"Know when to tune out, if you listen to too much advice you may wind up making other peoples mistakes." Ann Landers

Conflict and Resolution

A good story must have a conflict and a resolution to that conflict.  Just to keep the story interesting we put many conflicts in the way of our characters, usually the main characters—our heroes   How those conflicts are solved; if solved well, can hold a readers attention, but confuse the writer.

To avoid that I set up a conflict resolution outline.  This outline actually helps me to break out my chapters—a conflict resolved is a chapter, or at least a break within a chapter.  I don’t like to use a traditional chapter by chapter outline. I feel restricted by them.

I saved a form on my thumb-drive. It goes like this:

Conflict 1

Resolution

Conflict 2

Resolution

Conflict 3

Resolution...
and so on
Build up to the climax. Use as many conflicts and resolutions as you need to tell the story leading up to the climax, then turn your attention to it and the final resolution. It goes like this:

Final Conflict

Climax

Resolution

Of course you can alter this to fit your needs but this works well for me.

A clear view of the final Conflict, Climax, and Resolution.  Often I find myself through the first few conflicts and I have solid path for my ending. When that happens I skip ahead and write that.  I save it as a separate document.  I don’t have to, but it keeps my manuscript clean and I can cut and paste later and easily refer to it if I need to. I always end up tweaking the end to mesh with the rest of the story, but that is easy at that point.

This is a good place to start.  When that fresh idea comes to my head and I’m not sure where I’m going with a story using this tool helps me to put the story in order. I have found this tool also works well to keep me from being blocked while writing the story. It serves as a checklist and keeps me moving ahead. 

Makes writing feel like art. Probably the best advantage to this method is the flow I feel when writing.  Instead of building a story I am painting one.  I have chosen my palette and the canvas is taking on life. I hope that if you try this method you will feel that as I do.

Wow, I sure do a lot of things wrong

Here is an interesting article by Elmore Leonard titled 10 Rules of Writing it was published in the New York. Times on  July 16th,  2001. 

I have only just learned he passed away earlier this week at age 87. He wrote fifty novels during his sixty year career. I don't know them all but of those I do I know Get Shorty best. Of those novels, twenty six were adapted to film or television.  I don't tend to agree with all of his suggestions, but he does have reasoning behind them all.  For instance I like it when scenes are described in detail, right down to the smells if it is important, so I tend to do that when I write. Agree or disagree, but I believe you will find this interesting either way.

Comments are welcome.  I think this could be a very interesting conversation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/arts/writers-writing-easy-adverbs-exclamation-points-especially-hooptedoodle.html

Amazon has pushed the 2nd Edition of Minstrel's Gambit to the readers of those who purchased the original. For those of you have not purchased it is available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, SmashWords and many other fine e-book stores. The story is the 1st of a series.  See an excerpt on my excerpts page.

My First Journey through Independent Publishing

            After years of catch as catch can writing time,  I finally had a manuscript that didn’t embarrass me. After reading book after book on how to write query and proposal letters, after scouring the writers market book for appropriate publishers, I couldn’t seem to raise interest at the traditional publishing houses, Baen, Tor, Dell, and Bantam to name a few. Several rejection letters were encouraging me to keep trying. Many of my well read friends told me that it was as good as anything out there. So I kept on.  I always imagined that my hard work lay in some dusty basement office under a pile of other hopeful works; while an over educated underpaid associate editor rifled through titles in search of what they deemed an interesting read – dictated by market standards, which were in turn dictated by senior editors and publishers at large.  All of this, while their Italian sub sandwich sat upon a pile of unread, disrespected, and discarded manuscripts dripping its oily dressing into the fine white carefully prepared pages.

To make me feel even more hopeless; the few agents I held interest with briefly, did not act as if representing me was any kind of priority. I know I’m not Clive Cussler, for example but I do expect respect as a client.

My view of traditional publishing has been jaded, as it is and has been with so many of us. So, with the birth of the internet the ever morphing face of publishing changed again.  This time favor goes to the artist—the author

            At first I did not really want to go the self publishing route.  I thought that if a traditional publisher didn’t want me then how would I become respected with a loathsome self published book?  My perspective changed though when I contemplated what independent film makers do. They gather interest in a project solicit funds and produce a film, and if the project is good they gain respect with their peers. Still the expense was hindering.

            Although I had interest in the book, I was unable to solicit funds from family or friends, due to the economy and the current strife of almost everyone I know.  At the time that I published my first book I was a Midwest country girl with no real industry contacts, (I still can’t say I have any industry contacts) and I was a full time student.  So how to fix a cash flow problem and get the damn book published?  Student loans you say? After some careful consideration and several discussions with my then unemployed husband we decided to go for it.  I took several months to research the market of print on demand publishers.  The prices vary as do the services offered.  I compiled a spread sheet that allowed me to compare the companies easily and then when I had three possibilities I delved into online reviews of other books published, company reviews, book reviews, Better Business Bureau ratings, and company website FAQ pages, etc.

            I finally settled on Outskirts Press out of Colorado.  They do have a submittal requirement. I liked that they promoted that aspect of themselves.  They don’t want to publish crap; after all they do have a brand name to protect.  So do I, I don’t want to be associated with hacks either. The pre-publishing process went well, but they like to function via e-mail and when there was something I didn’t understand there were a few well worded e-mails from both sides trying to kindly explain a position.  It was all ironed out and professionally handled in the end.

            The thing about independent publishing is how much money you can put up.  My funds were limited and so although Outskirts offers many high-end marketing options, I could afford very little.  I get a marketing newsletter, which is very helpful with many easy tips about how to handle getting reviews and generate sales, especially via Amazon. They generated and submitted a press release and supplied me with a list of parties interested in receiving the book for review. I get a notice any time the book title is searched via Google (this can be a PR opportunity). All of these things came at a cost, some minimal, $30-$50 others in the hundreds.  With limited funds I was forced into doing my own marketing, something that I have no experience with. So I am learning on the fly, mostly I just explain the situation, pour on the charm, and if there is a question I promise an answer and deliver as soon as possible.  This got me a book signing and print on demand books on the shelf of a major outlet where there policy is not to display print on demand books.

            Something I have learned about Press Releases. I paid Outskirts Press to provide and submit a press release.  I found out later that I could do this for free on PR log (www.prlog.org) and that the publisher used PR Log do it. Just as an experiment I did a google search of each and got a wide range of info. http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0004420.html gave me the top 100 papers in the U.S. listed by circulation, but I had to search further for office contacts. I did another search by cutting and pasting each papers name into the search window and adding  “offices” after that and that gave me very good results.   Newpapers will publish this for free but you are at their mercy for timing and space.  However this would mean a lot of work on my part, and I don’t need more right now. Outskirts did this all for me and the fee was nominal, so I might choose that option again if  I go with a print on demand publisher again. PRLog will do all of this for you and more for $50 or even more for around $400, (at the time of this writing they had a $50 discount going on. check them out at www.prlog.org

I did not pay for a service to track my sales, and found out I can do that for free as well on novelrank.com. Simply cut and paste your amazon.com link  and your ASIN number, author or title into the provided fields on www.novelrank.com.  Do this immediately after your book is released, because it will only go back as far as 90 days at a time. 

I discovered that all books, in order to be displayed in bookstores must comply with the EPA no-lead laws, so be sure that no matter how you choose to have the book printed that you comply. These regulations went into effect in 2009 and are the result of The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA H.R. 4040) of 2008 — commonly called CPSIA.  The legislation is geared toward child safety, but children frequent book stores and so the stores take it seriously and want all books to comply.  In order to have my print on demand books on the shelf of that retailer I mentioned, I had to contact the publisher and have them provide documentation that they were in compliance with the regulation. Later research showed me that all of the publishers I had considered were in compliance, but I in no way covered them all, so protect yourself and be sure. I will probably have my latest book printed at a small shop, so I will have to be sure they are in compliance as well.

            I will be writing future articles on:  Book signings at local libraries, virtual book tours, compiling a pitch letter as part of a press kit, asking respected people in various fields to read and review books. Of course all of this comes with a learning curve so they will come as I find my way. Feel free to share your own experiences so that together we can make this publishing /marketing road easier for all of us.

Thanks for you time, “see” you next time. 

An earlier version of this unrevised article was previously published on:

www.apolloslyre.com E-zine

My Lame Ass Marketing Strategy:Step 1

The sensible part of my strategy was to refocus on a blog and then supplement that with a Facebook page dedicated to my writing.  I'm talkin' baby steps here folks.

The awful part was sending out a mass e-mailing announcing a new book upload to Amazon and Smashwords.  I hate doing that.  I always feel like a door to door salesman, at least this way I don't have to watch the customer slam the door in my face.  Still I know that in  my circle of e-mail contacts are people who have an interest and so it seems necessary. I always ask them to pass the word around. Problem is, I have no way that I know of to track the success of that e-mail. My blog did get some traffic and I received two thank you e-mails so that was as tracked as that got.

I have been taking notes and jotting down ideas for future blog posts My plan is to post several times a week.

I've been posting something to my Facebook page everyday and it has gotten a lot of attention.  I credit that with the sale of 1 book, because it is where I announced that Smashwords had approved me and the book sold right after that. On Amazon I sold two of the new book-- one down 999,997 to go, and one of my first book.  Facebook has some helpful ways to track how your posts are being viewed in the admin panel. Check it out, they are easy to use and understand.

Now I need to generate a buzz.  I'm kind of a modest person, (really, trust me) so self promoting is awkward for me.  Anybody have any advice about that?

So to wrap up: Blog and Facebook posts were the most useful, but e-mail did generate interest, and interest no matter how small is still interest. I have faced the fact that until I know what I'm doing my reader base will only grow as I do.  I believe that as I become proficient at marketing that will improve.

Thanks for being here!

So I was thinking...

You know what my favorite thing about self publishing is? I feel more like an artist. I certainly want to have an audience, so I can continue to write and live and there by live to write, but without having to please an editor or agent as well, I feel like I have purified the process. I'm not what some or maybe even most would call an accomplished author, but I am a writer. I paint pictures with words, and in writing I create galleries of them, often all at once. I am also an avid reader and when I read a rich piece I am moved by it, awed by the magic it plays in my head. Imagine when the words are my own and I find myself excited to have put them together in a solid image--when the magic is of my own making. That moment-- that self fulfilled moment is golden. I want to share that moment in its purest form with my readers in hopes that they too will feel the magic of the image. It is why I write. To share the magic. Pure uncensored magic.

Intro

Join me on my journey as I share my experience with self publishing and my baby steps into marketing same. Feel free to comment and suggest. As with all things I believe that if we are to interact at a high level we should know something about each other. Since this is my blog, I'll start. I hope that in the time to come that we will get to know each other and share some trade secrets.

I have been a writer since I was about 8 years old, an author since I was 48. Sadly life got in the way. I'll spare you that, but suffice it to say it has been interesting. Sometimes a little too interesting.

  

So there I was, all pumped up for life to go my way for once. The master plan was right in front of us. We took our first steps. I went back to school and my man forged ahead to a lucrative position. He was happy in his work at last.  He was happy for me and happy to support me.  My life as a writer--solely as a writer was just ahead.  I would ace my studies in web design, (a tool to promote myself) and the goals we had set as young adults would finally come to be!!

Then it happened-- the powers that be spit upon our plan. My husband fell victim to braincancer. I spell it as one word because it is one event. Fortunately it was operable.  Unfortunately in the course of that surgery he aged about 20 years, both mentally and physically. I left him a vital sharp mind and he returned to me lost and confused. It has been just over two years now and he continues to recover physically, but mentally it is as if he has early onset Alzheimer's. Now I pick up my dream of writing again, it is a lesser priority, but not forgotten. My responsibility now is to market two books that I have self published.