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Anxiety at the highest level!

Chapter 3 in this series comes with another fun question we get a lot.  “Do you have any marketing tips?”  I really wish I had a magic wand and make every author a bestseller but I can’t.  Marketing is a very difficult, maybe the most difficult part of being an author.  Almost every author I’ve interviewed as said that writing a book is much easier than marketing it.  Marketing has changed a lot in the past couple of years.  The integration of Social networking sites, blogs, radio shows and more have given authors more avenues to sell books, but made the research and work getting on a platform even more time consuming.  There are two types of marketing:  Free and Paid.  That’s it!

Free marketing is just that, free.  However your time is not free and this way will eat up a lot of your time.  You need to do a lot of research in finding places to market your book.  There are a lot of places to go to in order to find people, but keeping track of all of them can be a nightmare.  There are over 75 active social networking sites set throughout the world that have a lot of members.  There are hundreds, maybe thousands of blog sites from small to large that you can contact.  Again, you need to keep track of every place you contact and you will receive about 10% response back.  I’ve talked with many different publicists at the largest publishing houses in the world and they all have an extensive database of media outlets to market their authors.  If they send out 100 books, they are lucky to get 10 reviews or responses back.   This means you need to stay very patient and persistent.  Join writing groups like ITW, as you will get support from other writers that have been and are in your position.

Paid marketing takes on many forms.  You can hire an outside publicist, which can be just as difficult as finding an agent.  Publicists are very busy and can only take on so many clients.  You want a publicist that doesn’t have a lot of clients, so you get more personal treatment.  Publicists at the large publishing houses are overloaded.  They can only really work on your book for about six weeks.  This includes three weeks before the release and three weeks after.  Then the rest is up to you.  You can buy advertising on certain sites marketing your book.  Attending conventions are a great way to get your book in the hands of fans.  Buy promotional material and take these with you.  You can spend thousands of dollars, so make sure you have a clear plan of attack and not just throw money against the wall.  You still need to research what other authors are doing and copy them.

Marketing is not easy and there is no easy answer, if there was everyone would sell millions of books.  Just remember that writing and publishing your book is only the beginning of your journey.  The real race is getting yourself known in today’s world.  More and more books are being published every day, more than ever and you need to stand over them and be seen.  Use every resource you can find and keep going.  If you have any comments or questions, email me at editor@suspensemagazine.com

Yesterday I answered one of the top questions that we receive every day and I thought I would keep the same theme and keep answering questions that we get it.  While we don’t have all the answers all we can do is let you know our experiences and what we have seen.  “How do I get published?” I see this question a lot on many different websites and books.  You seem to get many different answers depending on who you talk to.  I can tell you that things change so quickly, however there is no quick way to get published.  I would assume that many people that ask this question are talking about how to get a traditional publisher to pick up my work.

We have talked with many agents and publishers in the past two and a half years.  During that time we have complied a lot of information and discovered many different ways to get noticed, because that is really what it is all about.  Books, movies and music all run the same way in most cases.  Every company that works in the publishing field look for one thing, can we sell it.  No publisher wants to get involved with a project they can’t sell or make money on.  Sometimes this hurts writers that have great stories, because unfortunately their writing can’t sell at this time.  Trends are very popular in writing today.  If you read and search through the book stacks, either online or in person, you notice trends all the time.  Let’s take a look at what is hot right now.  Dark urban fantasy / paranormal and romance are the hot topics that publishers are looking at buying.  While other subjects like historical, political and legal thrillers are staples, it is difficult for a new author to break into that field.  Dan Brown started the historical thriller rage with “The DiVinci Code”, and since then many authors received their break.  Steve Berry, bestselling author of “The Jefferson Key” even said that Dan Brown was one of the biggest reasons he was able to get published.  New authors have a tough road because if you don’t write what is hot right now, you will have a very difficult time getting noticed.  You need to do your research and find out which imprints publish what you write.  Penguin, Simon and Schuster, Random House, etc all have many different imprints that work under them.  If you search online at Amazon or walk around Barnes and Noble check the back of the book to see who the publisher is, that will start you off on the right foot to find a home for your work.  Agents work the same way, but you need to do more homework on them.  Getting the Agents Guide by Writers Market is a great place to start, or simply email your favorite authors and ask them who their agent is.  Sometimes authors have that information on their site.

This is not an easy process and some of the NY Times Bestselling authors had to wait seven years before they finally got published.  The biggest thing is not to get discouraged in the process.  If you believe in yourself, someone else will also.  Keep writing and don’t stop, even if you feel like giving up.  The world always needs authors that tell great stories.

You can always email at editor@suspensemagazine.com and I will be more than happy to expand further with you.

It has been a little while since my last blog report.  I’m always looking for important things to talk about, because I never really know what interests people.  I thought that I would start this blog by announcing that I will start offering some behind the scenes in publishing and marketing and give it to you in parts.  The one question that we seem to get all the time is, “What do you look for in a story?”

I always think this is a loaded question, because a story is very complex.  To many times we get stories that have not been edited and that drives us crazy.  That is the quickest way to make sure your story ends up in the trash pile.  If you are writing to a publisher or magazine and you have not edited your story, don’t send it!  I’ve written many short stories in the past and think all of them are great.  However, I don’t need to convince myself that my writing is great, I need to convince readers.  The best thing to do is to send your story to people that are not going to BS you and be completely honest.  I don’t suggest that you let your family read them, but other authors and people in the industry that understand what it takes to create a great story.  Think about it this way.  When you watch American Idol, how many people that audition think they can sing?  I would say all of them, because when they are eliminated, you hear them screaming at the cameras saying how stupid the judges are.  The funniest part is the moms and dads that are shocked when their little baby didn’t get picked.  News Flash families, your son or daughter can’t sing, so stop lying to them.  I do think that everyone can write, it is just a matter of practicing and reading a lot.  Some people are born with natural talent, but most of us have a great passion for something and need to let our talent loose.

Here are the main points to consider when you are constructing a story.

1.  Do you have a strong voice coming through?  Are you writing with a purpose or just throwing words on a page with no real focus.  It is very important that before you put the first words on the page, you have a clear vision of what you are trying to create.  Things might change when you are writing, but your main idea should be clear to the reader.

2.  Did you think about the complexity of your character?  People in general are very complex and everyone has strengths and weaknesses.  Your characters should be no different than normal people.  This will be the single reason people will continue to read your work.  You want them to either love or hate your characters, because that means you have touched them in an emotional level.

3.  You need to have a subgenre.  Here is an example of this.  If you are writing a mystery and that is the main genre of your book, you need to add something more.  Throw in some romance or comedy, something that adds more layers to your story.  Give the reader something more than just main genre.  Remember that life is made up of many different genres and even though you are writing fiction, you still need to be emotional and real.

Hopefully these tips will help you out in the future and of course you can always email me at editor@suspensemagazine.com and ask more questions.  We love to hear from you.