Award nominees and winners. At the last conference I attended, writers came to me saying, “I know you.”  Of course, I thought they were referring to my Lillian Dove Mystery series. Instead, they said, “I read Le Coeur every month.

Every month. I think that is the key. I publish the newsletter monthly. I read at least five books to review, reviewing those I feel are 3+ stars. You don’t have to be a great writer to get into my newsletter, but you have to have the potential to be a good writer. I don’t ask for money. I don’t ask for a book. Generally, authors send me a pdf or mobi file to read.

I started reviewing only mysteries, but my audience and reading expanded. I review fiction, genre and literary, and non-fiction. I review authors I know, dead authors considered classic writers—it's good to remind people of their talents—and authors I only know from the covers of their books. The newsletter is launched on the 15th of every month.

I have learned more about writing from reading books and interviewing authors than from reading books on the craft. Though I don’t promote myself in the newsletter, more and more people know my name. I believe it's my responsibility as a writer to extend a hand to other writers. I do this by  promoting them.

There’s a saying:  Give Service and Receive. That’s what my newsletter has done for me. I have received knowledge, friendships, networking, promotion, and maybe a few sales.

Bio:

D. J. Adamson is the author of the Lillian Dove Mystery series and the Deviation science fiction-suspense trilogy.  Suppose, the second in the Lillian series has just been released.  She also teaches writing and literature at Los Angeles colleges. And to keep busy when she is not writing or teaching, she is the Membership Director of the Los Angeles Sisters in Crime, Vice President of Central Coast Sisters in Crime and an active member of the Southern California Mystery Writers. Her books can be found and purchased in bookstores and on Amazon. To find her, her blog L’Artiste, or her newsletter Le Coeur de l’Artiste, that go to http://www.djadamson.com. Make friends with her on Facebook or Goodreads.

Holiday? Huh?

by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson

By the time you read this, the Labor Day holiday will be over, and I say thank Goodness!

Whoever started the canard that Holidays were for a holiday, a respite from work? I work harder on a designated Holiday than just about any other day. Like this last weekend – THE EGYPTIAN FILE officially released on the 30^th, so there was all the attendant announcement publicity to do.

A digression - WHY does each book/readers site have different rules on publicity? Different days; different things accepted. Some will accept a post any day; some allow them only on certain days or on one specific day. Some will take only a simple announcement; some want everything – blurb, excerpt, links, cover, websites, everything but your blood type. Some take links, some don't. Some take cover shots, some don't. Some want blurbs, some don't. Some want excerpts, some don't. All seem to want something different in the subject line. Why don't they get together and make one set of rules for all that will be easier for writers and readers both?

Back to holidays. As I said, doing the basic release announcements takes a great deal of time and attention. Plus, The Husband is home, which at the least means more cooking. Plus, we're redoing the garage. The actual hammer-and-nails remodeling is done (thank Goodness, and before there was physical violence) but now we must clean out our various storage rooms and decide what to keep and what to give away. Worse yet, it seems that we each regard our own stuff as precious (mine is mostly antiques, by the way) and the other's as simply stuff, or worse, junk.

My head had barely lifted off the pillow on Saturday before The Husband began prattling about Let's Work On The Garage This Weekend. (When he asked me early in the summer what I wanted for my birthday, I told him two whole weeks in which he neither said nor wrote the word 'garage.' Instead I got a trip to Vegas and a huge kunzite ring. Sigh.) Of course, we were to start working right after I fixed breakfast. Normally cooked breakfasts are reserved for Sundays.

It's late summer in Texas, and ten minutes after dawn the sky is on 'Broil.' Needless to say, our garage is not air-conditioned. Neither are the storage rooms, and neither is our ancient but still (barely) running pickup. I keep telling myself I'd be paying money to use a sauna in some health club to be just as hot. It doesn't help.

The Husband doesn't seem to understand that when I am sitting in a reasonably cool room (who can afford to keep a room truly comfortable with today's abominably astronomical electric rates?) typing on a computer that I am truly working. Believe me, I am. I have blogs to write. I have release publicity to do. I have publicity on previous releases to do. I have future releases to get ready for my formatter and cover artist. And sometime – I don't know really when – I have to write on the next book, whose deadline is galloping steadily closer.

Thank Goodness tomorrow is Tuesday and his job will once more devour The Husband for the better part of the day. Don't get me wrong – I love him, he is the most wonderful man I have ever known and I love being with him, but he does have a fixation. Garage, garage, garage... I'm even coming to hate the sound of the word. I do love being with him. I will love it even more once the garage is finished.

We did work most of the weekend and got a fair amount done. At this rate we should have the job completed just when the weather finally gets cool enough to be outside without my becoming a fountain of perspiration. I do, though, have the dreadful premonition that when that day occurs his repetitive vocabulary will evolve from 'Garage' into 'Yard.' Help me...

Holiday? Phooey.

UPDATE

This fortnight's release is THE EGYPTIAN FILE, a contemporary romantic adventure which takes place in my beloved Egypt. Like THE JERUSALEM CONNECTION, my 30 July release, THE EGYPTIAN FILE is a brand new book, not a backlist rerelease.

I got the idea for THE EGYPTIAN FILE during my last visit to Egypt and it would not leave me alone until I wrote it. Luckily I was blessed with the research help of two good friends, Dr. Stephen Harvey (perhaps the world's most acknowledged authority on Ahmose I) and Dr. Dirk Huyge (Director of the Belgian Archaeological Mission to El Kab). They were both most generous with their time and information, and Dr. Huyge even allowed me to add a tomb to the El Kab site – mainly because things go on in that tomb that should never go on in a real one!

THE EGYPTIAN FILE tells the story of Melissa Warrender, who is sent by a telephone call - which may or may not have come from her dead father - to retrieve a mysterious file in Cairo. Others who are willing to kill for it want the file as well, and Melissa's only ally is a handsome Cairo cabby who may not be what he seems. As they flee across Egypt they know they must translate the cryptic message in the file if they are to survive. An unimaginable treasure is at stake if they can live to find it.

5 reasons you shouldn’t be blogging.

I'm addressing the writers or wanna be writers in the group today.  I've seen a lot of posts about blogging to get your name, and your book out, into the world of social media.  I've been on a blog tour for two new releases since mid-April.  I may be grumpy as I write this.  Usually I love blogging. Maybe a bit too much.  So bear with me as I list out the top five reasons you shouldn't be blogging.

Reason #1- Blogging is Facebook or Twitter on Crack.  If you can say something in 140 characters or a short Facebook post, why spend 350 words or more waxing nostalgic about your high school prom memories? 

Reason #2 – Blogging is not writing your manuscript.  On deadline? You’re better off using that time to slough you way out of the dreaded middle of a book where you’re certain you totally suck as an author.  (Breathe, you don’t really suck.)

Reason #3 – Blogging in a group isn't going to earn you more readers. Well, it might. If you have a quality book out there for people to buy. Blogging gives news readers a chance to see you in action.  Remember that when you decide to blow off your scheduled blog day. Your actions are speaking volumes.

Reason #4 – Blogging is fun. It’s easy. Blogging is spending your Saturday at a local food festival. It doesn't seem like work. Writing is work. And writing is the work you need to be doing.

Reasons #5 – Blogging is not a one way conversation or a lecture. If you’re blogging, you should watch your comments and respond. The commenter’s took the time to write to you, it’s only polite to write back. Think of it as having a lot of mini-pen pals. I work a day job where I may or may not be able to drop into a blog to comment. I’m not ignoring you, but you may have reached me during a time when I had my imaginary do not disturb sign posted on my door.

Michael Hauge - responds to comments at a St. Louis event.

So, to blog or not to blog, that is the question.  For me, the answer always comes down to my WIP. If words are flowing there, then I can give myself permission to blog. Many of my blog posts are written during my lunch hour. That way, I feel like I've moved forward without trying to get into a story only to have to quit a few minutes later.

Do you blog? Are you a faithful blog reader?

Lynn

To Blog or Not to Blog

Some years ago—I can’t remember how many—we writers were first told to set up a website. Then we were instructed to blog. “Blogging is an essential part of your marketing arsenal. You will attract readers this way.” I took an online course in blogging. I started my own blog, which I only wrote sporadically. I joined a group blog. It disbanded. A few years later, I joined another.

I blog. Almost every author I know blogs. But like many of my fellow writers, I’m beginning to wonder if blogging gets me new readers or sells copies of books. Most of the people who respond to my blogs are my fellow writers. Most of them are my friends. Of course they’re all readers, but I’ve no idea what to blog about so that readers who aren’t writers will read what I’m writing,

Every day I receive notices via Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo groups of new blog posts. I don’t have the time to read most of them. Everyone’s blogging, but who’s reading them? The posts I read and comment on fall into three categories: 1) the topic is interesting, 2) it may prove helpful regarding marketing, and 3) it’s written by a friend. One of the best reasons for blogging—though not its original purpose—is to keep in touch with writing friends.

But maybe I’ve become too pessimistic. I think blogging is here to stay as a means of communicating with others. I don’t blog very often on my own blog, Tides and Tidings, but when I do, it’s about a subject I care deeply about. A few weeks ago I blogged about “Life Changes” and how life changed for me after my husband died. Many people responded to it. And I’ve won several books by leaving a comment. How cool is that! Most recently, I left a comment on one of my cyber friend’s blog, and her editor emailed me regarding my books. The upshot is, I’ll be sending her a manuscript.

And so, for now I’ll continue to blog. Who knows? Soon another social media may arise, one we can’t even imagine. What do you all think about blogging?

Unbelievable

Reporting on my cruise and something I found out that I found hard to believe.

Hubby and I went on the ill-fated mystery cruise. I say ill-fated because it was scheduled for last year and had a large group signed up. It would be like a conference with panels and speakers, open to the public and a last day meet the author. The week before we were supposed to go, the ship we were going on caught fire at sea and had to be towed in. Big news--the cruisers were without fresh food, hot water, and electricity.

There was no way the ship could be fixed in time for our cruise so it was cancelled. The mystery cruise was re-scheduled for this year, most of the people signed up again. The price was definitely right. About half way into the year one person decided not to go and said the cruise was cancelled. It wasn't, but that was enough for many to back-out and there were no longer enough people for our events to be listed in the ship's daily calendar.

The price was really good and hubby and I decided to go anyway as did a few others. We had about 10 mystery authors, four members of a group called Citizens Against Homicide, and a some folks just taking advantage of the good price for the cruise. We did get together three times. Once to get to know who we all were, and one of the authors gave a presentation on short story writing.

The Citizens Against Homicide gave a two hour presentation another day. They help people who have lost someone to homicide. I'll write more about the group at another time.

The unbelievable came about when I gave a presentation about blog tours. I had this idea in my head that we mystery authors on the cruise ought to plan a blog tour. I began talking about blogging and a hand went up. No names, but this was an author I'd never met, but I had heard her name. This was the question, "What on earth is a blog?"

I thought she was kidding. She wasn't. And she wasn't alone, except for one other author, none of them not only didn't blog, they'd never heard of blogging, had no clue what I was talking about. I explained along with the help of the other author who did blog. Unfortunately, this particular day the seas were rough and it was impossible to stand up to talk. I did my best from a chair. Finally I offered to send everyone hand-outs I've done for other groups on blogging and blog tours. The day after I got home, I did just that. I hope everyone got them--but I haven't heard a word back from anyone.

So, for those of us who blog regularly, this was a shocking surprise to me.

While I was gone, I had a new blog posting everyday--they were writing tips I'd posted at previous times, but at least I had something new everyday for those who follow my blog.

Is anyone as surprised by this as I am?

Marilyn

Are You a Procrastinator?

Well, I can be. Never with work, of course…well, hardly ever. But sometimes, when the Muse isn’t pounding down my door with ideas for stories, blogs, articles, etc, I do find it easy to be distracted when I’m sitting at my computer. It’s not just a quick game of Mahjong or Free Cell any more. There are many interesting sites on the web – if you’re interested in tennis, skiing, baseball, horses, flying, cooking – you name it, there’s a site you can find with all kinds of info and some have training videos available – fifteen minutes have disappeared in a blink while you learned how to follow through on your golf swing!

And, of course, those sites often have links to their Facebook page, Twitter, YahooGroups discussion groups. Before you know it, a quick little glance at how to make angel food cake has you signed up for online cooking lessons and you’re fifteen posts into a discussion on the merits of butter cream versus cream cheese frosting.

It’s fine to say, just apply willpower and get to work on that review you’ve promised, the blog that’s waiting to be posted, the first three chapters you told your crit partner you’d have to her last week. Then that email alarm sounds and you see someone has said the only real frosting for a cake is their grandmother’s seven-minute frosting. How can you not look at that recipe?

Here are a couple of suggestions on how to work through the procrastination.

1 – I can write whatever I want on the assignment hanging over my head. I can write the love scene I know is coming up in my WIP, even if my characters aren’t there yet, or the beginning of an article on squirrels or the first paragraph of my column. It doesn’t have to be perfect; it doesn’t even have to be something I’ll end up sending out, but it does get me writing.

2 – I can online browse at a specific time, but not before. That can be tough because you can find yourself watching the time.

3 – This one is a bit of an oddity, but it can work. Tell yourself you’re NOT allowed to write until a specific time. By the time the designated hour arrives, say 7:37 pm, you could be chomping at the bit to get those ideas onto your hard drive.

So…what gets your fingers moving when you’re procrastinating?

Libby McKinmer
Romance with an edge
www.libbymckinmer.com
libby@libbymckinmer.com
Also on Facebook, Twitter & Good Reads

What Internet Promo Do You Like Best?

Recently a comment was left on a post I made on another blog asking me the question what of all the Internet Promo that I did seemed to be the most effective--or what did I like best?

My answer was that I really didn't know because they are all so interconnected.

I love blogging as anyone who has been following me probably has already figured out.
I post the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays here. Every Tuesday, I blog at and I try to post every day on my own blog, Marilyn's Musings and I just signed on with Criminal Minds at Work for periodic blogging.

From time to time I post on my publisher's blog.

The entire month of July I was on a blog tour. Everyone always asks me if they work. All I can tell you is I get a lot of exposure because I promote each of them a lot and I've noticed that my Amazon numbers go down while I'm on a tour.

And you probably wonder about Facebook. I love Facebook--not sure how much good it does promotion wise, but I think it's a lot of fun and I've made friends and found old ones by posting on Facebook--and I also am connected to a lot of my relatives through Facebook.

I Twitter, but I usually do it through ping.fm which delivers whatever I post to all the social networking sites that I've signed up for.

One thing that's important about blogging is when you've blogged somewhere, to go back and check periodically to see if anyone has left a comment or question on the blog that you should respond to. If you're guest posting somewhere, be sure to leave a comment thanking you host for having you.

I love having people guest post on my blog--but one thing that I've noticed is that not everyone knows that all the information they want on the blog needs to be sent to the host: Your own name for instance. Yes, I've had people sent me a blog post via email with an address that doesn't include the person's name and the name is nowhere in the body of the email. Not too smart if the post is promotion of some kind. And if the person has a website--and if she or he is an author--that certainly should be included.

I always ask for .jpg photo of both the person and the book cover and sometimes I don't get either.

As the host, it is really a pain to have to pull information out of the person who wants to be on your blog. It also would be nice if the person spell checked their post--a typo or two is expected--but goodness, when you can't figure out what a sentence is supposed to mean, that's pretty sad.

So, what about you? What Internet promo do you like best? And do you have any pet peeves?

Marilyn

Any Editing/Vetting Opportunities in the Kindle Error? Era?

With ebook publishing opening up whole new avenues and revenues for Indie author/publishers like myself (2000 books sold in past 2 months), it SHOULD open up whole new avenues and revenues for Indie Book Editors! Why not? It has spawned a whole new business of Cover Art graphic experts, and experts at manuevering the digital platform requirements and html conversion work, so why not more editors?

I recieved (i before e except after c sometimes?) a request from a nice person other day asking me of all people "How does one succeed as an editor in the world of book publishing?" when in fact, I am possibly perhaps maybe the worst person to ask this of, but since "Nice Person" asked, I did not want to simply say, "I'm like the worst person to ask".  Instead I wrote the following, which took some doing, which makes me a nice fellow too (insert a Lewis Black wink here).

Who makes more errors in a manuscript than I? Further for Farther, lay for lie, YOU'RE for YOUR, suit for suite and suite for sweet even. At any rate, I have had some experience with teachiing, speechifying, editing, proofing, rewriting, rethinking, restructuring manuscripts (40 some odd years) so here is what I had to say in response to Nice Person's inquiry:

First, I thought sure, dear, you were going to talk about some errors you found in Children of Salem--whew! Dodged that bullet. There is hardly a work of fiction or nonfiction that could not use yet another vetting as errors are like gremlins....they exist, they are real, they are everywhere!!! Boo! No matter how many times I editr...errr edit my own work, and send it to others to edit, something slips through....and quite often it is an error while fixing an error.

Now about making a living as an editor, especially freelancing it....this is a horribly tough row to hoe. There are some fine, wonderful editors available that I have found willy-nilly online just by happenstance and trial and error. But my first editor was a great friend who was Chief Overall Editor on my high school newspaper at Wells High, Chicago--and I still use lessons learned from Margaret Givhan such as work in active voice as much as humanly possible. So there is that. You may have people close to you who can do more than simply say of your book, "That's nice."

 I also have been so put upon over the years since '79 by New York City publishing copyeditors that I had to soak up some truths about writing and rewriting.  I have also become an editor myself and have proofed and ghost written my share of books via my Knife Services found at my website.

However, for the past year that business has absolutely dried up for me, despite the praise I get from clients. It is a gift that goes unrewarded and extremely hard to convert into funds. Most editors purely love the work, but unless attached to a magazine, a publishing house, working with a college PR department, or a PR division of a company or other group for steady work, there simply is nothing steady about freelance work. In short, one can starve worse than the writer starves while building a clientele.

Building a clientele can take years and look at me--no gaurantee of work the next day, week, month. I liken it to being a novelist or freelance writer. Complete uncertainty as to where the next job will come from. So I do not paint a pretty picture here.

With the onslaught of "Indie Author/Publishers" coming into being due to Smashwords, Kindle, and many other avenues open to writers today, this picture I paint above ought to change for editors hungry for work; in fact, the Kindle 'revolution' ought to open up whole new doors for editors as it has for a plethora of people now charging to do cover art and/or to place work up on digital platforms such as Kindle (http://www.dtp.amazon.com/) for the uninitiated.

Editors ought to be in extremly high wingnut demand (one reason they are often not in demand is the hubris of writers who think they don't need an editor! Fools that they be!). If I were seriously going to pursue an editing career as a young person today, I would go out into this Brave New M-M-Marketplace Online, and this means find where authors hang out online at such places like http://www.murdermustadvertise.com/  and of course http://www.kindle/ Korner@yahoogroups.com , the Kindle Boards at Amazon, various other Yahoo groups. I would Boogle...ah Goofle...ah Google for more places and introduce myself as the person who can make a Kindle title perfect in diction and detail before the author's GAFFs are speread to the forewinds of internet publishing. I would Play Up the fact that it is a well known that kindle readers are immediately turned off and will not return to an author whose work is not perfectly polished, and that a great editor is as important as great artwork, great title, great expert advice on guns, and a great resource librarian. That vetting and editing the book is essential.

I likely scare people off with my style of advertising for editing work with my "complete book autopsy" talk, and talk of slabs and dissecting the work. I mean who wants to go under the knife and do you have the guts, etc. By the same token, an editor needs a logo and a motto and advertising savvy as any other business on the web. Turn your editing business into a metaphor for instance of sewing, knit-one, pearl-two..."We keep you in stitches" or "We do great seems, ah seams, ah scenes!"

In any event, it is difficult to get people to part with money for any service but particularly editing. I think many people see it as the last item to spend money on...kind of like having to pay for air to put in your tires. Sorry but that is the sad truth aka reality of it...a reality that people who love editing deal with every day.

Now as to pricing: it is all over the map. The high end editors who worked at one time for NYC publishers often are out of sight at six or more dollars per page, or they will bill by the hour and you can 'take it or lump it' as they say. The average bill I see is four an hour, but I have known at least one NYC based editor charging eight dollars a page! No one, in my opinion, rates that but some people buy their coffee at Starbucks too, thinking the higher the price, the better the quality, and I don't get that. Certainly not true with price of books on Kindle! All my titles are 2.99 save for 3 books I don't control.

The average at low end is 3 bucks per page and I have charged in the past as as much as 5 and as little as 2.50 per page depending on difficulty of the work. Some jobs mean a near ghost writing effort, some develop into ghost writing! while others are a breeze. I never charged by the hour, because it sets up all kinds of questions in the client's mind as to how you do your bookkeeping, can I really trust you, etc., whereas in charging by the page everything is out in the open.

I routinely work with first chapter or first 30 pages before committing to the entire novel or book--like the one entirely from the point of view of a Bonsai tree (client has passed away, so I figure it is OK to speak of it here and will not be attacked by a lawsuit). This way either party can back out if unhappy with the circumstances--as in: you learn too late that you're dealing with someone on a certain medication that makes her think herself an angel or worse!

I hope this has been of some help, and that it has provided you with some guidance, and wish I could be more upbeat about it. Still perhaps the new avenue for writers--ebook publising--will open up new avenues for editors as well it SHOULD!  Thanks -- and happy writing, editing, vetting all...

Rob Walker
Children of Salem, Killer Instinct, Cutting Edge
http://www.robertwalkerbooks.com/

"Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she
meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again." Rick Polito's
single-sentence summation for the Wizard of Oz.

Blogging by Christine Duncan

A while back I took an internet course on blogging. The gist of the course seemed to be how to network with your blog. I liked that idea as I had been on the net a relatively long while and was used to discussion group lists and bulletin boards where I got to know the participants. I have been thinking about the course lately due a question posed by Julie Lamoe on Crimespace.

Julie had a question about guest bloggers. Do you just invite anyone? What if you don't like their books?

First let me state that I am in awe of anyone organized enough to read the books of all the people who guest blog for them. Although I do the job of requesting (begging for) guest bloggers for my other blog with a very few exceptions, I neither request nor receive copies of the guest's books. I do check out their blogs and am a little tough on their guest posts. Any guest post that smacks too hard of self-promo is declined. But generally speaking, I've looked on it as a chance to get to "know" other writers. And I've learned one heck of a lot from them.

I know the idea is to network to some "better" publishing position.

But the concept offends me.

I like to blog because I'm so...well I prefer the word opinionated, but feel free to insert whatever came to your mind. I like reading the blogs of other folks to see their opinions. Some of the people whose blogs I enjoy reading aren't even mystery writers. But I know that if I tune into their blogs, they will have a post there that will make me think, or laugh, or comment.

Why do you blog? Seriously, if you are an author, it is expected that you blog or at least guest blog. But because something is expected of us has never been a reason to really want to do it.

Christine Duncan is the author of the Kaye Berreano mystery series.

Balancing, balancing, balancing

We've talked about this before, but since I've been doing so much of this lately I decided to approach the subject again.

I'm working on a new Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery and have written fifteen chapters.

While I'm doing that I've also been working on the program for the Public Safety Writers Association's conference, which is from June 10 to 17 in Las Vegas. We have so many wonderful speakers I'm really excited about it. The speakers have to pay to come to the conference and their expenses like anyone else so it's a real coup when they agree to come. Besides the speakers we also have an agent and three small press publishers who will give one-on-ones. Anyone who signs up before March 31 can be on a panel if they want to be on one.

Because of these great speakers, I've been promoting the conference like crazy, I don't want anyone to miss out. http://publicsafetywriter.com

And...while I'm doing that I am planning the promotion for my next Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel, An Axe to Grind. I don't have copies of it yet, so can't set dates for my book launch as yet, but I do have events lined up already.

January has already been busy. Spent one weekend in Ventura with the PSWA Board doing business--and have a bit of fun and some great food. Love the Ventura, CA area--lived there for over twenty years. While we were there, got to see my two daughters and their hubbys who live close by.

We went to the coast this past weekend again, this time to Morro Bay. I belong to the Central Coast chapter of Sisters in Crime and joined with them to put on a writing workshop. Whenever you have an event away from home it means planning what you need to take with you and getting a hotel reservation somewhere that doesn't cost much. Fortunately, going to small coast communities off season is really the best time.

A blog tour is planned for March. So far haven't had any interviews or questionnaires to do for that, but when they start coming in, that'll take some juggling too.

On my personal blog, every Friday I'm interviewing members of PSWA, and I try to have something new every day. http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com

Once a week I attend the writers critique group I've belonged to since 1981.

Believe it or not, I also have a life. My hubby expects a bit of time with me each day and we try to go to the movies and out to eat two or three times a month. I'm also the chief cook around here and always have extra folks joining us for dinner. I have four adult children (two live really close by) and lots of grandkids and great grandkids. I teach Sunday School, I'm the Church Clerk and participate in many church activities.

I'm sure I've missed something, but you get the idea, it's a lot to juggle.

Don't Get Blogged Down

Nowadays a great deal of authors, in any genre, especially those who are still trying to make it big and are not yet a household name, are bloggers as well. I know I blog a lot. A whole lot. There are many advantages to having a well read popular blog. It is a great way to build up a readership and following. It provides a discipline, if you take it seriously, of writing on a regular basis. If you have more than one blog or one that covers more than one topic it broadens your writing abilities. It also is an effective medium for getting immediate feedback on how well your writing is received. More so than the book, a blog is a quick, lively, and continuous interaction with your readers. It also, when done well, helps you sell more books, and that is after all what we as authors are trying to do - sell books!

But like anything else, blogging can become too much of a ... hmm, do I dare say - addiction? Yes, addiction. I was going to say passion, but addiction is more on the point I'm so tediously slow in getting to. As a passion, which it is to me now, it can be a healthy, and as I explained above, valuable for many reasons and lucrative part of the writer's work schedule. But taken too far and not kept in balance, it can hinder the progress of those most important WIP's, and, taken to the extreme, it can consume one like a deadly narcotic. I'm a full time writer, so I have more liberty to devote hours and hours every week to blogging than the writer who holds down a full time job, but even so I've had to come to grips with my passion for it and put it in its place.

I came to this conclusion, about needing to get a grip on my running out of control blogging habit, at the end of a month-long blogging binge, the consummation of a desolate period of my life. My rampant run amok blogging had ruined me. I had lost my wife, my family's respect, my WIP's had mildew on them, the house and car had been repossessed, I was drinking myself to death with cheap bourbon during the day and Pepsi at night, and so broke I was having to dance at a strip bar to make the money I needed to keep my cable internet going so I could write one more blog. Didn't need food. Just my blogs.

My publisher, in a fit of outrage, hunted me down, pissed with me for having missed my last deadline again, and saved my life by having me committed to a BA (Blogaholics Anonymous) Rehab clinic. It was there, when I finally got sober and realized how far I had fallen, that in a fit enlightened inspiration I penned this poem that I wish to share with you all today. Enjoy, take serious note, and then please share your thoughts in the comments afterward.

Ode to the Blogaholic
(You Know Who You Are)

I thought it best to start out my day-
Working on manuscripts when,
In a fit of addictive behavior I must say,
All did I was just blog instead.

By noon, I resolved, I would certainly have-
A thousand words WIP penned,
But I swear I didn't know the time had all passed ...
By the time I finished blogging again.

Mid afternoon certainly productive must be-
Occupied with writing, swore I then,
But great god almighty and good golly gee ...
By four I had only blogged again!

At dinner I ate quickly and did firmly resolve-
Early eve not one email to send.
In this I can say I was able - but not proud,
For though no emails, I did blog ... shan't pretend.

As midnight approached my manuscripts did so vie-
For attention from me before bed.
But try as I might, and Lord knows I did try,
Before sleep I had blogged once again.

I now lay me down to sleep with a prayer-
For all my good bloggers and friends.
That their days be not lost as mine in thin err-
Whilst blogging o'er and o'er with no end.

***

Promotion

There's been a lot of talk about promotion -- and it's key to keeping your name out there. But how do you find the readers? Are you just promoting to other writers, who are also promoting?

There are tons of social networks now -- MySpace, Facebook, GoodReads, Shelfari, Twitter and many blogs. How do I get readers to check me out on MY blog, MY page on the social networks? Do I buy ads in traditional magazines, on websites, put up banners on sites and networks? Do I attend conventions?

I think each author has to sit down and think about what areas work for him or her. Most publishers have a presence on the major social networks, have an area for their authors to run blogs, send books and promo to conventions, buy ads, etc.

In a recession, we all have to think about the dollars we allot to our promotion, but another very important resource is to allocate our time properly. Can you be on every social network, update your page(s), write blogs, design ads, banners and plan for a trip across country to a convention?

I think it's essential for authors to participate in blogs like Make Mine Mystery because we support one another, have a variety of blog topics that will bring readers to the site and maybe discover another writer than the one they dropped in to read!

I also think you must think about your budgets -- of money and time. You can't burn out either! If you spend all your money on ads, do you have the funds to go to the convention you really want to attend? If you spend all your time updating social network pages, when do you write?

READERS: How do you find writers? Do you go to social networks, troll thru blogosphers, read ads, attend conventions? Or do you have a different strategy?

AUTHORS: How do you find readers? Same as the readers find writers, or something different?

Let's connect and still have money to buy books, time to write books, and time to enjoy life!