Flogging the Quill

Unboxed avenues to book sales

This is a reposting of my article on Writer Unboxed last week--I thought you might enjoy it, and WU wasn't able to insert all of the photos.

Call for submissions: If you’d like a fresh look at your work, please join the queue by emailing your submission to me re the directions at the bottom of this post.

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1. Unbox your thinking

Books are sold in bookstores, both brick-and-mortar and online, and in racks that you find at drugstores and airports and big-box stores. Right? Yes, but if you can identify an audience with an enhanced interest in an aspect of your book, there could be more places to sell it if you unbox your thinking just a little.

My novel, The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles, is narrated by a calico tomcat. Cat lovers (or “cat people,” as we think of ourselves) are very interested in cats and their goings on. So where could I find a venue that has cat lovers streaming through it on a daily basis?

My local veterinarian’s—the animal hospital here in Pullman, Washington. I asked them if they’d take a local author’s book on consignment—they get 40% of the sale, just like a bookstore—and they agreed.

My book is featured on their front counter with a display that I provide. It includes a quote from a 5-star Midwest Book Review and a notice that the copies are signed by the author. The folks at the Alpine Animal Hospital report that customers like having that personal touch. In the last 7 months they’ve sold a dozen copies. It probably doesn’t hurt that it’s next to the candy dish.

Recently, when I was waiting to talk to the manager of another veterinary hospital in neighboring Moscow, Idaho, a cat person noticed the book and bought a copy right then and there. And the vet took a display.

2. Unbox your book

Take it out of the carton and off your shelves and get it out there. I’m lucky to have a venue where people are especially interested in books—I do workshops at writers’ conferences. But there are a lot of books at writers’ conferences, so I’m just one of a crowd, and simply taking my books along and displaying them doesn’t give me an edge.

Except to that sharply focused demographic audience, cat people, who are everywhere, including at writers’ conferences. In a workshop at the February 2012 South Coast Writers’ Conference in Oregon, Pat Piper, owner of the Book Dock just down the coast in Brookings, Oregon, was in my session.

During a break, the cover caught her interest—she’s a cat person. She took a liking to The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles and bought 3 copies that day. By July she had bought 12 more—and this is in a town of 6400 people. The last shipment was also signed, at Pat’s request.

Pat displays the book on her front counter with a wire stand like the one below, and cat people ask about it. She’s read the book, so she can testify that it’s a fun read. And she tells customers that it’s good for young adult readers, too. By the way, there’s an official Book Dock cat on duty at her store, pictured here.

So, simply by being on display in the right places, The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles reaches out and engages its natural and best prospect. Well, not just “simply”—an eye-catching cover design and title that single out your special demographic are pretty darned necessary.

So, know your audience and then take your book to where they are. Then, as Patch, my cat character would say, “It is to purr.”

Will these 100-word descriptions spark interest?

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Seven plucky writers have sent their 100-word descriptions of their novels, some with cover art, some without.

Here they are, in the order received. A poll awaits you at the end. As usual, comments help the writers, so please feel free to offer constructive criticism.

For the writers, this is also a good exercise in seeing how your cover design works when reduced.

Replica

Beth Chandler is accidentally replicated in a flawed experiment. The replica overhears plans to liquidate her and goes on the run. With no official existence, homeless, penniless and pursued by MI5, she has to learn how to survive on icy London streets. Meanwhile the original Beth becomes romantically involved with the spec op she believes is there to protect her. Actually, he’s hunting her double. Nick refuses to face his moral doubts about Beth Two - as far as he’s concerned, it’s not his problem. As the situation grows more complicated, he has to decide whose side he is on.

Life in Death

When a girl that social worker Kari Marchant places in foster care is brutally murdered, shes compelled to learn why. As Kari works to solve the horrific plot, more people die. The killer may be closer than she thinks. Enter Homicide Detective Rance Nicolet. His attraction to Kari is powerful—and the feeling is mutual. But things between them go terribly wrong when Kari’s old lover is found murdered with a letter from her in his pocket. The evidence against Kari is damning. He’s forced to make a decision when his personal and professional lives collide.

Magic ‘n Banjoes

When loutish wizard BeSotto claims to have re-created Grandpap’s alchemy wand, then dropped it through a portal that opened while stirring a drink, Grandpap accompanies BeSotto to recover the wand, claiming ownership. Sonny the scoundrel tags along for amusement. Grandpap loathes BeSotto, but BeSotto claims that the drink produced goald in his … bowel movement. When they reach the portal, they find the wand gone. And strange tracks. When the portal closes behind them, they must find the alchemy wand in a foreign land and learn how to use it in order to produce stool’s goald—and return home.

Win or Go Home

Dr. Rick Parker can establish himself as a bounty hunter by catching Michael Norton, accused of stealing plans for a blockbuster drug. Norton’s attractive wife Samantha will pay a bonus if Parker succeeds before the bonding company seizes her house, leaving her and autistic savant daughter Emily homeless. Furthermore, Samantha is offering more than just money to the divorced ex-physician. Norton’s trail runs hot and cold around Puget Sound, from the grimy streets of Seatac to the well tended gardens of Redmond. Parker assembles an eclectic mix of allies to outwit a hidden nemesis and find redemption for past mistakes.

Brothers of the Light

Abandoned as infants, brothers Michael and Daniel St. James dream of someday learning their identities. But when Daniel finally learns the shocking truth in a rural Arkansas town, that dream becomes a nightmare. Before he can warn Michael to stay away, he is brutally attacked, left comatose and enshrouded by a strange blue-violet aura that baffles the doctors. To save his brother, Michael rushes to Arkansas where he falls in love with beautiful librarian Jessica Simms, faces a vengeful paranormal terrorist trying to take over the government, and uncovers a family secret that changes their lives and the world forever.

The Ninth District

Why rob a bank when you can rob the fed? The Federal Reserve has never been robbed.

FBI Special Agent Jack Miller, pulled into a high-profile case to mentor a new agent, trying to find the robber/murderer before the next bank robbery, finds himself in a clash with the toughest opponent of his career. The Governor thinks he can outsmart his FBI pursuers and taunts them as the time draws near for his big heist. The chase culminates in the bowels of the city, in the storm sewers and tunnels beneath The Ninth District Federal Reserve of Minneapolis.

Catch a Killer, Save the World

Jewish detective Aaron Guerevich has his ethical beliefs tested as he attempts to solve the murders of two Syrian Muslims, members of the large Muslim community in Phoenix, Arizona. Guerevich angers both his family and the family of the slain man. Tempted to abandon the case after verbal and physical abuses, he works to understand Muslim beliefs and perseveres, aided by his fiancée, forensic scientist Ann Berendt. Examining evidence which leads him to suspect the killers are three Scottsdale cops, he stumbles on a secret, known only to his long-dead uncle and the grandfather of the murdered Syrian.

Also, please tell me in comments if you’d like to see this done again? Thanks.

For what it’s worth,

Ray

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Submitting to the Flogometer:

Email the following in an attachment (.doc, .docx, or .rtf preferred):

1. your title
2. your 1st chapter or prologue plus 1st chapter
3. Please format with double spacing, 12-point font Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins.
4. Please include in your email permission to post it on FtQ.
5. And, optionally, permission to use it as an example in a book if that's okay.
6. If you’re in a hurry, I’ve done “private floggings,” $50 for a first chapter.
7. If you rewrite while you wait you turn, it’s okay with me to update the submission.

© 2011 Ray Rhamey

100 words

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The Pacific Northwest Writers Association has a holiday catalog in which they will list the books of members. In addition to info such as genre, author, publisher, ISBN, etc. etc. plus a cover graphic, they accept up to 100 words of description.

100 words.

To capture an 80,000-word novel. Egads.

Well, below are the entries for my four novels. I have no idea whether these are good or not, but I can tell you that it was a challenge to distill them down to this level—you feel like you’re leaving so much out. As you will see, I chose to include reviews in some of them, which made the process even more difficult.

THE VAMPIRE KITTY-CAT CHRONICLES

Vampire mythology is upended when Patch, a calico tomcat, is turned into breakfast--and a vampire kitty-cat--by a starving vampire. Narrated by Patch in a deliciously snarky cat take on the world, he struggles to find a new life, as it were, in which he's tried for murder, almost shotgunned into undead pieces, kidnapped twice, and turned into a (shudder) politician. As it turns out, life doesn’t get any easier after you’re dead. 5-star Midwest Book Review: “Superbly crafted by an inventive and skilled storyteller. Enthusiastically recommended for anyone who would enjoy a terrifically original and thoroughly entertaining yarn!”

WE THE ENEMY
In this action-packed political thriller, reforms in Oregon compel criminals to tell the truth in court and guns are limited to nonlethal weapons. Opposition is fierce, and the president aims to restore the status quo by stopping the man behind reform, Noah Stone. He sends Jake Black, former Secret Service agent. But Jake is drawn to Stone’s work. When attacks threaten to destroy it, only Jake can save it. He faces the question of his life—who is the enemy, Noah Stone or Jake Black? 5-star Midwest Book Review “A unique thriller with plenty of twists and turns, highly recommended.”

FINDING MAGIC

Annie is a gifted healer with mental abilities that enable her to slow aging, cure disease, heal a heart from the inside . . . or crush an enemy’s as it beats. She hides to escape persecution that has haunted her people through the ages, but a Homeland Security agent penetrates Annie’s disguise. On the run as a suspected terrorist, an even greater threat arises when a kinsman bent on avenging the murder of his son creates an unstoppable killer plague. Annie is the only hope for billions of people . . . if she can evade capture.

THE SUMMER BOY

It’s 1958, a time of innocence. In this “novel of Texas,” a ranch hand is murdered and bad things start happening to Jesse, an average kid working a summer job on a ranch. And then there‘s Lola . . . the boss’s daughter is a firecracker of a girl, and her bold ways send death their way. It will take all of their heart and courage to survive. What readers say: “The Summer Boy brought back memories of first kisses and fogged car windows.” “The story is alive. I kept reading even when my eyes were closing at night.”

What about your 100 words?

Email to me a 100-word description of your book, published or unpublished, and on a coming Monday I’ll post them and get feedback from FtQ readers. You game?

Feel free to also include a link to a web page about it, Amazon, or whatever, and also attach a cover graphic if you have one—100 pixels wide, or I can resize one.

For what it’s worth,

Ray

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Submitting to the Flogometer:

Email the following in an attachment (.doc, .docx, or .rtf preferred):

1. your title
2. your 1st chapter or prologue plus 1st chapter
3. Please format with double spacing, 12-point font Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins.
4. Please include in your email permission to post it on FtQ.
5. And, optionally, permission to use it as an example in a book if that's okay.
6. If you’re in a hurry, I’ve done “private floggings,” $50 for a first chapter.
7. If you rewrite while you wait you turn, it’s okay with me to update the submission.

© 2011 Ray Rhamey

New flogging opportunity for authors—“Enticement Packages”

I had planned to do a Monday FtQ&A post today, but in preparing the print edition of my Finding Magic novel, two things occurred to me. One was to get your feedback on the cover, back cover blurb, first page, and sample chapters.

The second was that those four elements make up what I’ll call the Enticement Package that any publisher needs in these days of Internet marketing, especially self-publishers. Books need the same elements to entice sales in a bookstore.

So, Doug, I’ll be answering your questions about my self-publishing endeavors later, to be followed by answers to tmso’s questions about who to listen to when getting feedback on your work.

The new flogging opportunity Flogging the Quill will now be open to submissions of authors’ Enticement Packages for critique by me and the FtQ crew. It should contain the elements I’ve mentioned:

1. Cover image (72 dpi, 150 pixels wide)
2. Blurb or back cover copy
3. First page text (as it is in the book; if it’s an e-book, then the first 16-18 lines of the first manuscript page)
4. Sample—could be the prologue, a prologue & first chapter, the first chapter, or the first 2 chapters as I’m doing today. A PDF would be nice, but I can turn your text into a PDF if you wish.

Not only can authors gain helpful insights as to how effective their Package is, they get a little free publicity, too.

Just email me with the elements attached and include “Enticement Package” in your email subject line. If you have questions, just ask.

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Please give feedback on Finding Magic’s Enticement Package. I’ll give you the 4 elements and then a poll at the bottom that covers all of them. You can make multiple choices in the poll.

I absolutely understand that this genre might not be something you would read, but I would appreciate it if you would still opine on whether the elements are interesting. Here's the cover and the back cover blurb:

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After her love of 200 years is murdered, Annie, a gifted healer in the hidden clans, wants to die. Then a little boy named Mike needs her help. The price of saving that little boy could be the life she thought she no longer wanted.

Like her clansmen, Annie’s ability to control the life energy created by all living things empowers her to do magical things: heal wounds, slow aging . . . and kill without a weapon.

In Chicago, a Homeland Security agent catches her using her “magic” and believes Annie is a terrorist. On the run, Annie is helped by Gabe, an unknowing “half-breed” of her people. He and Mike, his 5-year-old son, share her abilities—but, isolated from the clans, they don't understand their strange talents and are tormented by them. Little Mike seems lost in autism.

Annie’s heart goes out to them, but, before she can help, she and Gabe are captured by Homeland Security and tortured for a secret that Annie can't reveal and Gabe doesn't know.

A clansman bent on a vendetta for the murder of his son by an “ordinary” human frees Gabe and tricks him into using his abilities to create an unstoppable plague that will kill billions of people. He leaves Annie to escape on her own.

Only Annie and Gabe can stop the release of the plague, but, as they fight for their lives and all of humanity high atop the Seattle Space Needle, Homeland Security attacks again, this time with little Mike held hostage.

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Now the first page of narrative from the book.

The winter wind, called the Hawk by the people of this city, whips my long coat and thrusts icy talons under my dress, greedy for my warmth. Last I was here it was a lively summer breeze; now it’s a harbinger of death.

As I start up the steps to the Chicago Art Institute, a lean man in a black overcoat sidles from behind one of the snow-blanketed bronze lions that stand guard. He eyes me, and then targets me with a video camera.

I snatch the sides of my hood together to cover my face before his camera penetrates my disguise. All I want to do is go inside to say a last farewell to Graeme, and then end my pain.

But centuries of hiding won’t let me ignore the danger if his camera lens pierces the “Annie the tourist” illusion I’ve created for outsiders to see. Who might he tell if, instead of the freckles and springy red curls his naked eyes see under the influence of my glamére, his camera’s objective electronic eye shows him the pale skin and limp brunette tresses of my truself?

The clans cannot risk a breach of our anonymity. Pulling my hood tighter, I trot up the stairsteps.

Please, no trouble now.

His lips move, and the wind carries his words to me. “I think I got one.”

I flick a glance at him and he jerks the camera away. I see a (snip)

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Lastly, click here to download a PDF sample of the first two chapters.

As always, your comments about any aspect of this “enticement package” will be welcome.

Many thanks.

Ray

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© 2011 Ray Rhamey

Do writers really need the services of editors like me?

Since I’m on my own currently and motivated to find clients for my editing services and my design services for self-publishers, I’ve been working on a free booklet about things self-publishers need to know and to do—ISBN numbers, cover design, etc. It opens with the first and primary requirement—a terrific book. And that most likely calls for the services of an editor who digs deeply into the writing and story craft of a novel.

If you’ve read self-published books, you may have been disappointed in their quality—I know that I have. Either the prose is not strong enough or there are too many errors, or the story just doesn’t quite get there. I recently read a self-published novel in which a primary protagonist was disappointing because she was supposed to be skilled and smart yet she kept doing dumb things. There were also grammatical errors in this book co-written by an English professor. I think the reasons we see this kind of thing published are two: misplaced confidence on the part of the author(s), and the lack of a skilled editor.

Finding a good story editor isn’t all that easy, either—Amanda Hocking, the Amazon Kindle self-publishing phenom who became a millionaire, wrote in her blog about her difficulties in finding a good editor. She did hire some, but expressed disappointment in the results—in the sample I saw of one of her Kindle books, while strong on story, the prose needed an insightful editorial hand. Her storytelling prowess is strong enough to make her a success, but she would have been happier with better-written books. The good thing is that Amanda recognizes the need and works to deal with it. And now she has a major deal with a New York publisher.

The need

I came across the following post by author M.J. Rose and publicist/author Amy Edelman, writing for The Huffington Post on the subject of “tough love” for self-published authors. I quote:

Self or traditionally published, you need to produce the very best book that you can.

That means being committed enough to rewrite your book three, four or twenty-five times. Even pros who have been at it for years and have dozens of books under their belts don't have their first drafts published.

So far it's the same for self-published or traditionally published authors. But then the traditionally pubbed author turns his or her book over to professional editors.

If Lee Child, Sara Gruen, Laura Lippman and Jennifer Weiner all get edited, can self-published authors afford not to do the same thing?

Yes, an editor costs money. And yes, an editor might require you to do more rewrites. Yes, you might be tired of writing the book and not even want to work on it anymore.

But if your goal is to sell books, get readers, and build word of mouth -- you absolutely need professional help.

It's like cooking. Just because you can scramble eggs doesn't mean you can make a soufflé. 99.9% of all books can be improved by a good editor (and we're not talking about your sister or your great Aunt Mary, unless they are editors by trade).

What if you don't have the funds? Barter. We're in a recession... maybe you can find someone who will agree to get paid in installments. Do whatever you can but whatever you do -- don't spend a dime until you see examples of their work and get references. You have probably put a lot of time and work into this project. Your name will be on the cover. Do yourself proud.

Because I’ve been editing the work of others for years, and because I’ve been a professional writer for many more years, I wasn’t sure if editorial insight on my novel, We the Enemy, was needed before I self-published it. But I wanted to make sure it was the best it could be, so I hired a top NYC publisher/editor for a critique. His insights led to a major rewrite (of a story I’d been refining for years). Then I hired a copyeditor for a polish after the rewrite. The book is much stronger as a result.

Sure, this post is self-serving to some extent, but the point made by my experience as an author and by authors M.J. Rose and Amy Edelman is that it is not a good idea to go to market without engaging an editor. That editor certainly doesn’t have to be me, but an editor is certainly a necessary part of the road to a professional self-published novel.

For what it’s worth.

Ray

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© 2011 Ray Rhamey

So how about this cover design?

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Last week, Tamara, a web designer, sent a cover design idea that I liked a lot--Thank you, Tamara! It featured a photo of a man’s face, and I’m not convinced that I want to show that.

However, it inspired the version you see here. I think that, on a bookshelf the cover has two goals:

1. to catch your eye
2. to get you to check out the back cover

That’s it—catch the eye, turn book over. Please give your input via the poll below and with comments.

But what about blurbs?
Often there are blurbs on the front cover to help with engaging your interest, and I don’t have any yet, not yet having created or sent advance review copies, but I’d like to know how the following quotes from real beta readers would influence your level of interest. How about doing that poll, too?

A woman read this novel and said, “I wish this world you’ve created existed.”

A man read this novel and said, “Enjoy the ride. It’s worth taking.”

A college student said, “A lot to think about, a lot to hope for.”

Would you please vote on the poll and give any comments you have? Many thanks.

Once again, many thanks for your help.

Ray

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© 2010 Ray Rhamey

So whaddya think of this one?

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I received some very helpful comments and a thought-freeing design suggestion with the last try at a cover design and back cover blurb for my novel, We the Enemy, so I thought I’d ask again with a new and different approach. Forget everything you read before, please, and take a look. The cover design’s goal is to get you to check out the back cover, and the blurb is aimed at getting a reader to look at the first page inside—not to buy the book, just to open it.

There's a multiple-choice poll below, and comments are especially helpful, so please leave one if you have an opinion. Here's the copy from the back cover:

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It could be that, not too many years from now ...

The very nature of criminal justice and self defense is changing in the Pacific Northwest—criminals compelled to tell the truth in court, guns converted to nonlethal weapons.

The president aims to capitalize on a wave of opposition and win votes by taking down the man behind it all, Noah Stone. The president’s weapon is Jake Black, an ex Secret Service agent.

Devastated by the killing of his wife and little girl, Jake lives an emotionless existence as a cold-blooded gun for hire. Taking care of Stone nets him a million dollars and that’s all that matters. A ground fog of numbness in his mind smothers everything else—especially the grief he cannot bear.

He goes undercover to get close to Stone and finds a decent man who leads people to better lives—but then a treacherous attack threatens to destroy the hope Stone fosters.

Jake is the one man who can keep that hope alive, but only if he betrays his mission—and if he can find his way to feeling again.

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Thank you for your help. Here’s hoping the trolls stay under the bridge this time.

Ray
© 2010 Ray Rhamey

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Give your opinion, please?

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I'm still wrestling with how to present my novel, We the Enemy. Below are a new cover design and back cover blurb. How about taking a look and telling me what you think about whether or not it would get a reader to look at the first page?

Thanks. There's a multiple-choice poll below, but comments are especially helpful, so please leave one if you have an opinion.

Not long from today . . .

Devastated by the killing of his wife and little girl, Jake Black lives an emotionless existence, abandoning his Secret Service career to become a cold-blooded mercenary. When the president, desperate for gun-owner votes, decides to take down the leader of a movement to eliminate guns in Oregon, Jake is his weapon.

Jewel Washington, a single mother, struggles to protect her little girl from drugs and violence in the projects of Chicago—and is losing the fight. The first time she encounters Jake he saves her from rape. The second, she sends him to a hellhole prison. The third time changes their lives.

The man in Jake’s crosshairs offers hope for better lives for Jewel and her daughter. Once in Oregon, a good life seems to be theirs—and then a murderous attack threatens to destroy the movement and the promise it brings.

Its survival lies with the man sent to stop it. Jake has a chance to restore his life—if he can care again.

What’s a writer to do?

It’s a conundrum—for most publishers, a writer needs an agent to market a novel manuscript. But today’s market makes even connecting with an agent damned difficult. Here’s what agent Kristin Nelson said on her blog, Pub Rants:

“I’m passing on really good novels because currently I believe that really good might not be good enough in today’s market.”

I’ve run into that response consistently with a novel of mine, The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles. Several top agents have asked for partials, and here’s their reaction:

“I love vampire kitty, I just don’t know what to do with it.”
“This is unique, voicey and hilarious -- and not quite right for me. Gah!!!”
“I laughed out loud and thoroughly enjoyed the feline perspective on vampirism. Still, I worried that it’s the kind of project that many editors would love but wouldn’t necessarily be able to buy.”
“I think it's original and very cute. Unfortunately, I don't think I can sell it.”

Okay, so it’s an agent’s job to sell—or, perhaps more accurately, find a willing editor. I understand that.

On the other hand, plenty of beta readers, perfect strangers who encountered my kitty-cat novel on Authonomy, reacted this way:

“Oh, hell, how funny is this?????”
“Patch, the vampire kitty, has risen to the ranks of one of my all-time favorite heroes.”
“Bravo. I was looking for laughs and I got them. What a pleasant escape from the daily grind of life.”
“This is a cat I want to know. I love this character.”
“Pure comic genius.”
“The best vampire book I've ever read. Delightfully funny!”
“I wanted you to know that I adore Patch.”

And yet I can’t get this beast represented. As one agent said, “Gah!!”

So what’s a writer to do?

Here’s what I’m going to do, and you can help.

You saw this coming—I’m going to publish this myself. Time is a factor: the vampire craze will simmer down soon or later (especially now that zombies are the new vampire); I have a fresh twist on the vampire myth that just might cut through; and a star character. Here’s a rundown of the steps I’m taking:

1. I’m going to launch with a POD trade paperback, a bunch of e-book formats, a free podcast and, if I can get it listed on Audible.com, the gatekeeper for the iTunes store, an audiobook.

2. I’m putting up a website at vampirekittycat.com (it’s not live yet). It includes special promotional features such as:

• I donate a percentage of each sale to the ASPCA. The ASPCA is willing to consider the book for placement in their online store.
• There are two cat “social” features: a photo gallery to post a pic of a Cat You Love; and a “tell me a story about your cat” section.

3. I’m doing a video book trailer with the help of a designer friend, no charge.

4. I’ve hired a copyeditor to do his thing with the manuscript.

5. I’ve bought an ISBN number, and been assigned a Library of Congress control number.

6. For the POD book, I’ve

• Designed a cover and the interior
• Created an account with Lightning Source, the biggest print-on-demand printer around, I think, and a partner with Ingram, the biggest distributor around. I’m signed up for distribution, too. Lightning Source doesn’t offer the kind of complete service that Lulu.com or Create Space does—you have to provide your own press-ready material.

7. I’ve written to 17 published authors to ask for a blurb—so far, 4 have said they’d take a look. I made sure to disclose that this is a self-published book. I also gave them the agent comments above and this little snippet from the first page:

Just after dark, death grabbed me by the tail. The moon was full, and cool September breezes were scented with earthy hints that fall was coming. I trotted over a mound of fresh dirt, not an uncommon thing in a graveyard, my mind on a svelte little Siamese who was coming into heat--and a hand shot up and grabbed my rear extremity.

I twisted and went for it with my claws, but another hand burst out and seized the scruff of my neck. I went limp, just like when I was a kitten and my mom picked me up. The hands snapped my body straight, and then a woman's face poked out of the ground. She sat up, holding me in front of her. I figured I was about to kiss my furry butt goodbye, and I was right.

Sort of.

8. I’m going to send an ARC (advance review copy) to

• Authors for blurbs
• About 20 vampire websites
• As many cat websites as I can find—surprisingly, there aren’t many
• The makers of Vampire Wine (I have a bottle, to be opened on publication day)
• The makers of top cat food brands to try and sell advertising space and product placement in the book and on the website—hey, this is a business, right?

9. The e-books I can do for free on Smashwords, and earn a healthy percentage of the sales. They even do the Kindle format. I can also list it with Amazon for the Kindle—I need to see what the return is.

10. The free podcast, taking a page from fellow WU contributor J.C. Hutchins, will be performed by me. A nice plus—there’s a song by the Grateful Dead, Dire Wolf, in which the chorus says “please don’t murder me.” It’s my character’s favorite song. I’ve secured permission, subject to seeing the book, to use an excerpt of that song for the intro and outro on the podcasts and the audiobook. I’m going to credit the song everywhere I can, and they’re not charging anything for the right to use it.

11. Through Lightning Source, distribution will be open at Ingram, Amazon, Baker & Taylor, and other national distributors and book marketers.

12. Oh, and I’m going to send an ARC and my marketing plan to a couple of likely publishers on the extremely unlikely chance that they’ll partner with me on the production of the paperback, which would give it the advantage of being available in bookstores. If they like the book, my design work, and the promotional plans, their production costs will be quite low.

13. I’ve designed graphics for t-shirts and coffee cups to sell on Printfection.

13. And I’ll put ads on my Flogging the Quill blog.

Whew!

Want to help, just a little?

First, if you think of a marketing or promotion angle that you don’t see above, please suggest it in the comments or in an email.

Second, if you are a published author and might be interested in taking a look at the book with blurbing in mind, please contact me at that email address with your information and a mailing address.

I’ve ordered the first proof of the book, and hope to be making the ARCs soon.

What’s all this cost?

Like many folks, I don’t happen to have a whole lot of money these days. So cost is a factor. Here’s what I’m looking at:

• Paperback book: $75 for setup at Lightning Source, $30 for the first proof, $4.12 per book for the ARC copies, plus shipping. After than, no out-of-pocket costs.
• ISBN number: $125
• Audiobook/podcast: microphone and other equipment, $200
• T-shirts, etc.: no cost to produce, they do it all and take a cut.
• E-books: no cost
• Copyeditor: don’t know yet, estimate $200
• 30 ARCs: estimate $150

Total anticipated investment: about $800 bucks, not including the website at about $8 per month.

What do you think? Have any ideas? I’ll keep you posted as things develop.

Cross-posted today at Writer Unboxed.

© 2009 Ray Rhamey

Friends, writers, lend me your fresh eyes.

Update: I have a guest post up on Writer Unboxed that's particularly relevant to what's going on here.

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I’m about to go asking for blurbs for one of my novels, and I’d sure appreciate your help in evaluating two things, one today, one in the next post. First up is the cover, front and back.

Here’s the scene

You’re strolling in the bookstore, and you see the book to the right:

Next, let’s assume that you did pick up the book, flipped it over, and found the following copy on the back cover.

We the Enemy is no ordinary thriller—it is not for everyone.

But it's about everyone—people who work hard to create good lives for themselves and their families. About you.

It's about Jake, an ex Secret Service agent whose emotions died then he lost his wife and child. Jake is a killer now, but the fates of many good people come to rest in his hands, on whether he can love again.

And Jewel, a single mother in the projects of Chicago, struggling against drugs and violence—and losing. She can change her life, but only if she opens to trusting. She will put Jake in a hellhole prison where the violent are sent to die.

The Alliance threatens the president's re-election, and Jake is hired to crush it. Patriots rally to stop the Alliance from taking away basic freedoms—and other patriots unite behind the hope it offers for a better life.

Death is on the hunt in We the Enemy, disguised as righteousness. But which are the enemies? Which are the victims?

We the Enemy is compelling suspense, but there’s more to this story. This thriller has a mission.

It will challenge the way you think about guns.
About justice. About prison. About the Fifth Amendment.

Beyond that, it will affirm your personal power to make life better.

Please leave a comment as to why you said yes or no to looking at the first page.

Next post, I’ll give you that first page and a chance to do a little flogging.

Many thanks for your help.

Ray

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Your generosity helps defray the cost of hosting FtQ.

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Public floggings available. If I can post it here,

1. send 1st chapter or prologue plus 1st chapter as an attachment (cutting and pasting and reformatting from an email is a time-consuming pain) and I'll critique the first couple of pages.
2. Please format your submission as specified at the front of this post.
3. Please include in your email permission to post it on FtQ.
4. And, optionally, permission to use it as an example in a book if that's okay.
5. If you’re in a hurry, I’ve done “private floggings,” $50 for a first chapter.
6. If you rewrite while you wait you turn, it’s okay with me to update the submission.

ARCHIVES

© 2009 Ray Rhamey