Month: May 2020

Mailing Lists

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Just about every author needs a mailing list of some sort, if for no other reason than to keep in contact with his readers. You’ve got to tell someone when your next new book is coming out, right? That’s where a mailing list comes in handy. You tell them—they tell others. In fact, if you call your list a Reader’s Club, it will sound more elite, and your subscribers will mention it a bit more eagerly. They’ll brag about being connected to an author.

You can start your list any time you’re ready…whether your book has been through final editing or not. The sooner you start your list, the larger it can grow before you use it to announce your book release. Just keep it active, so your subscribers remember who you are and why they signed up.

List Services

You can automate most of the work involved in keeping a list by using an emailing service such as Mail Chimp (free up to 2000) or Mailer Lite (free up to 1000), and it’s a good thing if your list exceeds the free limit, because then you’ve hit the big time! After the free level, both of those services have varying prices, all based on how many subscribers you have. If you’re willing to start off with a paid service, Constant Contact is available for only $20/month with up to 500 subscribers.

Using automated services makes it easy to collect subscribers. The service does all the hard work…all you have to do is include a Sign Up link with any marketing you do. Make certain to include the link on the landing page of your website as well as on your About the Author pages (on the web as well as in printed books), your business cards and bookmarks, and any fliers you have set up at your book signings. Readers expect to see sign up requests, so cover at least these basic locations. The more you spread it around, the better. (On printed adverts, don’t forget a QR code that they can scan to be taken right to the Sign Up page.)

You’ll get a few subscribers just by having the link, but if you want more, you’ll have to give them something in exchange for their email address. You could use an unpublished short that ties into your next novel or a worksheet for your non-fiction book. Make it easy, but don’t blast them with the request…keep it subtle.

Using Your List

The fans who join your Reader’s Club will tend to be your Target Readers, so treat them well. Send out a contact email no more than a few times a year…you want to keep them involved, not annoyed. Let them know about upcoming release dates and special deals. Use your connection with them to offer private deals, such as a boxed set of your first few books or a temporary low price on new releases. You can also keep them interested if you share short stories that will never be released to the public in general…an exclusive only to members of your Reader’s Club. That will make them feel special. Reward them with goodies.

Just before your next book launch, send out a reminder with the first few chapters and invite them to pre-order your book. That will help with rankings as most sites include all pre-orders as part of the first day’s sales—the spike in sales will rocket you to the top of the lists, and you’ll be visible to a lot more readers.

Most of the emailing services will let you resend just to those who opened your first note. Those are the folks most active on your list. Offer them a discount coupon for being so involved…and resend to those who didn’t open your first message with a teaser of what they missed out on. They signed up but for some reason didn’t act on it. Offer them some other kind of special deal…but only if they act now!

Sub Text

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Although what you say is important, sometimes what you don’t say is even more important. That’s the concept behind Sub Text. This topic may be a bit Advanced, but we’re presenting it as a Basic level to let writers be aware of it…and possibly manage to squeeze a bit of it in any writing they are doing. We all know that you’ve done a lot of research to create your story world…and you really want to share all of it (which is Info Dump: the opposite of Sub Text), but most readers are at least as smart as you are—they can figure things out for themselves, so let them.

Sometimes you can achieve Sub Text by controlling POV. If the MC doesn’t know something but can perceive it from the actions of others, then so can the reader. You don’t need to be in another person’s head to know how they feel, and neither does the MC. When he responds appropriately, you may assume that the readers are smart enough to see the same clues he sees. They’ll discover what’s going on and understand the actions of the MC. It helps if you Resist the Urge to Explain anything…as long as it is clear. If it isn’t, you need to rewrite the section.

Unseen Secrets

Trying to create hidden information can be difficult…especially as you, the author, do know what they are thinking and feeling. The difficulty is not putting it down on paper, keeping it invisible, hiding beneath the words you give readers, but proper use of Sub Text can make your MC’s journey even more powerful. If your otherwise good character shows a pretence of being mean, his true nature will show through his actions, and we will soon come to understand the internal conflicts that make him act that way. Let readers draw their own conclusions—trust them to help you tell the story. Let readers take what would be just a pile of words and bring it to life.

Stories can contain much more than what shows on the page. Invite readers into the story and let them ask questions that you never address. Let them observe without telling them. They aren’t here to be taught—they want entertainment, but they also appreciate a good mind stretcher, a story that is thought-provoking and emotionally engaging. Trust them to want to delve into unstated backstories. You may know why a character acts the way he does, but if you intentionally don’t include that info, the readers will draw their own conclusions…and whether they match your ideas or not is irrelevant. In fact the more outlandish some reader’s ideas are, the more likely that the difference is going to engender conversation (discussion? arguments?) as he tells all his friends about your book.

Proving a Negative

Just as you can’t prove the non-existence of something, you might have difficulties understanding how to not put in what isn’t in your story. (Yes, that may be a double negative, but it’s the best way to say it.) Just give readers two points…and nothing in between. Let them connect the dots. The more those points differ, the less they align, the greater the mystery. Readers will be curious about the missing information and fill it in for themselves. When an internal revelation differs from how a character has appeared on the outside, there is a question, an implicit question…never explicit. Sub Text cannot be explicit…it must come implicitly from the apparent disparity.

Consider this minor example: a character gets mad and storms out of the room…only to return mere moments later to apologise. We don’t need to follow him as he considers his feelings…we know what he did. You give the reader the argument and the apology and leave the contemplation unstated.

What if the reader’s assumptions don’t fit your expectations? You need to include enough solid substance in your story that the shadowy Sub Text correctly suggest what you had in mind. The Sub Text can only derive from the context you’ve presented. Reveal enough about your characters, your plot, or your story world…but only what is absolutely needed…then leave the rest out. Do not explain the gaps.

“If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows, and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things only because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.”
—Ernest Hemingway in Death in the Afternoon

Where is Sub Text?

If Sub Text is never revealed, does it actually exist? Oh, yes, it exists all right, just as the underwater part of an iceberg exists, and you, the author, will know it well, probably written down on Character Sheets, just not in the manuscript. As with all the research you’ve done, you may want to include everything about your characters, but the Sub Text must remain below the surface. When you create your story world, you may have information in your notes that will never see the light of day…keep it that way. Even if you are especially proud of some detail you’ve created, be careful to never expose it to readers. Pointing out how clever you are doesn’t add to the story—it will kick them right out of it.

When characters tell all, they spoil the opportunity for Sub Text. Telling each other exactly what they’re thinking or talking about situations exactly as they are is On the Nose Writing. Certainly don’t let them talk about something that they already know (As You Know, Bob), even if it is necessary for the reader to hear. If you find them doing any of that, consider whether the information is vital to the story, and if it really is necessary, then use creativity and show rather than tell through dialogue or narrative—keep the iceberg under water. In fact, give them plenty of opportunities to keep quiet, as the silences between dialogue gives a place for Sub Text to live.

Remember the Iceberg

Hemingway coined the term Iceberg Theory in 1923 to label his minimalist writing technique, and even if you aren’t going to take it to the extreme that he did, it is a good concept to keep in mind as you write.

Next Steps to Marketing (Reviews and Free Samples)

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Well, we covered a few things that authors can do to market their books a while back (First Steps to Marketing), so now we’re going to go over a few more. Later, we’ll continue the list with More Steps to Marketing. This time we’ll be hitting two topics: Reviews and Giveaways.

Reviews

You already have a list of loyal readers, so now you need to show that your book is worth the time of other readers. For that, you’ll need some reviews. Prior to your launch, send out Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) to a variety of reviewers. Look for sites or bloggers that cover your topic or find folks listed as Top Reviewers for similar books. If you still can’t find enough reviewers, try sites such as NetGalley or Edelweiss+ to find more.

Those reviews can’t be posted to retailer sites until release day, but they can be published on the reviewer’s personal site, blogs, or book review sites such as BookLikes, BookBrowse, aNobii, LibraryThing, and Riffle. Ask the reviewers to copy their comments over to the retail sites as soon as the book is released. (Send them the link to make it easier for them.)

To get any traction from the reviews, you’ll need to have a couple dozen posted in the first few weeks. Once you have those reviews, don’t forget to mention them in any additional announcements you make.

Free Samples

Freebies always get good attention, but there are different ways to get them out there: distribution sites, review sites, your own site, or even printed materials. When you are deciding how much to share, be certain to include enough so that the readers can determine whether they like your style…and the story itself. Your objective is to leave them wanting more, not confused about what is going on in the story.

Other Sites

Some book distribution sites allow readers to download a certain percentage of your book free. If a site doesn’t have that option, you can always publish your own sample to “sell” (for zero cost) right next to the full thing. Just be certain to change the cover and title, so they know they are getting just a portion of the whole book. Don’t forget to include a link at the end directing them back to your site, so they can get the rest of the story.

Some review sites allow you to publish your own sample. Try out Reader’s Circle, Bublish, Book Praiser, Inkitt, Scribd, or Wattpad.

Your Own Site

You can do the same thing by having an extract of your book available as a downloadable PDF (or mobi or epub) on your site. Let your interested readers download it, read it, and pass it around…just make certain you have a link at the end pointing back to your book list page on your site, so they can get the uncut version. You can also encourage them to sign up for your mailing list at the same time.

Instead of sharing pieces of your actual books, you could just write shorts about the characters in your books. Your readers will appreciate the side stories as they give insight into backstory. The extra stories can also branch off and follow certain characters who have a life outside your book. Just set up a separate page on your website to post short stories a few times a month. Each time you post a new one, tell the world about it via your Mailing List and other sites.

Printed Material

Handing out a few printed copies at panel discussions always seems to work. Wave around a few copies of your book and watch the folks rush to the front. I’ve even seen some authors drop off printed copies of their books in public places, such as at a café or on a bus or commuter train. They put a sticker on it that says to enjoy and pass on…but they also include a QR code for folks interested in finding out more!

You can also create bookmarks, postcards, or even posters with teasers from your book. If you include a customized QR code on each, you can track which marketing technique works best. For non-fiction authors, handing out worksheets, lists of tips, and short reminders works well for keeping your book in mind…and the QR on each directs the readers back to your site.

Avoiding On the Nose Writing

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This term may be new to those of you who aren’t into script writing. Script writers use this term to describe dialogue that really should be turned into action scenes. You’ve been warned to Avoid Clichés (old tired metaphors and similes) but now we’re going to discuss what happens if you don’t use any complexities (such as metaphors or similes) in your writing.

If you ever see this comment (On the Nose) written on your edited ms, it’s because you have characters telling what they feel instead of showing it. You are letting the characters give the reader facts—cold, dry facts. Sometimes the silent action between dialogue gives the best idea of what’s going on, and don’t forget to include Sub Text. Let the characters do something, rather than just talk about it. It also applies if you are stating facts, too. Try to be a little creative in how you give the reader information.

Just the Facts Ma’am

  • On the Nose
    1. She said, “I’m sad.”
    2. He said, “I’m mad.”
    3. She said, “I’m scared.”
    4. He typed up the letter as fast as he could.
    5. He walked into the boss’s office with the file folder full of pictures.
  • Using Creative Language
    1. She flopped into the armchair and sighed, her gaze slowly scanning the room through tear-filled eyes.
    2. He stared across the room, turned slowly, and put his fist through the wall.
    3. She screamed as she dove for cover under the table.
    4. His fingers flew over the keyboard, buzzing like flies escaping the swatter.
    5. He strode like a giant into management hell clutching the cold as ice evidence.

Too Much Info (TMI)

This note also applies if you are giving too much detail that doesn’t move the story along. Don’t try to pad your word count with irrelevant information. If the reader should be able to figure out what’s going on, let him.

  • On the Nose
    1. Her phone chimed, letting her know a call was coming in. She dropped her purse on the table, opened it, and dug through. Finding her phone, she hit the green button, and put it to her ear.
    2. He pulled out a key as he approached the car. Putting it into the keyhole, he gave it a sharp twist and smirked as the lock popped open. He pulled the door and got in, started the car, and drove off.
    3. He took the file folder from the filing cabinet where it had sat for years and dusted it off, putting it on the table in the middle of the room. Flipping it open, he smiled at the first picture he saw inside it.
  • Cut to the Essence
    1. Her phone rang, and she answered it.
    2. He jimmied the lock, and rocketed off in the stolen car.
    3. Pulling the dusty folder from the drawer, he was relieved to see her picture had survived.

It’s all back to Show Don’t Tell, but you don’t want to show unnecessary action. Keep it down to what’s needed to get the idea across. You can also try to make your story more refreshing by using some creative language—use a few more metaphors or similes…that you’ve created! Be imaginative, entertain us, make us stop and think for a moment. Don’t bore us with what’s happening…make us experience the story in a whole new way.