Selling Remnants by Andy Scheer

The circumstances that led this morning to my buying a new hardcover nonfiction title were never included in the author's marketing plan. Or anything cooked up by the Little, Brown sales department, except as an unwelcome afterthought.

I didn't buy the title at a bookstore, and I didn't visit the store looking for books. Until this morning, I didn't even know this author had released the title. But as soon as I saw the books, spine out, and noticed the author's name. I knew I had to buy a copy. Especially for just one dollar.

My wife wanted something at Dollar Tree. I visited the back corner where they shelve overstock books. This time I struck pay dirt: Here, There, Elsewhere, a collection of travel essays by William Least Heat-Moon. Having enjoyed his Blue Highways, Prairie Erth, and River-Horse, how could I lose? Especially for a buck.

I don't often buy books at Dollar Tree, but over the years I've found enough treasures to keep checking: a coffee-table book about the filming of Master and Commander: Far Side of the World. And titles by hardly obscure writers such as Stephen King and Clive Cusssler.

No matter how successful the author and how good the book, the publisher usually ends up with extra copies at the end of the print run. These remnants find their way down the retailing food chain – sometimes as far as Dollar Tree.

As my wife drove us home, I began the first essay. Serious pay dirt. In the opening pages I received food for thought about how the author's career began (a letter to the editor of his local paper), the odds of getting published (“Writing books is indeed a gambler's trade because it's one of hope against probability: the belief someone somewhere sometime might choose to spend money on your words rather than on a nice bottle of cabernet or on a couple of lottery tickets”), and the judgment of editors to limit a writer's vocabulary to what's accessible to an average reader.

All that in the first six pages.

Somehow my copy of Here, There, Elsewhere wasn't needed by a brick-and-mortar bookstore or an online retailer. My gain. Even better, the store on Austin Bluffs near Academy Boulevard had maybe a dozen more copies. If you're lucky, maybe a Dollar Tree near you also has a copy. Based on those first six pages, you'll more than get your dollar's worth.

Beans Popping out on a Warm Day by Linda S. Glaz

I read a scene in the Little House series about Grace watching the beans popping up from the ground one very warm day…one after another after another. And it made me think of notes from my clients:

Have you heard of Exon-Freon-TakeAnything Publishing? Or…WeWant it-You’ve got it Press?

There’s hardly a week, shucks, a day, that we don’t hear about a new publishing house coming to life. And yes, they say they are royalty paying houses that want YOUR book. Most often, there are ‘conditions’ such as using only their editors for a fee, their marketing associates for a fee, or their design team…for a fee.

Do your homework. Know who the folks are who want you to turn over your baby. Are they going to charge you for diapering? Burping? Or are they truly willing to become a village and help you bring your baby to adulthood? There are plenty of smaller houses with wonderful reputations who do put the author and his or her work first.

Very often I’ll have a client contact me all excited with a prospect. Then I begin to lay out some of the hidden costs involved. One more disappointment.

Folks, there are no shortcuts that will get you from point A to point B.

You must learn the craft, write a brilliant novel, synopsis, and proposal. You must wait patiently while someone considers the work. And then, if rejected, you must go back to point A and figure out where you went wrong. Or if you went wrong at all. Maybe that person just simply was not a good fit. That happens often.

Don’t give up. Don’t put the novel in a drawer and forget about it. Don’t whine to your mom. She loved it, right? Of course, she did. Take it to crit partners who know their stuff. Hire an editor. Do what you must to make your submission marketable, but do…not ever…give up.

And by all means, research where and to whom you submit your work.

Don’t go for one of the beans popping up tomorrow unless you’ve checked them out. There are as many unscrupulous folks waiting to take your money as there are authors.

Getting Untracked by Terry Burns

Anybody besides me having trouble getting untracked and getting going in the New Year?

Okay, I was sidetracked a little by the young man in the picture, Grant Jackson Hendrichs, Beau for short. He's my fifth great grandchild and was born on Elvis' birthday, January 8th. His parents picked the middle name Jackson early as it was a family name but agonized long and hard over the first name. They eventually settled on Grant without realizing that they had linked up to both the top Union Civil War general and the top Southern general. How diplomatic of them. They took to calling him Bocephus while they were trying to decide so the name Beau stuck as a nickname.

Anyway, back home and trying to get back to work is a challenge. I have things to do that were put off during the holiday season as the publishing industry all but shuts down anyway. That practically insures that it is time for a lot of 90 day follow ups on client submissions.

Then there's the matter of getting back up to speed on where all client activity stands. All of my clients are in a private online group and we pretty much stay in touch with one another but even at that it can also be a challenge juggling all the balls and keeping them up in the air without dropping anything.

Of course there is also the natural tendency to put off getting started on activity. I've always intended to become a procrastinator but somehow have never gotten around to it. Then again, sitting here ruminating on this blog is also putting off getting to work.

Guess I'd better get after it.

Whack a Mole by Diana Flegal

I have to admit; my eyes glazed over then rolled back in my head. I took a break and went onto Pinterest- for a long while.

Some days I don’t want to tweet, FB something relevant, read anything to do with publishing trends, or open up another submission of a stellar proposal. I daydream about become a wedding planner, traveling the world, or taking up welding. 

I have gone to Chuckie Cheese and smacked the heads of the moles again and again in that Whack a Mole game. Don’t judge me, just try it sometime. Poor moles.

What brought this on? An email came into my box telling me I had to measure my social media with these metric thingy’s. I DO NOT WANT TO DO THAT!! #pitchinafit

How do you rebel against what we know we all must do today to promote ourselves and sell our books?

Just like any hissy fit I pitch- it thankfully doesn’t last long.

Metrics? 

Really?

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit sayeth the Lord.”

I will use social media again, I will ask my clients to use it, but I will not trust in chariots and solely in the ways of men.

Learn what you need to but be sure the bottom line is- His will done His way.

And take time off to whack a mole once in a while!

Shopping for Ideas by Andy Scheer

This past weekend my wife and I visited a home improvement show.

After attending the show last year, we bought a set of replacement windows and had our house painted. So did our son and daughter-in-law.

But this year, we don't have any home improvements budgeted. So why attend?

To get ideas. Even if we don't initiate any projects right away, we'll have fresh ideas—of what we might want to do and also what we don't. Until we're ready to take action, those ideas we gathered can percolate in our minds. What we eventually decide will be better than what we could have chosen on our own.

Where do you go to get writing ideas—not only for your work-in-progress, but also for what you want to write next? Besides reading other authors to see their techniques, where do you find plot elements, lifelike characters, evocative details, and realistic dialogue that you haven't already stored in your idea stockpile?

You can't get ideas from aisle 7 of a big box store. But neither do you have to worry about whether they'll fit in your minivan.

Home Sick and Recycling! Go Green! by Linda S. Glaz

Developing Evil Characters (first appeared 08/15/11)

Later that evening, with the family fed and occupied elsewhere, she went into the bedroom and sat down. The comforter, warm and soft against her legs, offered a place to open up, to become Laura again. But it seemed hiding was more difficult than before, and she rubbed her temples to relieve the anxiety. The first few weeks of a new identity always sapped her energy. She had so much to remember, and the act could be brutal. As she got older and the strain more evident, she worried of irreparable mistakes. Small stress lines had crept in and sent deep creases across her brow. And the weight she’d lost.

For the last few years they’d plotted and planned and worked well together. Nothing stood in the way of their plans, plans so close to coming to fruition. But this year, a few things had gone awry: the wrong child, the wrong town, maybe even the wrong identities. Tonight, she needed more than just a nice warm bubble bath to steer the panic away.

Taut muscles banding her forehead, she sidestepped into the past, and as usual when under pressure, her thoughts rested on Mother. Her breath hitched and jammed in her throat.

Standing up promptly and brushing the horrific memories from her mind, she smoothed the covers on the king-size bed. Why waste energy on things that couldn’t be changed? There was enough in the present to keep her occupied.

She stood perfectly still. Stared. Created a short video in her mind that brought the expected relief.

And the tightness was gone. It always worked. All she ever had to do to relieve the stress was to envision all of them strewn about, lifeless; mothers and daughters scattered here and there. How she hated mothers and their daughters.

A twisted grin started deep inside her until she sensed it creep over her entire face like a mask. “My, my, Hannah Housewife.” She spoke to the silence, letting her smile change her character. “Let’s go bake some nice warm cookies for your hubby and little girl.”


How do you create creepy, evil characters? What do you draw on? Visit my blog for another sample into the dark world of evil characters. http://lindaglaz.blogspot.com/

What if? By Diana Flegal

I am a fan of the Food Network show CHOPPED. It amazes me that the chefs can take the “mystery basket” ingredients and prepare an actual tasty and presentable meal.

While watching the show recently, I wondered what a “mystery basket” of ingredients for a writer might contain? Which reminded me of when I participated in a writers group in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

At each meeting, we began our time with the setting of a timer in 5 minute, then 15 minute periods in which we were given a prompt, then wrote until the buzzer sounded.  

These prompts were like “mystery baskets”; our ingredients, a string of words.

Placing a character in an imaginary world in answer to the question of “what if?” is Speculative Fiction.

I thought it might be a fun exercise to offer you a couple “mystery baskets” in the speculative genre as writing prompts. Prompts are a great writers tool, especially helpful to stir inspiration when you are stuck, or in need of a recharge.

1. What if?- a young man raised as an orphan, finds out he is a twin, and meets his sister when he is given an assignment on Tatatui.
2. What if?- a conservative bible thumping dog reads his masters mind and feels compelled to foil a jewel heist his owner has planned.
3. What if?- a fairy named Shitza embarks on a quest to find a schroom needed to brew a tea, that if drank by her fiancé, could release him from a spell.
4. What if?- Eric’s name is drawn and he must engage in a war he is staunchly against.
5. What if?- a toad and a kitten fall in love.

 May you be greatly inspired, and wildly imaginative in your writing endeavors.