The easy button

There is no nice way to say this, writing takes time, focus, and dedication honing the skills of the craft. There is no easy button.

The publishing industry looks at its indie cousin and laughs. Why? Because we have earned a shoddy reputation. Often beginning writers slop through the first draft of their manuscript and call it done, if they are dedicated enough to finish it.

Then that 'masterpiece' gets sent to three agents or three publishers and the wantabe author quits because rejection letters don't feel good. Don't come crying to me about rejection letters. I have had 216 rejection letters over my career and I'm sure there will be many, many more because I won't quit writing.

There are and always have been fantastic indie books. If you choose to be an indie author, at least do it with some style. Do it with determination to make it the best book you can for your readers, they deserve nothing less.

So? Keep improving. Keep focused. Keep writing. Write your best book. Write to your readers, not the industry or your ego. Write to tell your readers an honest story and you will have done a good day's work.

Look who's laughing now.
http://nadinelamanbooks.com/

BUZZ-BUZZ, BOOK BUZZ

BREAKAWAY by Nadia Sahari is a memoir that delivers for those who love real life stories. Nadia means 'Hope,' and Breakaway is the story of how Nadia survived a lifetime of multiple abuses and abusers. Nadia said, "No more abuse" and meant it and set about to make a good life for herself and her boys. Nadia is an engaging writer with a wonderful style of story telling.

At the end of the book is a list of resources. As a former child abuse investigator, what I know for certain is that everyone needs awareness of the reality of child abuse or we will never stop it. And it should be stopped, it must be stopped. As Nadia's name is Hope, this is a book of hope. This is a book worth reading. Thank you, Nadia, for sharing your life and hope in Breakaway.

Nadia's website: http://www.nadiasahari.com/

Book video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKILF5G6x7I

More lizard stuff

My friend, Inez, called for our usual girly chat. Inez is a Pueblo Indian in New Mexico. Once again she invited me to come and we would go up into the mountains and have some girl time without all our guys.

After we finished with all the important stuff (kids, husbands, making pickles, books, visiting each other), I told her about DG. Inez told me a similar story about a lizard and her sister, so I guess the lizard-up-your-pant-leg isn't all that unusual.

In her story, her sister was dancing around a lot more than I was and the lizard was hanging onto her leg (hanging on for dear life?). Being a loving sister, Inez removed the lizard and they killed him. That led to her story about how she doesn't care for bugs, insects, and small cold-blooded desert creatures that like to venture inside our Southwestern homes.

Now try to picture this. I'm girly, nail polish and all that stuff, from the second largest city in the United States - Los Angeles. She is an Indian who doesn't like creepy-crawly things in her house...and we are going to go into the mountains alone and camp for a couple of days. Yeah right.

I'm thinking, "day trip." Maybe we'll go on horseback, that much farther removed from the ground where creepy-crawly things live.

Desert Ghost

One of my English friends tells me, quite seriously, about the ghost that lives in her house with her family. When something can't be found, like her webcam, I blame Maurice, her ghost.

While I joke about it, I have apparently unwittingly begun to believe in ghosts. The other morning I was sitting at my computer, and I felt a hand on my thigh. I kid you not. I nearly jumped out of my chair. It was so real. And for a moment, I thought it was a ghost. Seriously.

I caught my breath and got back to work, when there it was again only a lighter touch this time. I put my hand on the ghost's hand and didn't feel anything. I decided it wasn't a ghost, but didn't really come up with a reasonable explanation of what it was, if not a ghost.

Then I felt it move. I KNOW I felt it. I grabbed at my jeans' pocket and pinched lightly. OMGosh! There WAS something there. Something real. I was out of my chair. I don't remember undoing the button and zipper to my jeans. I hastily rolled my waist band outward and kept going until something flipped out and to the floor.

My first thought with seeing the tan creature was it was a scorpion and I was lucky he hadn't stung me. I moved back quickly, just to stay safe. The thing was three and a half inches long...not counting the tail, which was laying nearby twitching to beat all get-out.

His tail was wagging more than a waggy dog. My heart was racing. I cannot believe I hadn't screamed like bloody murder. It wasn't moving, so I moved a bit closer to get a look. It just laid there, lifeless. His eyes were open - kind of bugged-out. He was tan with a couple of small spots on him, maybe bruises I had caused. I just kept saying, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."

Poor thing, it was a desert lizard. They are very good in the yard; no need to kill him. One of my Indian friends says they are a 'good spirit.' This is Indian Country, they ought to know, right?

I called my youngest to remove the creature, which I usually do and he doesn't. But my heart was beating hard and I was still pulling up my jeans, so I was in no state to deal with a dead thing on the floor of my office. (We have a swimming pool, it isn't like he hasn't seen my legs before.) I have no idea why I put those jeans back on. Sheesh.

Anyway, being a pacifist, I suggested that I would get the patio door and my kid would scoop up the poor thing in the dust pan. We would put him on the ground under a nice plant rather than throw him in the trash.

I'm by the patio door. From my office, I hear, "Mom, he is STILL ALIVE." So we find something better to capture him. When we returned, you guessed it, only the wiggly tail was out in the open. To make a long story short, he lead us on a chase through the books on the bookshelf but we caught this tailless guy and let him lose under a plant near the wall, in the shade. He took off like a rocket.

I named him, DG (Desert Ghost) and until his tail grows back, we'll know if we spot him again.

If you are interested in what started this ghost business, you need to buy my friend's audio book, "Ghost Sniffer." These aren't scary stories. They are believable stories. They left me wondering, is this real? She ought to know, she has a ghost in her house. Right? Even their cat sees Maurice.

Email me [NadineLaman@aol(dot)com] and I'll forward it to her. The book is Ghost Sniffer.
OR try this: http://www.completetrainer.co.uk/Miscellany/Ghost_Sniffer_Audio_Book

Write your own review campaign, part II

Necessity is the mother of invention -- Oh so true! One great idea results in the NEED for several other great ideas to make the first idea work.

I have software to make my own cover art. I'm not going to say 'design' because I am not a graphic designer. I think graphic designers are brilliantly talented and wouldn't want to mislead anyone about my skills.

As I've said, I decided to put the reader in charge of the review section on the back of the book for Storm Surge. It seems like a brilliant idea, but really it was simple. I want to know what readers think of my books. That is the only way I can deliver best to my audience. It is that simple.

I'm even giving away the Sharpie(tm) marker to write the review. No big deal to toss a pen into the mailer, right? That seems simple enough, but of course, I have the bright idea to attach the marker SOMEHOW to the book. That is where the ideas fly. Oh my...what ideas I had about how to attach the marker. Goodness.

What I am starting with at the moment is a DIY invention. I won't go into all the ideas, but in the end I have a 6" x 4" note card with a pitch/hook and instructions on one side (side A) and a reorder form on the back (side B).

I simply set up the copy in WordPerfect (my all time favorite software) and ran them through my laser printer. Then, (get this) I used rubber cement to attach the marker to side A of the card on the far right edge. I laid out the number of cards with pens that I needed to fill orders and let the rubber cement dry over night.

Then, I slid the card into the book somewhere in the middle so the pen was below the level of the front cover, tossed in my other marketing materials and it was good to go!

I won't be doing it that way once I'm getting hundreds of orders a day, but it isn't too bad to do for now, and it was fun in an 'arts and craft' sort of way.

So for those who have asked, that is how it is for now. Order my book and you can see it for yourself.

Remember to send me your reviews, I'd love to hear them.

The first post on Write Your Own Review Campaign: http://nadinelaman.blogspot.com/2009/01/write-your-own-review-campaign.html

Distribution

Now the fun begins. For a long time in the POD/indie world the term distribution was blurred to mean listing a title online in as many places as possible. That is really a fulfillment outlet or at best some sort of passive distribution. It sounds good, "World wide distribution," except it should read, "World wide listing."

The next learning curve. Distribution. Real distribution. The kind that has sales reps going places and shopping books to book buyers (retailer's buyers). I think many indie writers are chasing traditional publishing, but the thing to chase is distribution.

Once again, I'm faced with a list of company names (small press distributors) that I don't recognize. First cut, google each one with "+ complaint" to see what is out there about them that THEY didn't write. Lots of results to sift through and consider. Cut the list.

Smaller list. Now the process really begins - read every one of the remaining "candidate's" websites. Ignore the pitch words and look for facts. Too vague, crossed off the list. Homemade websites, questionable seriousness. Client lists and online and hard copy catalogues get noted. Up front "processing fees of a vague nature." Cut from the list. If they make the short list, those will be checked out further.

OMG! OMGosh, and this is just the beginning of the process. I want to get back to writing. I don't want to be a grown-up business person. Writers, write. *sigh*

Trilogy Trivia

The hardest thing about writing Kathryn's Beach was keeping Kathryn reclusive. It helped that I never mentioned her last name until High Tide. It helped that her world was five miles of beach.

In High Tide the secondary characters really pop. Not only do these 'people' enhanse her life, they complicate it.

Storm Surge is more calculating and driven than the other two books. The writing is more evolved too, which probably helps.

It is funny how each of the books have a different personality. I use lots of 'almost' lines from movies as a nod to Katey's love of old movies. Plus the metaphors, the key/lock is one of the strongest, but there are others - like the weather as a mirror of Kathryn's emotions. I've thought of doing a trivia book on all the hidden elements in the stories.

Then there is that strange style I have. Someone commented on it again. People either like it because it is different or don't like it for the same reason. But like a dialect, I don't notice it any more than I think I have a spoken accent.

I will stop before I ruin it for you by dissecting it as if we were in a lit class.

It is YOU.

In the short time I've been blogging, the literary device I've written about the most is character development. The interesting stories throughout history have been about people. Whether fiction or not, the character has to have attributes that cause, as we say in social work, transference.

In film, a great actor can relate to their audience through facial expressions, gestures, interaction with their environment (throwing things works!), interaction with others, etc. To a certain extent all that is true of the stage actor too, only limited by the set and props. Well, and there's no CGI effects.

In novels, the character relies on the writer to use WORDS that triggers a UNIVERSAL RESPONSE. The setting, other characters, internal dialogue, and conversations all come into play in the building of a character. The key is the reader. If they are willing to be taken into the story so that story telling becomes story experiencing, characters become alive in a Velveteen Rabbit way.

I admit to deriving a great deal of satisfaction from being told that Kathryn is me. Actually, I'm probably more like Maggie, if you want to know the truth. Someone who grew up in Seal Beach accidentally called it Kathryn's Beach -- "We had the annual Kathryn's Beach parade last weekend." I smiled.

When my boss was reading KB, she kept calling me Kathryn. That was kind of funny. People do that all the time, if they really get into the story. Someone I've known for four months is certain, Kathryn is me. My sister-in-law thinks so too, but she has known me twenty-three years. I assure you, no one would want me to mix them a drink. OMG! They'd want their money back PDQ.

And so it goes, I've been successful with developing Kathryn into a 'real' person. I'm glad she is believable. I think the first person present tense is what gives people the sense that the story is real. I call it a faux memoir.

Amazon (dot) com

Someone recently said to me, "I know you hate Amazon..." Well no, I don't hate Amazon.

Here's my take on Amazon. Of course, like anything else, it is just my opinion and I could be all wrong.

I think Amazon has some very creative and, in a way, genius people over there. A motivated MBA student would do well to spend time studying Amazon's business model.

I think they have positioned themselves as a leader (mover and shaker?) in the book industry. I like to read the trade industry news about Amazon. Sometimes I roll my eyes and think, well that is self-serving. You know what, that is exactly how most successful businesses are.

Good press or bad press, they are in the forefront of most writers' and publishers' trade thoughts. And they have earned that position rightfully. They are impersonal and automated, and that is a result of their size and what the internet community expects.

So, hate them -- no. Love them -- no. But only a Village Idiot wouldn't pay attention to what they are doing.

Sheesh!

This is too funny for comment. Go look.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/14/how-the-kindle-now-lets-you-steal-this-blog/

or this one: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/18/AR2009051802637.html