Concentrating On Book Condensation.

When sending my precious newborn novel off for the consideration of an agent, one of the things I found most difficult was the synopsis. This is NOT the same as the blurb that goes on the back of the book (more about that later); the synopsis is basically the whole story-arc of your novel in an easy to swallow amount. And when you think about how many enquiries agents must get on a daily basis it's easy to see why they need a condensed version.

Some agents don't specify how long or short your synopsis should be, others request 1-2 A4 pages, one A4 side or, in a couple of cases less than 500 words. Until I actually sat down to do it I'd imagined that this would be easy to accomplish - might even be fun. Ha!

It took me about a week to whittle my 260+ page novel down to a more manageable size - the first synopsis I wrote for 'Demon's Daughter' was practically a novella! So what should I take out? What was important to keep in? What moves the story on? What is inconsequential when attempting to impress an agent?

I scoured the Internet for advice; most sites gave pretty much the same list of dos and don'ts, some conflicted entirely and in the end what I made use of most were the advice sections of some of the agents' websites. I think I probably sent out around 8 different versions and I was never really content with any of them. Maybe my incompetence at writing a compelling synopsis is what kept my book from being snapped up by an enthusiastic agent? Hmmm.

Anyway, now I find myself with another problematic area to deal with - writing the blurb. The blurb that goes on the back of the book is, in my humble opinion, one of the most important things that I can do for my book. The blurb is all the best bits of the synopsis - the best way I have to entice a reader to choose my book from the billions of others out there. It's certainly how I find books - the title might get my attention, the cover might keep it, but it's the blurb on the back that'll make me decide whether or not I'm going to part with my cash. No pressure then!

I've written a few blurbs for 'Demon's Daughter' - some longer than others - and my favourite is probably this one:-


Emily Carson is an average teenage nerd whose goals in life are to ace her exams, save her brother, Seth, from his own bad taste in girls and persuade school hottie, Adam Farlow, that she is the girl of his dreams. And then her dad shows up - her dad the demon. Cue meetings with Werewolves, tussles with Vampires and close-encounters with gorgeous Fallen Angels as Emily and Seth fall headlong into the world that exists within our own.

On the back of the actual book I used a longer version with a quote from the book. Did I get it right? Well, I'm never going to be 100% certain.

Now of course I have to do the same for book 2 - persuade a would-be reader to try my book with a short, snappy, 20-second's worth of reading material. So far I've had three versions and this is what I reckon I'll be going with:

 'A recessed back door was opened by a tall man carrying a real, honest-to-God shotgun. I couldn’t take my eyes off it – guns look much more ‘solid’ in real life than they do in the movies. It was obvious that this was no toy and was big enough to do a lot of damage if the guy holding it decided that the doing of damage was necessary. I decided that it would be worth our while to be nice to him.

“Hi,” I said brightly, sticking out my hand. “Is Rick at home?”

Both Shotgun Dude and Sariel turned to look at me in astonishment. Sariel’s eyebrows rose into his fringe and Shotgun Dude looked first at my hand and then my face. He scowled and I withdrew my hand. “This way,” he told us gruffly and we trooped dutifully after him into the unlit house.

What exactly was that? Sariel asked, amazement and amusement colouring his voice in equal measure.

Hello? Did you not see the gun? I thought we should be nice.

You faced off against a Demon lord and now you’re scared of a human with a gun?

It’s a big gun!’

My name is Emily Carson.

Last year my twin brother, Seth, and I discovered that we have demon DNA and things got a bit…messy. Surprisingly, Asmodeus (our Daddy Dearest) doesn’t seem to have forgiven me for my actions the last time we met and the word is that he’s out for revenge.

It’s okay though ‘cause there’s a plan – escape to Italy with gorgeous Fallen Angel, Sariel; meet his buddies, catch a few rays, convince him to wear Speedos and maybe even engineer another excuse to lock lips with him (that’s my plan, anyway). Sounds good, right?

What could possibly go wrong?

Feedback so far is that it might be too long and I should maybe leave the book quote out. Hmmm. Maybe I should consider another re-write...

And the price of my second book should be...?

Now that my second book is on its way to the designer for a new coat of paint (yeah, okay that's lame but you know what I mean), I have to start thinking about marketing book 2 and how much I'm going to charge for it.

There's been a lot of talk recently about the pricing of e Books. I can't in all honesty pretend that I can explain all the ins and outs of the court cases and the subsequent ripples in the Indie publishing pond (I fully admit to being less than smart enough to understand what it all means) - if you want to have a recap then the Dear Author post is a good read. It's weird to imagine that any other job which required at least 6-12 month's work being rewarded with 30c/p per sale would leave the workers scandalised but I suppose that's the nature of eBook sales.

I priced book 1 at $2.99 at first and then I reduced the price to $0.99 for a few months. Why? Simple - I needed a few more readers and the consensus among my friends was that most people were trawling the free-$0.99  sections first. I also gave away free copies for a week on Smashwords which resulted in an increase of downloads by around 50%. I am currently charging the $0.99 price again (roughly £1.12 sterling). Did I do the right thing? Was this the correct way to go about it?  No idea - I'm learning as I go along here! The idea behind the give-away was to raise the visibility of 'Demon's Daughter' on the Smashwords download chart and yes, it has gone up quite a few places and received 2 more reviews but as to this translating into regular sales? Can't say that it has. My Amazon sales remain stagnant although my paperback sales have increased (but more about that later). So what now?

My thinking is that I've left 'Demon's Daughter' at $0.99 for long enough so I'm going to increase the price to $2.99 at the end of May and see what happens. I've signed up for a Goodreads promotion in August when Book 2 comes out so there'll be a few give-aways of book 1 on Goodreads during that month and Book 2 will debut at the same price as book 1 - again, I don't have any idea if that's the right way to go about it or not but that's the plan for now.

It's actually easier to price the paperback! I go by the print cost (roughly £4.00) + the wholesaler discount (35%) + my cut (just over £1.00) which brings 'Demon's Daughter' out at £6.99. It's about average for the size and type of book so I don't have any major problems with that. My decision not to allow returns has seriously affected how many shops/wholesalers will stock it but to date, since its publication in February 2012, I've sold 51 copies which is...okay actually. I think that being invited into local schools to give talks and readings, and the recent book signing in Waterstones are the reason for the sales. The challenge, of course, is to keep it going.

Obviously I'm still useless at marketing and the conflicting information about how to increase the visibility of your book is confusing to say the least; plus the fact that I've received a few knuckle raps from Goodreads (for reviewing other authors' work), Twitter (for 'jamming the feed' with chat instead of promos) and from Facebook (for being on there too much) has left me thinking I should've stayed in my cave and ignored the publishing dream. (Yes, I know...I need to work on cultivating that thicker skin.) The fact is that if I want to keep writing, then I have to sell books. It's pretty simple and I can't not write...I'd go insane within a matter of days!

Hmmm. Well that all went off on a bit of a dark tangent. Sorry! I'm still damn proud that my second book is on its way to being published, book 3 is written and champing at the bit to get to the editors, book 4 is also lining up for its chance to escape the confines of my hard drive, and all that's holding them back is me. Dammit!

'Demon's Revenge' is almost ready to fly the coop!

Wheeeee!

Okay, I know my post is ridiculously late this week (apologies) but I do have a valid reason - I received the ms of 'Demon's Revenge' (book 2 in Emily's story) back from the editors on Monday morning so I've spent all week doing the changes and corrections. It's now in the best shape it's ever going to be in and I'm so excited to get it to the Graphic Designer next week - can't wait to see what cover he comes up with and how his magic will transform the fairly standard 'Times-New-Roman-on-white' pages into something gorgeous!

Feedback from the Beta readers was really positive, although there were apparently quite a lot of tears shed and one was considering therapy (I think she was joking...!) and there were a few suggestions made about including a dictionary for the translation of the Italian and 'Angel-speak' and also adding a preview of book 3 to the end of book 2. After going through all the text there were just over 20 Italian words and six 'Angel' words and phrases, most were translated anyway, some were easily recognised (per favore, grazie etc. etc.) and a couple were fairly easy to guess (pazienza, scusa) so I decided that included a mini-mini-translation guide/dictionary might be over-kill. As to whether or not to add the first few chapters of book 3 on to the end as a kind of 'teaser' or 'hook'? Well, it's tempting but I've decided not to - they're on the blog anyway for a start!

So, book 2 is ready to leave me and head out for its make-over before heading out to see the big, bad world and I can't wait! Roll on August!

Book Signing at Waterstones, Coleraine

Isn't it lovely to meet people who support and encourage, instead of stacking obstacles in your way?
The wonderful folks at Waterstones in Coleraine are just the kind of people you want on your side, especially when you're a fairly clueless 'never-done-this-before-better-suited-to-the-life-of-a-hermit' type like me!
I arrived at the store about 15 minutes before the signing was about to start to find a lovely table stacked with my books right beside the till and a comfy chair just waiting for me to sit down and get started. Um, ok what do I do now? If I charge round there and hop onto the seat will I look too keen and desperate?  "Here, take a seat and get comfy," they said. Great, problem one solved!
I sat down, wriggled about a bit, wondered what I'd do if no-one turned up. Booksellers arrived, a camera was produced and photos were taken for the store's Facebook page. "Relax and enjoy it," I was told. "You'll do great. If you need anything, just ask."
Right. OK. I clasped and unclasped my hands, fiddled with my pen. Normal business went on around me and my throat started to get dry as I checked my watch and tried to check the door from the corner of my eye. Five minutes to go. Coffee appeared and I took a gulp. Phew, dry-throat problem solved!
Three minutes to go. 'No one's coming,' the sarky voice in my head whispered and it did that annoying 'Nelson' laugh 'Ha ha'.
I took another gulp of coffee and then... "Hi, Ashley!" "Where's the book?" "Do we pay at the till first?" "Can I get my photo taken with you?" "Have you signed any yet?"
The shop began to fill with smiling faces, I signed books, chatted, laughed, got photos taken, the newspapers arrived, more photos, more signing, lots more smiles, family arrived, more photos, lots of friends around, more photos, children hopping up onto my knee, signing more books and noticing the pile on the table going down and down and down...
And then it was all over, I was getting up off the seat again, pulling my jacket on and feeling like I'd just had the best daydream ever!
"We sold out," someone said with a grin.
Really?
Wow.
"Do you fancy coming back and joining some more authors at Halloween?"
Oh, yes please!!!

Chatting with my son and wondering what to do with my hands!

Signing!

Getting photos taken.

More signing!

Yep...more signing!

Big, big thanks to everyone who turned up to buy a book, or just to say 'Hello' - it was really kind of you to take time out of your Saturday to come and support me. And to the folks at Waterstones, Coleraine? You guys made another of my dreams come true! Thank you so much xx

Want to see some more pics? You can see some on my Facebook page Here or the Waterstones, Coleraine page Here (why not give them a 'Like' while you're there - they deserve it!)

Have I forgotten anything?

Okay so the countdown is on - after today there are just three more days until the book signing in Waterstones. Am I excited? Yes! Am I nervous? Yes! It's a bit like 'first date nerves' - butterflies in the tummy, a sense of delicious anticipation mixed with the horrible feeling that you're going to fall on your ass (been there, done that!) and totally embarrass yourself.

I'm excited because this is a big deal - signing books in my local (and favourite) bookshop. It's one of those big dream sequences that always seem like pie in the sky and it's actually going to happen! Wow. So, yeah, I'm excited - if I never get the opportunity to do anything like this again then at least I have this to look back on. If even 10 people come along and say howdy then I'll be a very happy bunny!

So what's to be scared about? Well, the obvious one is that no-one turns up! I mean, I'm not exactly Laurell K. Hamilton here. That would be the worst, I think - sitting alone, no-one to chat to, selling no books...eek! The staff of my local Waterstones have been so fabulous - supportive, encouraging, finding ways to sort problems out etc. etc. so I suppose part of my fear is letting them down - they've taken a pretty big chance on an unknown, self-published author - if no-one turns up and they sell nothing then I'll feel terrible!

The other obvious one is that people do turn up and are disappointed - not in the book, my ego is big enough to think that the book is a decent read, but I mean me. Ooh, let's not get into that - too many insecurities and what if's down that particular road. Let's just say that beauty and charisma are definitely NOT my middle names and we'll leave it at that.

So - I have my bookmarks ready, I have a pen ready (should I bring 2 just in case that one runs out, or is that wishful thinking?!), I have ancient make-up somewhere in the house, I'm getting my hair done, my friend is treating me to a manicure, the shop has books in stock on the off chance that someone buys one and wants it signed...have I forgotten anything?

Books 

Bookmarks to give out 

Pen 

Manicure 

Hair  

Make-up (kinda)


Something to wear.....SOMETHING TO WEAR???!!! uh oh!

Happy Easter!

Wherever you are and however you celebrate today - have a great day! 

Book Signing!

I'll be doing a 'Demon's Daughter' book signing in Waterstones, Coleraine on Saturday 21st April 2012 from 1pm so if you're in the area then please come along and say 'Howdy'. Can't wait!


A very thrilled me with my book in the store!