2018 Chanticleer Conference

The April 20-22 conference of Chanticleer authors in Bellingham, Washington, was an opportunity to meet writers from around the country. The mix of conference workshops and awards celebration made for a special weekend. I'm posting a few photos of those I learned from.

Sessions addressed writing and post-publication activities. Wendy Kendall gave an overview of social media marketing, while Janet Shawgo stayed in the real world.

Janet Shawgo

She has had great success working with wineries who cross-promote their products and her books. She also suggested authors look to grocery stores, noting that Kroger in Texas is especially hospitable to local authors.

Elizabeth Craig was among those who talked about the need for authors to use YouTube or other visual methods to get their message across.

Several others talked about using two programs -- Audacity and Animoto. Dawn Groves noted the average attention span is 30 seconds. That is a good amount of time for an author book trailer that uses images rather than videos. 

Still images can be made with PowerPoint, with Audacity providing the voice over. I have much to learn.
 
Ann Charles writes three mystery series, and talked about creating a world for each one. She also gave me a smile when she mentioned being cited twice as a USA Today best-selling author, and not realizing that she was one until she looked it up.  She is shown with one of the tri-folds that describe her series.

I enjoyed talking to Matthew D. Hunt, author of Solar Reboot. He produces short movies as well as writes, and his perspective was informative. I've also been reading the book and like it.

B.J. Craige, E. Orr, S. Tate

Though I was disappointed not to win a Murder and Mayhem award for Demise of a Devious Neighbor, I sat next to Betty Jean Craige when she won for Fairfield's Auction. Fun to watch her win, and to discuss writing with another author for whom it is a second career.


Back to writing. Demise of a Devious Suspect (River's Edge series) just went to its publisher, and Underground in Ocean Alley (Jolie Gentil series) is underway. 
                                                                           *     *     *     *     *     *
 Check out Elaine's web page, sign up for her classes, or receive her newsletter.   

One Site for Multiple E-Readers

I often write about publishing books on multiple sites, but which site helps readers with multiple devices?

Because I publish books on all sites, I have a Kindle, Nook, Samsung device, and an Android phone. I also bought an older iphone so I could use its Internet capability to see ibooks. I'm an equal opportunity device reader, but I'm not about to buy multiple copies of a book if I can avoid it. 

Enter Smashwords.The site lets you purchase a book (generally by self-published authors) and download it in multiple formats. Books are also available as text and PDF, should you not own a reader and want to read on your computer.

Smashwords has a lot of fiction, but also a great deal of nonfiction, including literary criticism and how-to guidance. A number of books are free. I have a couple of free short stories on the site. However, I write for me and publish for income, so I'm not big on constant freebies. Many authors are.

Try a new author or search for new ones.

                                                                           *     *     *     *     *     *
 Check out Elaine's web page, sign up for her classes, or receive her newsletter. 

Finding Your Nonfiction Angle

When I'm stumped by a plot or character, my mind wanders. I might write a blog post or work on other nonfiction. I don't think of it as easier writing, it's simply what I did most of my life so it's sort of relaxing.

Everyone is an expert on something. But unless you are the first Martian to land on earth (that we know of) and want to talk about the reception you received, your nonfiction book or article will not cover new territory. That's okay. You'll have a different perspective or perhaps better way of presenting something.

Even before you begin to do background reading or jot ideas for an outline, think about why a reader would pick up your book. It’s the “who is your audience” point.
  
Everything from vocabulary to sentence length is determined by your reader base. Your vocabulary has to match the readers’ level of interest. A book on plumbing repair is very different if your audience is new homeowners or plumbers studying for a certification exam.

There may be one hundred recent books on how to travel on a budget. It’s okay to believe you can write a good one. If you want to sell that book, it’s essential that you let potential readers know why yours is better. It can be comprehensive, shorter, clearer, based on your trip in which you visited seven countries and spent only $2,000 – anything that makes you stand out. 

Once you have a potential topic, you want to see what else has been written. Keep in mind your writing can make a difference. If you don’t believe this, you’ll feel defeated as soon as you start seeing what else is already out there. 

I still have “why do I bother?” moments from time to time. Ironically, they are more likely to come about when I’m in an art museum than a library. 

How do you go about seeing what’s already in print or online? It might be tempting to start with a search on Amazon or BN, but I suggest you take a trip to your local library. A library’s digital catalog will often list a lot more books on a topic than an online retailer, which usually only lists what they sell. At the library you can also look at a book’s table of contents and peruse the chapters. 

What the online retailers have that libraries may not are self-published books. Since the Kindle became affordable in 2009/2010 (depending on your perspective of affordable), many of us have taken our fiction and nonfiction directly to readers. If you decide to self-publish, these may be your primary competitors – especially in terms of digital price. 

Finally, do an online search via Google or Bing, or any search site. This will turn up blog posts, possibly magazine and journal articles. 

I suggest that you make notes about what’s out there, but make no effort to read much of it. You’re in a discovery phase. You don’t want to become discouraged or tailor your topic to what someone else has said or not said.  

Your goal is to write your top-quality article or book. 

                                                                           *     *     *     *     *     *
 Check out Elaine's web page, sign up for her classes, or receive her newsletter.  

How Much Dialect is Too Much?

A character's dialect encompasses pronunciation, inflection, even word choices. If a story is set in a region with a strong dialect, the author's choice becomes how the characters should portray it.

When readers think of dialect, they tend to think accents.

An author might say that a visiting grandfather has a strong southern accent and then throw in an occasional y'all. Or the choice could be to emphasize every southern inflection. "I'm not sure what you people are talking about" becomes "Ahm not sure what y'all are talkin' about."

I tend to work first with word choices. For example, in the Midwest, a house could be referred to as of frame construction (wood as opposed to brick), while in New England that's a clapboard house. And how is it pronounced? It's clabberd. That's not a word I would spell phonetically, though when working with a narrator for an audiobook, it's a word I'm sure to check.

One of my earliest books (Secrets of the Gap) was set in England with a mix of American and British speakers. I decided to inject occasional British terminology (shed-ule instead of schedule) rather than have different English language pronunciations for Americans and Brits. (Plus, I would have flubbed it.)

When deciding how much local dialect to include, I think of authenticity and distraction level. I want to recognize there may be a distinct way of talking, but I don't want readers to get tired of constant spelling variations. I also don't want readers to spend time critiquing how I chose to portray a speech pattern. I want them to focus on the story.

Critique groups and beta readers are great resources for assessing speech patterns and word choices. I wish I had a dollar for every time a critique group member said, "They wouldn't say it that way." I could buy a new car. Or go to six writers' conferences a year.
                                                                           *     *     *     *     *     *
 Check out Elaine's web page, sign up for her classes, or receive her newsletter.

Picking Blogs to Read

I used to follow a number of blogs and tried to read each post. After all, I selected them because the topics or their authors appealed to me. Eventually, I would skip one or two (when notified via email) with the intention of catching up.

You can guess what happened. I created a backlog and reading the blog posts felt like homework.

As a former analyst, I decided to create criteria. Though most people reading this blog will have a range of interests, I'll start with the assumption that we are readers and writers, and the writers would like to see their books in print someday.

Considerations for blogs to read are:

• Those to learn about new books. For me, these are cozy mystery blogs such as A Cup of Tea and Cozy Mysteries or Lisa K's blogs. I also found a list of top ten cozy blogs and several look quite good. If you prefer another genre, just google "thriller blogs" or "literary fiction blogs" -- your choice.
• Topics to make you laugh. I look at The Onion (which has a political tinge) a lot. Check out this list of 100 humor blogs.
• Those to learn about publishing trends. Two favorites are Terry Odell's blog and that of Jane Friedman. Jane's is more for those who really want to study a topic. Terry is especially good at sharing marketing tips.
• Blogs that relate to your books' subject matter (if an author) or topics about which you like to read.
• Friends' blogs. Most people who blog don't expect fans to read every post -- unless you follow the blog. Be selective about who you follow. I unfollowed an acquaintance and she asked why. It was simply because I didn't read it a lot, but, gulp.

More so than in the past, people who might have blogged have started Facebook groups. If you are looking for a more interactive way to read about a subject, those are an option.

Whatever your interest, you'll find people blogging about it. Have fun!

                                                                           *     *     *     *     *     *
 Check out Elaine's web page, sign up for her classes, or receive her newsletter.

Self Publish or Seek an Agent?

I sometimes respond to questions on Quora, and thought one of my recent responses would be of general interest, with some modification. The question dealt with self-publishing versus looking for a literary agent.

Self-publishing is always an option, but if an author self-publishes a book, they will probably not be able to get an agent to represent the same book at a later date. There can be exceptions -- if a self-published book has really good sales, a traditional publisher may be willing to produce a second edition. That's rare.

If an author decides to self-publish (or send a proposal to an agent),

it is important to remember we only get one chance to make a first impression. I suggest any author (but especially new writers) work with a critique group or get comments on a draft from other authors. That way, a book is the best it can be before it reaches readers.

I’ve self-published a lot, and one reason I did so was because of my age (now mid-60s). Why wait?! Probably because I had a track record through self-publishing, I was able to get a publisher for another series. I chose to look for a small publisher. Many small publishers can be approached without an agent.

Jane Friedman is a respected expert on many aspects of publishing. She did a recent article on finding a literary agent. It’s excellent.

How to Find a Literary Agent for Your Book Jane Friedman

 

I think it's worthwhile to look for an agent before making the self-publishing decision. Set a timeframe, and submit to several agents simultaneously. Some agents don't like that, but you don't want the process to drag on for a year.

If an author does self-publish, I suggest going beyond just Amazon. It’s a very good publishing partner, but why limit sales options to one retailer? I use Smashwords, which places books on several other sites. Authors don’t have to work with lots of sites, but they can still sell books at these sites and get royalties via Smashwords.

A number of my author friends use Draft2Digital, which performs the same services as Smashwords. Companies that put your books on multiple sites are called aggregators. 

I offer a free online course called “Thinking Through Self Publishing.” Info is at ElaineOrrWritingClasses.

I learned a lot by attending writers' conferences for years -- I still go to several per year. If you can't do that, there are lots of blog posts on these topics, and a number of free or inexpensive books on Amazon. Writers are always willing to help one another. Just keep writing!
                                                                    *     *     *     *     *     *
 Check out Elaine's web page, sign up for her classes, or receive her newsletter.

Have You Ever Had One of Those...Months?

I'm usually Ms. Get Up and Go -- even when I have trouble getting around. After six weeks of back surgery and then the flu, I'm kind of Ms. Where Can I Take a Nap? Enough of this!

The final clue that I was really out of it occurred last Friday, my first day back in the swimming pool. I went into the men's locker room to take a shower. And it took me a few minutes to notice. Fortunately, it was a quiet time. If I hadn't left my glasses in there, I wouldn't have had to ask a trainer to go look for them. My secret would have been safe.

Sigh. At least the staff at the pool had something to laugh about.

I'm back writing, but at three in the afternoon, I still want a nap.

So, here is the opening line to the promo for the next Jolie Gentil book, which will be out in May. "Jolie Gentil has sworn off butting into other people’s business. I know, right? Sounds as far-fetched as finding used bubble gum on Mars."

Sound like something you want to read? Okay, I need to finish writing it.