Now Offering Competitively-Priced Editing Services

Hello, all! I have decided to make myself available for editing. When I began releasing my work, I made a very conscious decision that I would do everything in my power to make it as professional and polished as I could. To accomplish this, I spent a great deal of time researching English grammar: proper use of punctuation, tense, word usage, etc. As a result, I have received many comments from readers commending the professionalism and clarity of my writing, and some have even asked me who my editor was.

Although I have not been trained as a professional editor, I am confident I now possess the skills and the knowledge to provide a valuable service to my fellow authors. I have edited books for a few authors in the past, and they were very pleased with the results. My rates are highly competitive, and for the time being, I will only work on one project at a time, ensuring that your manuscript receives the careful attention it deserves. This will also guarantee a quick turnaround time for books that are already scheduled for release.

For rates and details about the services I offer, please visit this page. All projects booked during the month of April will received a 10% discount. I look forward to working with some of you in the future!

All the Best,

Michael K. Rose

101 Thoughts on Self-Publishing -- 005: Play for the Endgame

As an independent writer, you may sometimes feel like you're doing an incredible amount of work for very limited results. In addition to writing your books, revising them, coming up with cover ideas and seeing that your work is properly edited, you also have to constantly promote yourself. If the many hours you spend on this each week are amounting to only a handful of sales, it can seem like you'll never get anywhere.

If this is you, as it has been me many times in the past, I find that looking at what you're doing form a different perspective can sometimes help. If you've read my books, you may have picked up on the fact that I am a chess enthusiast. A chess game is divided into three parts: the opening, the middlegame and the endgame. Depending on where you are in your career, you may be in any of these stages. But chess players know that your ultimate goal is to play so that you enter the endgame in a strong position.

So how can this help you as a writer? Well, of the possible twenty first moves in a chess game, sixteen of them are simply advancing a pawn. Pawns are the weakest piece in the game, and amateur players will often see them as merely an impediment to getting their more powerful pieces out into the center of the board. But at the highest levels of play, the loss of a single pawn can lose the game.

When you are just starting out as a writer, the seemingly simple and inconsequential things you are doing--the things that don't seem to be producing any results--are your opening pawn moves: building up your Twitter followers, writing interesting blog articles that get people to your site, befriending established independent authors. Even before you publish your first book, you have to lay the groundwork that will carry you beyond the opening and into the middle game and, ultimately, the endgame.

In both chess and a career as an independent writer, there are both bad and good moves. These articles I'm writing, as well as the articles written by many other authors more successful than I, are designed to help you make the right moves. I know that it can be hard spending your days working yourself to exhaustion while watching your sales remain stagnant, but remember that you are still making your opening moves.

So when do you enter the middlegame? When do you begin making moves that have more immediate results? Well, I now have three novels and a short story collection published, and I feel that I am only now entering my middlegame. My books are my rooks and knights and bishops. Just as I have slowly been developing my pawn base over the past year and a half, now I must carefully position my more valuable pieces. I do that by making sure they are well-edited and professional in appearance. Don't send your novel off into danger by putting it out there before it is ready. It is at this stage that you must be even more careful; now the stakes are higher. A poorly-received novel could be a major setback at this stage, just as losing a piece to a foolish move can lose your chess game.

Fortunately, writing is more forgiving than chess. Many is the chess game I've won or lost due to a single mistake. As a writer, you can recover from an early setback; there is no game-ending move. But there's no reason you should have to suffer that setback if you make the right moves.

Novice chess players will often develop their pieces too soon, sending them off into enemy territory to threaten the opponent's pieces. If the opponent has carefully protected his pieces, these are wasted moves and gives the other player what is called tempo. Basically, he now has the freedom to move and make you respond to him. As an author, you can keep the tempo fairly easily: be active in the community, try to produce new work--even if they are just short stories--regularly, keep writing interesting blog articles, run sales and promotions. I find that it's a good idea to always have something going on, something that keeps people thinking about you.

Eventually, you will get to the endgame. It may take years, but if you've positioned your pieces carefully, you will enter it in a strong position to achieve your goal: in chess, checkmate. In writing, a successful career. The important thing is to keep that goal in mind from the very beginning. Don't let the loss of a piece, or a month of poor sales, divert your attention from that goal. You will constantly face hardships, your position will always be under attack. But when you move that final piece that wins you the game, you will know that everything you've done up to that point helped contribute to your victory. Don't let short-term mistakes or losses discourage you, and don't give up, no matter how long you have to fight for it. Play for the endgame.

If you're enjoying the series so far and would like a single page to bookmark, I'll be adding each of my 101 Thoughts on Self-Publishing here. Also be sure to subscribe by email (see the box in the sidebar) to be automatically notified about my new posts.

You might also be interested in my eBook, Building a Promotional Package: How to Prepare for Your Successful Book Launch. Details about it can be found here.

Best,

Michael K. Rose

Did you like this post? Tweet it! Just copy and past the following to your Twitter account:

How is writing like a game of chess? Read Pt. 5 of the 101 Thoughts on Self-Publishing series by @MichaelKRose! http://myriadspheres.blogspot.com/2013/03/101-thoughts-on-self-publishing-005.html

101 Thoughts on Self-Publishing -- 001: Get Active on Social Media

I was toying around with the idea of making a series of articles called "101 Self-Publishing Tips." I dutifully began compiling a list of tips, but after the first few dozen, I realized that a lot of them were not tips so much as thoughts, but still things that I felt were important to mention to those interested in self-publishing. Besides, I don't know if I am really the one to be giving people tips. That would imply I know what the hell I'm doing. Also note that these thoughts reflect my personal experiences. Your own experiences may differ.

So here, presented one at a time as they occur to me and as I have the time to write them, are my 101 Thoughts on Self-Publishing. They will be presented in no particular order, but I'll try to keep related thoughts flowing in a logical manner. I'll try to do two or three a week, but I'm not making any promises just now.

001: Get Active on Social Media

If you've found this blog, chances are you came across it on social media. Why is this important? Well, you now know my name, and if you look to the right of this page you know the titles of my books.  Even if someone who finds you the way you found me isn't initially inspired to buy your books, that name recognition builds valuable word-of-mouth potential. When a friend recommends a book, having heard of the author provides an addition "authority"--nebulous as it may be--and a reader is more likely to act on that perceived authority. Even if they're just scanning titles on Amazon, your book will stand out if the readers thinks, "Oh yeah, I've heard of him/her!"

Social social media is great for two things: getting your name out to the public and building relationships, both with other authors and potential readers.

Now, social media can either be a blast or a pain in the ass. It can either be valuable time spent marketing and networking, or it can be a black hole into which all your hopes and dreams are relentlessly sucked. But for a self-published (and even trad-published) author, it is an essential part of getting your books in front of eyes.

I am personally active on Twitter and Facebook.

With Twitter, you can do a lot of things in 140 characters: greet new followers, share jokes and random thoughts, compliment and congratulate other writers on their books, etc. Even so, I find the format annoyingly limited. It's difficult to have a true, relationship-building conversation on Twitter. But it's great for making connections that one can later pursue on Facebook or via email, and I have met some wonderful friends that way. Promoting your book on Twitter is important, but be sure you spend at least as much time posting things not so obviously self-serving. Triberr is a great program by which you can post links to others' blog posts and they in turn will post yours. It keeps your content varied and ensures that you're posting a lot of information that is not directly leading back to you. Just be sure to limit the number of groups (called Tribes) that you participate in, or Followers can get overwhelmed by your constant Tweeting. More on Triberr in a future post.

Facebook is great for building on the relationships you've formed on Twitter. Since you can get across a lot more information than you can on Twitter, it's also best for sharing quotes from reviews, updates about your releases, or even just sharing the things that are going on in your life. You can also make a "page" on Facebook for people to like if you don't want your private Facebook account to be public. This does, however, limit the flow of conversation as you won't see the posts of people who have liked your page; you can't engage with them by commenting on the things they post.

I've met some authors on Facebook or Twitter who had one but not the other. By not using both, you are unnecessarily limiting your potential reach. There are certainly other social media sites, but I recommend all self-published authors get active on these two, at the very least. 

There are also book-specific sites such as Goodreads. I'm not as active there as I could be, but just by having an account, I get tons of friend requests. As mentioned above, those are people who are learning my name and the titles of my books, and that has powerful potential. You can also announce events such as book giveaways, contests, new releases, personal appearances, etc. Even if you don't do a lot on Goodreads, I recommend keeping your account up to date by adding all new releases. It's just one more place for people to see your books.

If you enjoyed today's thoughts, look to the sidebar on the right and you can follow by email to receive notices when I have new posts and also join the site with Google Friend Connect. If you have additional thoughts or observations, I'd love to hear them! Just leave a comment below.

All the Best,

Michael K. Rose

Edit: If you would like a single page to bookmark, I'll be adding each of my 101 Thoughts on Self-Publishing here.

You might also be interested in my new eBook, Building a Promotional Package: How to Prepare for Your Successful Book Launch. Details about it can be found here.

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#12NovelsIn12Months Update: I Might Fail

As I write this, I my head and throat are aching and I'm sitting upright in bed. There's a cup of peppermint tea and several cough drop wrappers on my nightstand. Yes, I'm sick. I began feeling it on Wednesday. Thursday morning it was worse, but I forced myself to write 3,000 words on Darkridge Hall. Friday it was about the same, but Saturday I woke up feeling absolutely miserable. Today I am a little better, but my energy is sapped and the creative juices are flowing like molasses.

So, I must face a fact: I might fail in reaching 60,000 words this month and completing Darkridge Hall. My original goal was to write a novel a month for twelve months, but I notice that the hashtag I chose for it, #12NovelsIn12Months, does not make that distinction. I can cheat and say I'll write those twelve anytime during the twelve months. Sure, it's semantic justification, but if it keeps me from feeling like a failure, so be it. Anyway, if I finish Darkridge Hall sometime in early December, what difference will a few days have made in the long run? It means I'll have to be diligent to keep up a good pace for my December book, but I will not abandon the entire project because I fell behind one month. I will write these twelve novels. Yes, the title of this post should be "I Won't Fail."

There is still a chance I'll be able to rally and finish Darkridge Hall in the next few days. I'm going to try to write today, but I don't know how far I'll get. The time might be better served editing one of my completed projects. Either way, wish me luck!

What Scares You?

As mentioned in a previous post, I am now writing a horror novel called Darkridge Hall as part of my #12NovelsIn12Months project. This is a new experience for me. Now, years and years ago, long before I was any type of "serious" writer, I had begun and rather quickly abandoned a few horror stories, and a couple of the short stories available in my collection are horror, but this is my first serious effort at a full-length horror novel.

My biggest concern in writing it is this: can I make it scary? Sure, I can have "scary" things happen to my characters, but will they necessarily scare the reader? I don't know yet. However, I did creep myself out a bit while writing the other day. I suppose my main concern for now should just be to tell the story. If the element of horror is not strong enough after the first draft, I can always go back and try to punch it up.

So let me ask my readers for advice: What do you find scary in a horror novel? What makes your skin crawl, your spine tingle, your short and curlys stand on end? What gives you goosebumps, the willies, the heeby-jeebies, the creeps? I don't mean particular things you find scary, but what literary elements make a scene scary? Let me know and I'll keep your suggestions in mind as I continue writing Darkridge Hall!

All the Best,

Michael K. Rose

#12NovelsIn12Months Update: Sullivan's Wrath is Finished!

The first month of my #12NovelsIn12Months project has been a success! I completed Sullivan's Wrath, and it is over 60,000 words in length. This is, of course, a first draft, and I expect to add a bit to it as I flesh out some scenes during revision.

Some of you have asked when I'll have time to do said revisions and edits. Well, if I can keep on track this month as I write Darkridge Hall, a paranormal thriller, I will have a few days left over at the end of the month which I will use to work on a second draft of Sullivan's Wrath. The plan right now is to release it at the end of January.

The third book in the Sullivan Saga, Sullivan's Watch, will be written during the month of December. Then, as I'm doing in November, I'll write something else in January to take a break from the series and finish it off with the fourth Sullivan book in February.

I had written before that the trilogy of Sullivan books would be bookended by two others, one taking place before Sullivan's War and one taking place after the main story line of the series. However, I have decided to combine those into one book and actually increase Sullivan's involvement; I had originally planned for him to be a secondary character. This way, the Sullivan Saga, as I'm calling it, will be all about Sullivan, but the scope of the final book will be much larger than any of the first three books.

On a final note, this is November, and I imagine lots of you will be participating in NaNoWriMo. I am as well, by default, but I won't be participating in the communal aspect of it, posting daily word counts and all that. However, I do wish those of you participating the best of luck! I've just written a book in a month, so I know that while it is a challenge, it is not as difficult as you might imagine. You can do it!

I'll post another #12NovelsIn12Months update when I have something to report. Until then, don't forget that signed print copies of my books are currently on sale. Details can be found here. I'd also like to add that Nov. 1 & 2, Sergeant Riley's Account, the prologue to Sullivan's War, is free at Amazon. Click here for links.

Best,

Michael K. Rose

#12NovelsIn12Months Update: One (Almost) Down. What's Next?

October is quickly winding to a close. The evenings are finally pleasant here in Arizona and I am so close to finishing Sullivan's Wrath, so close I can smell it. What does it smell like, you ask? Well, NaNoWriMo is coming up, so you can have a chance to smell it for yourself!

By writing a book a month, I am participating in NaNo by default but I won't be participating in all the discussion surrounding it. I'm just going to hunker down and peck away at the keyboard. And what will I be pecking in November? I had initially planned on writing the third installment of the Sullivan series, but I feel like I want to write something else in November so I can have a little break from Rick Sullivan and his universe. That way I can come back to it in December with a fresh perspective.

So what should I write? Maybe you can help me decide. Here are three of the book ideas for my #12NovelsIn12Months writing project:

1. Darkridge Hall - A reclusive shipping tycoon dies childless and leaves his inheritance to a prep school along with instructions that the money be used to construct a building on the campus. However, he also left behind blueprints for the design of the building. Exactly one hundred years after his death, strange things begin to happen at Darkridge Hall. 

2. Pray For Mars - Two hundred years from now, we have established a permanent colony on Mars. When the charismatic leader of a cult declares that it is against God's will for humans to leave the planet Earth, he sets in motion a series events that could lead to the destruction of the Mars colony. Can the colony's security forces uncover the plot in time?

3. Disreputable - A modern retelling of Henry James's The Aspern Papers with a twist. When a literary scholar discovers that the granddaughter of a writer he idolizes is still alive and, in fact, may have the manuscript of the author's last, unfinished novel, he determines that he will do whatever it takes to get his hands on it, even if that means pretending to be gay so he can seduce the author's great grandnephew, who is now living with his ailing aunt.

So there we have it: something a little occult/paranormal, something a little sci-fi and something a little literary and character-driven. The plan is for whichever one I write to be published after Sullivan's Wrath. Which would you like to read?

#12NovelsIn12Months Update: The First 20,000 Words

It is Sunday night as I write this, and my word count for Sullivan's Wrath, the first book of my #12NovelsIn12Months writing project, sits at 20,063. I know that writing 3K a day means I should be at 21,000, but I was having dizzy spells for a couple of days (yes, I am in a Tennessee Williams play) and my writing output on those days was only around 2K. Fortunately, I had written over 6K on Monday so I was ahead of the game.

Now that I have a full week under my belt, I think I will shoot for 20K a week from now on. This will give me a little flexibility with my daily word count and, to quote Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, it's a "nice round number."

Quite a bit of time this week was spent in plotting out Sullivan's Wrath. I had a very basic twenty-scene outline, but that has now been expanded to fifty-five scenes. I also created and introduced a character who in this book will help drive the tension as the readers begin to wonder what he's up to and make for an effective antagonist for the third Sullivan novel. This novel is turning out quite a bit darker than Sullivan's War. In addition, elements that I introduced in the first novel are now playing a much larger role. Elements from this novel will play a large role in the last book of the trilogy.

I mentioned briefly that there will be two more novels to bookend the Sullivan Trilogy. With that in mind, I am trying to be very careful to craft this book in such a way that I do not contradict anything that I want to happen in those books. Very soon I plan on writing brief outlines for the third Sullivan book as well as those two bookends, just so I stay on the same page with myself. I also finalized the overall motivation for the things that are happening throughout the series. Readers will see that nothing that happened in Sullivan's War and nothing that will happen in this novel or the next is on accident. Every time I sit down to write, it seems that more and more events in the series become linked to one another. Some of this is intentional, and some of it is happening quite on accident.

An example: In Sullivan's War, the hyperspace entities began simply as an excuse for why Benjamin Alexander's new technology would not be extensively used. However, they have become linked to everything that is happening throughout. I am myself quite excited to see all this unfolding and I hope readers of the series will feel that same excitement.

Wish me luck as I enter my next week of the project. As I mentioned before, if you'd like to support me in this endeavor, financial considerations will end up being my biggest obstacle in preventing me from writing full time. If you'd like to purchase any of my books, it would be greatly appreciated. If you are new to my work, I have several short stories and novellas for sale individually, but you can get everything I've published so far in just two books: my collection Short Stories and Sullivan's War. If you get those two, you can enjoy my entire output to date.

Thanks again to my readers for all the support you have shown me this past year. I will do my best not to disappoint in the year to come.

Best,

Michael K. Rose

#12NovelsIn12Months Update: Apparently I Am Insane

I've had more that one person mention that my #12NovelsIn12Months project is crazy. People have wondered where I'll get the time for edits and revisions or anything else. I tried to indicate in my original post that no, I am not insane, but I suppose it needs some clarification.

To achieve my goal, I have committed to writing 3,000 words per day. That's 21,000 words per week. Contrast this with, say Edmund Hillary summiting Mount Everest or Magellan setting off to circumnavigate the globe, and I hardly think my comparatively meager goal is anything remarkable. Will it take a lot of work? Yes. But not more work than anyone working 40 hours a week at any given job. Less, actually.

And I think that is the best way to approach this, the best way to keep myself on track: by putting it in perspective. I will spend 3-4 hours a day writing. If I write for 6 hours one day, I might be able to spend a little less time the next day, but I expect 3 or 4 to be the average. Suppose I sleep for 8 hours a day. That leaves me with a full 12 hours to do everything else. As mentioned before, right now I am able to focus on writing full-time. I realize that this project would be much more difficult if I were working full-time as well. And honestly, if I were working full-time, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

But it's not crazy, I won't be doing nothing but writing in my waking hours and I know that at the end of it I will have accomplished in a year what other writers may do in a decade. I can well afford 3-4 hours a day to see this done. The reason I am making this project public is because I now have an incentive to complete it. I now have other people encouraging me. If I fail I will not just let myself down, but I feel as though I will have let them down as well.

My total for the first three days: 10,296 words. I'm about 1,300 words ahead of schedule, which frees up a little time later in the month if I need it. I'm off to write my 3,000 words for today. The next update will probably be Monday to give you my total word count after the first full week.

Best,

Michael

The #12NovelsIn12Months Writing Project

Old Typewriter by Petr Kratochvil

I am about to embark on a highly ambitious project: for the next twelve months (October of 2012-September of 2013) I am going to write a full novel every month. I'll give you a moment to clean off your screen and stop laughing. Good? Ok. In anticipation of the questions I'm sure will be asked, I have prepared this Q & A.

Q. Are you insane?

A. No, not particularly. I am not making this decision because I have any severe mental disorders. I have made this decision because I have a dream: to make a living as a writer. As of this November, I will have been at it for a year. The response from readers has been overwhelmingly positive and sales have been encouraging, so I feel I'm doing something right. And while I am very pleased with what I have accomplished in that year, I know that I can do more. I also know that my current situation will not allow me to write full-time forever, so while I can, I am going to take full advantage of the time that I have.

Q. How long is a "novel?"

A. For this project, I will aim for at least 60,000 words per novel. Of course, I fully expect most of the novels to be longer than that. So why 60,000? What constitutes a novel varies widely depending on whom you ask. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America sets the threshold at just 40,000 words. I've seen some estimates as high as 80,000 or 90,000, even over 100,000. But 60,000 feels like a good compromise between those two extremes.

Q. How many words will you write a day?

A. Well, if I write 2,000 words a day, I'll reach 60,000 in a month. But like I said, I expect many of my novels to be longer than that, so my daily minimum will be 3,000 words. For me, this is 3-4 hours of uninterrupted work a day. That will be 90,000 in a month, which means that I may even end up with a few days left over at the end of the month if the novel ends up nearer the 60,000 minimum.

Q. Do you have all the novels already planned out?

A. I have five or so that I have given enough thought to to begin writing immediately. I have very basic ideas for the others but they will need to be fleshed out before I begin writing them.

Q. What are you going to write first?

A. This month (October), I will write Sullivan's Wrath, the sequel to Sullivan's War. In November I will write Sullivan's Warning, the last of the Sullivan Trilogy proper. But the story will not end there. Two of the books I will write over the next year will be, essentially, bookends to the Sullivan Trilogy. One will take place before the events in the trilogy and the other afterward, but they will all tie together. I have several other projects in the works that I will write in the coming year. Most of them will be science fiction, but I also have ideas for some paranormal/horror stories, a historical fantasy and a couple of literary novels.

Q. How are you going to find the time to do this?

A. I can write about 1,000 words an hour. As mentioned, my current circumstances will allow me to write full-time. Writing for a minimum of three hours a day will hardly be a strain. However, I intend to try to write more than that and stay ahead of schedule so I will not fall behind if something comes up. This will allow me to take a day or two off if needed.

Q. How many of these book are you going to release in the next year?

A. I will, of course, have to spend time editing and revising the novels. It is my goal to have at least four of them released by the end of 2013.

Q. Why are you starting now and not in January?
A. Because I can start now. I can write full-time right now. The longer I wait, the less certain my situation becomes. Plus, this month of October begins on a Monday, which made it feel like a natural starting point.

I will keep you all updated on my progress. I'll be using the hashtag #12NovelsIn12Months on Twitter if you want to follow along. I know that I can do this, and I'm hoping that it will be the kick-start that I need to fulfill my dream of being able to live off the proceeds from my writing. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. If you'd like to help me accomplish this goal, the best way to do that is to consider buying my books (just click on the book covers in the sidebar for links) so I can stay solvent while I write. :o) Wish me luck!

Best,

Michael K. Rose

An Interview with Scott Fitzgerald Gray

Today, I am very pleased to share this interview I conducted with Scott Fitzgerald Gray, author of the science fiction novel We Can Be Heroes (see the SpecFicPick Book Feature here). Scott describes himself as a specially constructed biogenetic simulacrum built around an array of experimental consciousness-sharing techniques—a product of the finest minds of Canadian science until the grant money ran out. Accidentally set loose during an unauthorized midnight rave at the lab, the S.F. Gray entity is currently at large amongst an unsuspecting populace, where his work as an author, screenwriter, editor, RPG designer, and story editor for feature film keeps him off the streets.

Michael K. Rose: Scott, I'd like to start by asking a question I ask the writers I interview for my webzine SpecFicPick. I know you already answered it when I interviewed you for the site in July, but I'd like to ask it again because I think it offers a fantastic insight into not only the mind of a particular writer, but into the shared culture of speculative fiction writers: What role do you believe speculative fiction plays in society?

Scott Fitzgerald Gray: I mostly just repeat what people far smarter than me have already said in response to this question, which is that speculative fiction is a literature of unrestricted ideas. SF is a place where literally any question can be asked dramatically—questions of technology, sociology, culture, ethics, morality—with the ramifications and repercussions of those questions generating new questions in the reader. A kind of catalytic cycle of ideas and philosophy, as it were. When I answered the same question on the site in July, I mentioned how the use of “speculative fiction” as opposed to “science fiction” sums up my own personal take on the genre, which at its best is about wrapping the live wires of raw ideas in the protective sheath of narrative so that we can grab onto them without killing ourselves. Speculative fiction is an exchange of raw ideas and unbridled imagination, and shows us how to map those ideas onto the framework of human experience. There's absolutely nothing wrong with analyzing or exposing the big questions of life through philosophy or history or sociology or any other strictly academic pursuit. But in the end, academic analysis can rarely hit us in the heart like speculative fiction can—and it's when we get hit in the heart that we really start to care about things.

MKR: I, too, am drawn to speculative fiction because of it's ability to act as a catalyst for ideas. I believe that if we want our society to continue in a generally positive direction, we need more literature that does this as opposed to the generally meaningless pop fiction that seems to dominate the bestsellers lists. Do you think it is the responsibility of all writers to hit someone "in the heart," as you say? How much room should we allow for those who only want to entertain? In other words, what would be your ideal ratio for meaningful fiction versus entertaining pop fiction?

SFG: I don’t have a problem with people who want to write solely to entertain, or with people whose purpose in reading is just to be entertained. But I think stories that pack a real emotional punch are invariably better stories than those that shoot for mere entertainment—and as writers, I think we should all be obsessed with telling the best possible stories. I don’t view it merely as a social or intellectual obligation. To me, there’s never been a conflict between stories that entertain and stories rich in meaning and ideas, because I think the best stories do both. Whether you’re talking about George R.R. Martin or Frank Herbert, André Norton or Marion Zimmer Bradley, Hemingway or Joseph Conrad, there’s a vast field of popular writers whose works manage to marry exciting narrative and bold ideas, and those are the writers whose creative example I desperately try to follow.

Having said that, though, I’m not sure that there is an optimal ratio, just because the balance really depends on the story. As an example, it’s interesting to think about The Lord of the Rings and the films based on that novel. A book like The Lord of the Rings is necessarily built on the intellectual foundations of its historical backstory. Without that backstory, it’s hard to imagine the book being as amazing as it is. But at the same time, the films were forced to dispense with a lot of that backstory strictly because of time constraints, yet the films still managed to create a story that’s emotionally compelling in its own way.

MKR: I fully agree with you that the best stories contain both elements. However, it is my opinion that (unfortunately) much of what is "popular" is geared almost exclusively for entertainment as opposed to delivering meaningful ideas. As a writer, do you find yourself intentionally trying to insert meaning into your work, or does it happen naturally? Do you give serious thought to elements like themes and motifs?

SFG: Full (and equally unfortunate) agreement. But from my perspective, I think it’s important to say that I don’t think it’s all that much harder to write emotionally compelling, thoughtful, character-driven fiction than it is to write fiction that’s just entertaining. I think some writers might believe otherwise, though, and I think writers are sometimes reluctant to dig deeper into their stories because they’ve gotten used to simply writing on the surface. Delivering meaningful ideas in fiction is really just a matter of wanting to explore those meaningful ideas. As writers, if we have the will to push a story, the story will respond.

As far as analyzing the process by which I cram meaning into my own work, I’m not sure that “intentionally” is as apt a word as “compulsively.” It’s not like I craft a story and then look for places to nail down the thematic elements and the big ideas and the deeper character story. Those elements just kind of come together in the process of digging into the story. Sometimes you start out with an idea or theme that you know you want to explore, whether it be something like emotional loss, the perspective of madness, political allegory, or what have you. But sometimes you just start out with raw plot and the inclination to tell a story that’s exciting and memorable—only to discover that themes and motifs you never expected to focus on have woven themselves into the work and demand that you address them. One of the things I’m very evangelistic about as a writer is outlining, and I think that my own process of outlining has a lot to do with how my stories unfold and expand on different levels. Working on an outline, I feel like I’m working with story at its most primal, and it’s easy to see themes and motifs unfold at that level of raw narrative energy.

MKR: Can you tell me a bit about your most recent work, We Can Be Heroes, and the meaningful ideas you compulsively explore in it?

SFG: LOL, etc. But the new book is actually a pretty good example, because it was a story in which I both started with some specific themes I wanted to explore, then found myself exploring new things in the course of the writing that I hadn’t expected to. Without giving too much away, one of the Big Points in the book is to examine the notion of what it means to be truly alive versus what it means to just go through the motions of life. What is human versus what only appears to be human—which is a concept I hope a lot of people know because it’s a big part of the work of Philip K. Dick, and his books were a huge inspiration for We Can Be Heroes. Not in the sense that I think the book feels in any way like a PKD novel, but because my inspiration for that underlying theme came about as a response to his work, and to parallel questions raised by William Gibson in Neuromancer. But even as I knew from the get-go that those ideas were ones I wanted to explore in the story, I discovered that as the story took shape, I was inspired to dig a lot more into personal themes of isolation, alienation, and love than I had originally intended.

In its earliest outline-level incarnation, the story was more focused on the action/adventure side of things. And though there’s still plenty of that in the book, and though the characters were strong enough in the original concept, the character story got stronger as I reworked the outline and the writing eventually kicked into gear. A couple of the darker plot points and the mechanics of the relationships between the characters were things that came very late to the narrative mix, because I discovered that the more things I threw at the characters, the more resilient they were forced to become and the stronger their story became. There’s a line very near the front of the book (in the chapter that relates the significance of the title) that talks about living in a world in which telling someone you love them is the bravest thing you’ll ever do. That became one of the key meaningful ideas in the book, and was one of the last parts of the book I wrote, and I would never have predicted at the outset that it would have become as important an idea as it did.

MKR: Thank you for your great answers, Scott. Is there anything else you'd like to mention or links you’d  like to share?

SFG: Thanks to you for the questions, and for the chance to prattle on. As far as links to share, I’d be cementing my reputation as the worst self-promoter on earth if I didn't mention my website as a good place to go for more info on my writing and other projects (including an extended free sample of We Can Be Heroes. But for more useful information of benefit to the struggling writer, I’m a big fan of the collective of voices that is the AmWriting blog (to which I’m an occasional contributor), Phil Athans’ Fantasy Writer’s Handbook, David Farland’s Writing Tips, and Chuck Wendig’s TerribleMinds. I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to be a part of the community of writers, and particularly the community of fantasists. Being able to share the experience of, and the ideas underlying, a book like We Can Be Heroes is a huge treat, so thanks.

Is Your Novel "Too Long?"

"Wait just a tick," you've just said to yourself. "Didn't he recently write a blog post entitled 'Is Your Novel "Long Enough?"'" Yes, that elaborately-punctuated query is correct. I did, and it is here. But I have been perusing the book blog Book Riot (which is fantastic, by the way) and came across these two posts: "Every Book I Read Needs to be at Least 50 Pages Shorter"and "The Problem with 500-Page Books." These are two readers who, generally speaking, do not like long books. They find them fluffy and meandering. The comments to those posts consisted of those who agreed whole-heartedly and those who felt it was their duty to berate the authors for not having attention spans of steel. Comments from my post "Is Your Novel 'Long Enough'" also came down on both sides of the argument, which is to be expected.

So I'd like to ask those of you who prefer novels over novellas and short stories: How long is too long? Does it depend on the story, or will you simply pass on a book that has too many pages, no matter how good it looks? I have Stephen King's expanded edition of The Stand sitting on my shelf, which comes in at a  doorstop-ian 1150 pages. And I do have to admit, I'm reluctant to begin it. I also notice that the three books that make up The Lord of the Rings are about the same combined length. 

A question for all readers: If an author has a 1000-plus-page tale in the works, do you prefer it to be broken up into three or more books, or would you rather sit down with a tome in your lap? Discuss.

SULLIVAN'S WAR Signed Print Editions

Hello, all! I released Sullivan's War: The Complete Adventure as an eBook around the middle of July, and the response has been phenomenal! Sales of this book, combined with sales of my other titles, gave me my highest-grossing month ever. My work also continues to attract glowing 4- and 5-star reviews.

To all who have bought and read my books, thank you for helping me toward my goal of being able to support myself as a writer. I still have over a year to accomplish that goal, and I can already see it on the horizon.

Today, I'm pleased to announce that signed print editions of Sullivan's War are now available for preorder. You can buy it alone for regular price ($12.99 + S&H) or in combination with my collection Short Stories for just $18 + S&H, a discount of $5 off the combined price of the books. Short Stories is also available individually and is currently on sale as well.

Each order also comes with signed postcards featuring the covers of the books and a selection of bookmarks. All options can be viewed at my web store, here. 

If you prefer an eBook edition of Sullivan's War, it can be purchased for the Kindle or the Nook. Links to all eBook stores can be found here. EBook links for Short Stories can be found here.

Thank you again to all my readers. Your support has been overwhelming, and the only way I know how to repay it is by writing books that you'll hopefully enjoy. Up next is a novel called Chrysopteron, followed by the sequel to Sullivan's War, Sullivan's Wrath. Look for Chrysopteron in October and Sullivan's Wrath near Christmas.

Best,

Michael K. Rose

Is Your Novel "Long Enough?"

Books of Varying Lengths

As you may know, I've recently released Sullivan's War: The Complete Adventure. It collects three novellas (called Sullivan's War: Books I, II and III) which were released individually but make up one story line. Those novellas, usually priced at $2.99 apiece, have been selling fairly well. But The Complete Adventure's sales have been fantastic, selling in twelve days nearly as many copies as Book I, even though Book I's price was reduced to 99 cents near the beginning of the month.

I had suspected that I would see an increase in sales once I released The Complete Adventure, and here's why: I'd read long ago that many readers prefer to read only novels. They do not particularly care for short stories, and novellas? What the hell is a novella? The unimpressive sales of my collection Short Stories seems to support this idea. Even though Short Stories has a good number of positive reviews and I promoted it as heavily (if not more heavily) than Sullivan's War: The Complete Adventure, I sold nearly 7 times as many copies of Sullivan's War as Short Stories during July. And remember, Sullivan's War: The Complete Adventure was only available for the last twelve days of the month.

Now, I'm one who has always been a champion for short stories. I write them, obviously, and I even wrote a blog post called "Why I Love Short Stories." Another post I wrote as a guest on ME Franco's blog is called "Short Fiction is Dead?" In it, I propose that the eBook revolution will see a reemergence of shorter fiction. One thought is that a short story or novella can be published without the concern of making sure a "book" is of a profitable length. Now that printing costs are not a factor, any length can be a profitable length, assuming the story is sufficiently attractive to readers. Well, the three Sullivan's War novellas have been profitable, as have a few of the short stories I released individually. But my experience these past two weeks with Sullivan's War: The Complete Adventure has convinced me that full-length novels are going to be even more profitable. And while profit should not be a writer's sole consideration, it is unavoidable if one wishes, as I do, to make a living at it.

So is your novel long enough? What is long enough? The dividing line between novels and novellas ranges from 40,000 words to 60,000 words or higher. Will readers be "unsatisfied" with a 40,000-word novel? Does the word novella scare some people away? And what can one reasonably charge for short stories, novellas, short novels, long novels? I've been publishing my fiction for less than a year, and I'm still trying to work all of this out. But the sales of Sullivan's War: The Complete Adventure have convinced me that, for now at least, I should probably not focus on writing short stories quite as much. Novels are what readers want, and I have about a dozen novels waiting to be written. I just hope I can make them long enough.

What do you consider to be a minimum length for a novel? If you prefer novels over novellas or short stories, why? I'd love to hear any thoughts on this topic; just leave a comment below.

Best,

Michael K. Rose

Edit: Please read the followup to this post here.

Building An Author's Promotional Package, Part 3

Welcome to Part 3 of "Building An Author's Promotional Package," the final and thrilling conclusion! In Part 1, I talked about writing your book description. Part 2 covered images and quotes. Today, I will talk about two more things you should include, one you can include and one that, in my opinion, is not necessary but is a damned great idea (because I thought of it, you see). Onward!

IV: LINKS

Once you've told people all about your great book, shown them how cool the cover looks and shared what others have thought about it, you want to get them to a place where they can buy it or at least stay connected with you. This means links. These are some of the links that you can provide:

1. A link to a static page dedicated to your book. This can be a page on your website (like this one for Short Stories) or a blog post about your book. If you book isn't out yet, you want this to be the go-to page where you will provide links to all the various places people can buy the book once it does come out. If your book is out, link to this page but I would also recommend providing links in your promotional package to the most popular stores.
2. Your blog, if you're not linking to it as mentioned above.
3. If you have other books out, your Amazon profile page.
4. Social media links (your Facebook and Twitter accounts, for example).
5. Your book's Goodreads page.
6. Any other places your book is mentioned/featured/reviewed.

Try not to go overboard on links, or people may not know where to start. I'd keep the number around eight, definitely under ten.

V: A COMPLIMENTARY COPY

The people who are hosting your book announcement on their blog/website are doing you a huge favor. It would be good form to give them a complimentary eBook copy of your book in return. But this is not purely altruistic. There is the possibility they will read the book and like it enough to post a review for you. This will be especially important early on, when your book is new. It is also a good idea to get your complimentary copies out at least a week in advance so they have a chance to read it before the official release.

VI: BOOK EXCERPT (OPTIONAL)

You may, in your promotional package, include a thrilling excerpt of your book. However, this will tend to make the book announcement rather long-looking, and people may skip over it. I would instead recommend that you post an excerpt on your own blog/website and provide a link to it in your promotional package.

VII: SOCIAL MEDIA BLURBS

Okay, this is the damned great idea: social media blurbs. What are those? A little while back, I realized that a lot of people are willing to tweet/announce my book when it comes out. The people who are hosting you on their blog/website are especially willing to do this. So I decided that I would try to make doing so a bit easier for them and, in the process, increase the likelihood that they would do it. A social media blurb is simply a pre-written message advertising or announcing your book. Instead of having to write something and copy and paste the link themselves, your friends and fans can just copy and paste these pre-written blurbs. I recommend making some for Twitter, adhering to the 140-character limit, and some for other social media sites, like Facebook, where you have a bit more room to work with. If your book is already out, you can link to the most popular stores. If not, you can link to the static page for your book. I recommend providing 4-6 for each type of site so they have some variety. Here, for example, are the Twitter blurbs I will provide in my promotional package for Short Stories:

Read SHORT STORIES by Michael K. Rose: “…the purest form of literature…” http://www.michaelkrose.com/short-stories #SciFi #Kindle #Nook @MichaelKRose

Michael K. Rose’s SHORT STORIES is “…as rich as a bottle of Montrachet 1978…” http://www.michaelkrose.com/short-stories #SciFi #Nook #Kindle @MichaelKRose

Get SHORT STORIES, #SciFi author Michael K. Rose’s new release. “Prepare to be immersed!” http://www.michaelkrose.com/short-stories #Nook #Kindle @MichaelKRose

#SciFi author Michael K. Rose’s newest release is available for #Nook, #Kindle & in print. Get it here: http://www.michaelkrose.com/short-stories @MichaelKRose

Michael K. Rose’s SHORT STORIES is “…as tasty as a generous cut of Wagyu beef.” http://www.michaelkrose.com/short-stories #SciFi #Kindle #Nook @MichaelKRose

New release by @MichaelKRose, “...an insightful, compelling writer with a talent for nuance and timing.” SHORT STORIES: http://www.michaelkrose.com/short-stories

So what elements do we have in common? First, my name and the title of my book. Those are obvious. We also want the link, which you can see is my website page dedicated to Short Stories. Most of them also have a short quote from reviews that I have previously solicited. Finally, I have tried to include two Twitter-specific things: appropriate hashtags (such as #SciFi, #Nook and #Kindle) and my Twitter username so I can see when people post these and thank them.

A social media blurb for Facebook or similar sites could look like this:

Michael K. Rose, author of SULLIVAN'S WAR, releases SHORT STORIES: "If there is an author new to the world of publishing that I would place next to Ray Bradbury, Edgar Allan Poe and Isaac Asimov, it has to be Michael K. Rose." Get your copy today! http://www.michaelkrose.com/short-stories

The great thing about the social media blurbs is that you can include them in email announcements about your book and send them to acquaintances. So even if someone isn't hosting you on their blog/website, they can still copy one of these and paste them into their social media account. If your book is not out yet, be sure to ask those you send these to to wait until it is or you may end up confusing a lot of people. Alternatively, you can have some "Coming Soon!" social media blurbs to tweet beforehand, and blurbs like those above for after the release.

This brings an end to "Building An Author's Promotional Package." There are, of course, many things you can do and many different ways you can arrange the elements of your own promo package. I'd love to hear your thoughts/reactions in the comments section below. I'd also like to know if you have any great ideas of your own!

Finally, I would like to again say that Short Stories comes out on June 29, 2012. I am actively looking for bloggers who are willing to post a release announcement for me. If you are interested, please email myriad_spheres@yahoo.com with "BLOG TOUR" in the subject line.

Best Wishes,
Michael K. Rose

Building An Author's Promotional Package, Part 2

Yesterday, in “Building An Author’s Promotional Package, Part 1,” I talked about writing a description for your book, and a bit about press releases. Today, I would like to talk about the next two elements you should include in your promotional package: images and quotes.

II: IMAGES

Just as your description can pique a reader’s interest, the cover of your book and any associated images can as well. Always include an image of your book cover in the press package. It draws the eye in a way that a dense paragraph of text can’t. I also like to include an advertising banner, so whoever is helping you spread the word about your book has something eye-catching to put across the top of the page. I’m not going to get into the elements of good or bad cover design; there are many other discussions about that. But here are a couple of my banner ads as an example of what those can look like (my blog displays them too big if I go up a size, so click on them for a better view):

And here are two banners from paranormal thriller writer Micheal Rivers:

 

You can see that you can use an "abstract" type background, like in the Sullivan's War banner, you can put the actual book cover in the banner, as I have done with Short Stories, or you can zoom in on certain elements of book cover, as Micheal Rivers has done. From these examples you can also see that you can condense your book description down into a single line ("Can Rick Sullivan Defeat His Enemies Before He Defeats Himself?" or "Can You Bargain with the Dead?"). That, along with the book title and your name, will pretty much fill the space in your banner ad. But if you have a little extra room, your website or a quote from a reader, as in Sullivan's War banner, are also great things to put in your banner ad. 

In addition to your book cover and a banner ad, you should include a photo of yourself. Typically called a head shot, this will give a face to the words. And make sure it's a good face. The way I see it, there are two main schools when it comes to the head shot: casual and not casual (I don't use the word "formal" because sartorially that means white or black tie, and I don't want you dressing up in a tux or gown for your head shot).

The casual head shot is what most authors will opt for, as we live in a casual society. I have chosen to go with a non-casual head shot:

However, if you decide to do this, make sure it is a real part of your persona. Between the symphony, opera and occasional ballet performances and plays, I end up wearing a coat and tie quite a bit throughout the year. I am comfortable in it. If you feel like you're suffocating when you put on a tie, chances are you're going to look like you're suffocating. Be comfortable, but avoid any clothing that could be seen as objectionable or anything very revealing (unless you write erotica, I suppose).

Even if you do go for casual, try to avoid the common snapshot. Have an actual photo shoot with a friend taking pictures of you, telling you which poses/smile/etc. look the best. You want your photo to look like a professional author's photo (pick up some books around your house to get an idea). You want to exude an air of confidence and professionalism. It's purely subconscious and completely unfair, but if you look untidy, readers might worry that your writing is untidy.

III: QUOTES

This is where you really have to plan ahead. What you want to do is find some authors or readers who really enjoy your work. I was very fortunate in this, as I didn’t have to seek them out. People began leaving glowing reviews on my product pages at Amazon and from there I connected with many of them via Twitter, Facebook and email.

Once you have a list of people who you feel you can count on for a positive review, people who not only like your work but love your work, you will want to have a review copy of your book ready about a month before you release it to the general public. A review copy is simply a draft of the book (these days it's often an eBook) that is not quite finalized but is complete and close enough to being revised and edited that a reader can get a good sense for the work. Send this review copy out to your short list of readers. If they enjoy it, you will hopefully get a nice quote from them to add to your promotional package. Another thing you can do once you have your cover image finalized is create a book entry on Goodreads and list it as "Coming Soon!" You can ask your readers to leave their reviews there as well as at the Amazon and B&N and other stores once the book is for sale. Great quotes, especially from other authors, can interest a reader in your upcoming book as much as a great description can. Another benefit of listing your book on Goodreads in advance is that you can start getting people entering for a book giveaway, if you choose to do that.

Of course, if other authors send you quotes to use in your promotional material, it is only right that you offer to do the same for them. Be very careful, however, that a quid pro quo isn’t established wherein you say nice things about their book simply because they said something nice about yours. However, unless they are truly bad writers (or you are hyper-critical), there should be something you like about the book. Even if their book may not be your cup of tea, look at it from the perspective of its intended audience and try to see what they will like about it.

Tomorrow, I will conclude the "Building An Author's Promotional Package" series with two more elements you should include in your package, one optional element as well as one final element that I think is a rather novel idea. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: Read Part 3 here.

Building An Author's Promotional Package, Part 1

INTRODUCTION

As I get ready to release my new book, Short Stories, (coming on June 29^th!) I’ve decided to put together a promotional package, as I have done in the past. But I realized that I had never given much thought to it. As I pondered the subject, I concluded that there are several things that I think are important to include; these are the things I am going to include in my own promotional package. A lot of this will be common sense for those of us who have done it before, but I hope some new authors out there will get a few ideas to use when they begin promoting their books. Note that this is not a guide on where or how to submit your promotional packages, but briefly, I intend to use mine for the following:

1. To send to those who have agreed to host a book announcement on their blog

2. To post on my own blog

3. To send out to my email contacts

4. To create a Goodreads event

If you want to write up a press release, there are, of course, many places you can post those. Some Google research will be able to tell you more than I can. I’ll address press releases a bit later in the article but the main focus will be on writing your book description.

I: THE DESCRIPTION

The first thing to include in an author’s press package is the most obvious: a description of the book. That’s easy enough, right? Actually, no. It’s notoriously difficult to write an engaging description but it is going to be the most important part of your press package. Based on your description of a book, potential readers will decide to either buy or pass. Just so we’re clear, you want them to buy. So how do you do this? My main point of advice is to use the word “thrilling.” I'm only partly joking about this. Read some book descriptions. Every book ever written is “thrilling.” If it’s not “thrilling,” then it is “heart-warming.” Other words readers like to see are “fast-paced,” “touching,” “provocative” and “engaging.” Of course, only use these words if they actually apply to your novel. Do not try to trick readers with your description. A tricked reader is an unhappy reader, which is something you do not want. It would help to have some friends read the book beforehand and tell you how they would describe it. Find out what key words they use and weave them into your book description.

Here’s my back cover blurb for my upcoming book Short Stories. Give it a read then I will tell you what I’ve tried to do with each part of the description:

The science fiction stories of Michael K. Rose can most accurately be described as eclectic. He is best known for his science fiction adventure series Sullivan’s War and in this collection you will find stories that adhere to the strongest expectations of the genre, such as “Sergeant Riley’s Account,” “Sleep” and “A Random Selection.”

But you will also find stories that, while speculative in nature, owe more to literary fiction than anything else. Works such as “Main & Church,” “Inner Life” and “Pedro X.” explore the psyche as opposed to the outer reaches of the galaxy.

Whatever your tastes, you are bound to discover many favorites amongst these ten stories. The first five have been available previously. The last five are new to this collection.

The first paragraph has done a few things. First, I have described my writings as eclectic. This is code for “there’s something for everybody here!” Next, I mention Sullivan’s War. This does two things. It tells the reader I have a track record as an author and, if the reader has read Sullivan’s War, I have reminded them that I wrote it. They hopefully liked it and will pick up Short Stories based on that. If not, they at least know that it is a science fiction adventure series. I then list three stories that have strong science fiction elements. One of these, "Sleep," is a very popular short story of mine that was released as a stand-alone ebook. So if a potential reader hasn’t read Sullivan’s War, s/he may have read “Sleep” and if they enjoyed it, they can expect more of the same from Short Stories. I also mention “Sergeant Riley’s Account,” another story that is available individually. There’s a chance they've read and liked that one as well.

The second paragraph reinforced the eclectic nature of my writing. If you don’t like sci-fi adventure, there are some “deeper” literary stories here as well. I mention “Inner Life,” which was part of the collection Inner Lives: Three Short Stories. If a reader liked that collection, I entice them with the titles of other similar stories, both of which are new to this collection.

The third paragraph reiterates the idea that there is something for everyone here. I exclude no one. Now, obviously, I can’t really be sure you’re going to find many favorites in Short Stories but if hubris is acceptable anywhere, it is in your book description. You are trying to sell the book. Be bold! Be assertive! Readers want to read something by confident writers, writers who have faith in their work. I also mention that half the stories have been available previously. This means that I consider them strong (and popular) enough to include here. The promise of five new stories will hook readers who are already familiar with my other work.

Now, if you are planning to release an “official” press release, you will want to insert some elements at the beginning and end of your book description to fit that format, and may even want to edit the content of your description a bit. I’m far from an expert on this but by way of example, here’s one I did for Sullivan’s War: Book II – A City without Walls

Since author Michael K. Rose released Sergeant Riley’s Account in December of 2011, this introduction to the science fiction series Sullivan’s War has received rave reviews and has been a frequent presence on Amazon’s “Best Sellers in Science Fiction Series” list. The release of Book I in January, entitled All Good Men Serve the Devil, has also made it onto that best sellers list, reaching a rank of #30, and has earned glowing reviews of its own.

Now Mr. Rose is set to release Sullivan’s War: Book II - A City without Walls. In this thrilling new installment, Rick Sullivan must track down the man who’s kidnapped the woman he loves, all while avoiding a ruthless bounty hunter and trying to move forward his ultimate plan: to free his home planet Edaline of its oppressive regime.

Filled with action and suspense from beginning to end, A City without Walls is sure to please not only fans of the Sullivan’s War series but all fans of the science fiction genre.

Don’t miss out on 2012’s hot new science fiction adventure series! Look for Sullivan’s War: Book II - A City without Walls on March 30 at Amazon’s Kindle store and Barnes & Noble’s Nook store.

So you can see how I sandwiched the book description between information about the series at the beginning and release information at the end. There are lots of ways to do this and your best bet, whether writing a simple book description or an “official” press release, is to write it and then re-write it several times. Give yourself a few days to play with it and change things around until you are satisfied with the result. It will also be helpful to read through some press releases to get a feel for the language used in them.

If you have any other ideas or advice concerning book descriptions or press releases, leave your comments below! Tomorrow, in Part 2, I’ll talk about the next two elements that I think should be included in An Author’s Promotional Package: images and quotes.

UPDATE: Read Part 2 here.

Speculative Elements in Literary Fiction by Benjamin X. Wretlind

Hello, all! Today I am very pleased and thrilled and excited and... all that good stuff to share with you a guest post by my friend, Benajmin X. Wretlind, a truly masterful writer whose new book, Sketches from the Spanish Mustang, arrives July 1st! I have had the opportunity to pre-read Sketches..., and I can tell you, it is a truly a work of brilliance. If you can't wait that long to get your hands on some Wretlind, I also highly recommend his novel Castles: A Fictional Memoir of a Girl with Scissors, a disturbing glimpse of madness... or is it?

I now turn you over to Ben for his thought-provoking discussion of Speculative Elements in Literary Fiction. This kicks off his blog tour for Sketches from the Spanish Mustang. Keep an eye on his blog so you don't miss out!

***

First, I'd like to thank you Michael for allowing me to write all over your blog.  It's a great place to kick of the Sketches from the Spanish Mustang Blog Tour, and it won't be a surprise to your readers to know that you suggested the first topic: Speculative Elements in Literary Fiction.

I'm going to quote a definition from Wikipedia (the parts that are correct) that I've quoted on my blog before and will likely quote again.  What is literary fiction? 

Literary fiction is a term that came into common usage during the early 1960s. The term is principally used to distinguish “serious fiction” which is a work that claims to hold literary merit, in comparison to genre fiction and popular fiction (i.e., paraliterature). In broad terms, literary fiction focuses more upon style, psychological depth, and character. This is in contrast to Mainstream commercial fiction, which focuses more on narrative and plot. Literary fiction may also be characterized as lasting fiction — literature which continues to be read and in-demand many decades and perhaps centuries after the author has died.

When I asked a few people what they thought of when they heard the term "literary fiction," the responses I received ranged from “Vladimir Nabokov” to “classics, Dickens, Bronte” to “old stuff.” But it's a term, according to the above definition, that wasn't in common usage until the 1960s. (I'll assume that before then, all stuff was "old stuff.") On top of age, there's a whole book of articles that could be written debunking the notion that literary fiction is just plotless words jotted down for the sake of being fancy.  I won't do that here, but I will say: it's not true.

Literary fiction, in my view, is more a kaleidoscopic of work that includes elements of romance, thriller, horror, science fiction, mystery, the American Western, etc. It is cross-genre. Within that kaleidoscopic of genres, then, it's only natural for us to find the speculative elements.

Here are a few titles I think we can (mostly) agree fit the definition posed above regarding literary fiction: Metamorphosis, War of the Worlds, A Christmas Carol, Wuthering Heights, Gulliver's Travels, Beowulf. Are there speculative elements in each of these?

As kids, we were fascinated by the supernatural, especially as we investigated the world around us. We've all grown up since, but many of us have never grown out of our desire to know more. It's a part of who we are. Think of the strong beliefs which existed in the time of William Shakespeare.  What of the beliefs that existed in around the time of Nathaniel Hawthorne? Charles Dickens? Do you think, just because we listen to music on iPhones, drive hybrid cars or make our own donuts at home these days, that we no longer believe in the supernatural, the paranormal, the speculative?

In a poll conducted by Gallup in 2010, 71% of Americans confess to having had a paranormal experience of some sort. While only 34% believe in the existence of ghosts, 65% believe Ouija boards are dangerous, 41% believe in extrasensory perception and 37% believe that houses can be haunted.  Let me put that in persepective: if there are roughly 300 million people in the United States, about 213 million people confess to having had a paranormal experience of some sort.

Hmmm...

I don't like polls myself, but what I do find interesting is that people generally want to believe there might be more out there. It's this desire to want more which drives people to look for more in movies, television, books.  How many want to believe in sparkly vampires? How many want to think in some distopian future? How many people really think Harry Potter is real?

Combine those desires of what people want with the cross-genre possibility of literary fiction. What you end up with is "lasting fiction" which is peppered with the speculations of a generation.  For me personally, I wrote speculative elements into Sketches from the Spanish Mustang not as a deus ex machina or because I thought they'd be neat, but because they fit the character's personality as much as the story. A Ute who believes in spirits is not uncommon. An immigrant farmer who was brought up in Mexico to believe his grandparents' tales of nahuales is not far-fetched.

What about the claim in that above definition that literary fiction is "principally used to distinguish 'serious fiction'...in comparison to genre fiction and popular fiction?" Well, let me ask you this: would you consider The Road by Cormac McCarthy to be serious fiction? What about Wicked by Gregory Maguire? State of Wonder by Ann Patchett? 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami? All of these are serious works, and yet they are replete with speculative elements.

Speculation (wondering the big "what if") is as natural for humans as it is to love or hate or laugh or run amok in the water sprinklers on a hot day.  That it finds itself in literary fiction is no surprise.  What is surprising is that so many people shun literary fiction because of the label without knowing what's in it, casting it off as "old stuff" without a modern-day focus.

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SKETCHES FROM THE SPANISH MUSTANG

In Sketches from the Spanish Mustang, a haunting, heart-warming and often brutally direct exploration of the lives of seven people in the mining town of Cripple Creek, Colorado, a woman must come to grips with the failings that cost the lives of her husband and child. Bestselling author Michael K. Rose says: "Mr. Wretlind has penned a tale of such emotional and literary depth it will haunt the reader long after the last page is turned." 

With a pencil, a sketchbook and a keen eye for the details of the soul, the woman's lines and smudges, curves and tone reveal the stories behind her subjects. Life emerges on the page — vengeance, salvation, love and death. The artist's subjects fight for survival, only to be saved in the sketches of a woman with a gift . . . and a curse.

International Book Award winner Gregory G. Allen calls the book a "unique journey that rips away the outer layers of people allowing us to stare into their souls where humanity is universal: no matter the genre of writing."

Sketches from the Spanish Mustang will be available at all major online retailers for $14.95 on July 1st, 2012.  It will also be presented in an electronic format (e.g. Kindle, nook) for $5.95.

BIOGRAPHY

Benjamin X. Wretlind, the author of Castles: A Fictional Memoir of a Girl with Scissors and Sketches from the Spanish Mustang, has been called "a Pulitzer-caliber writer" with "a unique American voice." Aside from novels, he has been published in many magazines throughout the past 10 years.