Marketing True Magics 2: It’s Not Just the Book

To review: I have finished True Magics, third book in my Magics Trilogy (you can buy Small Magics and Cold Magics here), I have a contract to have them published this fall, and I have time to build a proper marketing campaign.

So what do I do next?

Being a good little Communications Consultant who wants to sell lots books, I researched best practices: who sold how many books doing what when and how?

And the answer that leapt in big bold exciting letters was:

IT’S NOT JUST THE BOOK!!! IT’S ABOUT YOU!!!

Yes, you! The author! You have to be interesting! You have to be exciting! You have to reach out and let the world know about YOU! You have to get on social media! You have to blog! You have to Tweet! You have to Pin! You have to Instagram! You have to do that new exciting fifteen second-video thing! You have to make appearances! You have to go to book fairs! You have to go to conventions! You have to do signings and readings! You need to be in schools! You need to be in universities! You need to be at conferences!

YOU NEED TO SELL YOU!!!

Yeah, right.

No.

Well, yes.... Sort of.... But, no.

Or more correctly: Yes and No.

I'd better explain.

What AreYou Really Marketing?
The first question a good marketer asks is, “What do I want people to think, feel, and do?”

A marketer has to be able to answer all three, because without all three, nothing happens. People need to know about a product (think) and they need to connect with it on an emotional level (feel) before they will purchase that product (do).

So how does that work with selling books?

NON-FICTION writers need to market the author. Whether they’ve written Integrating Lean Sigma Six into Your Home Based Marmalade Business, or Fifty-Five Ways Diaper Cream Can Improve Your Bottom Line, the non-fiction writer’s potential customers need to think that the author is a subject matter expert; they need to feel that the author can be trusted and the author’s idea is a great one, and then they will do the buying of the author’s book.

FICTION writers need to market the writing. We need people to think that our writing is entertaining and to feel our writing is worth their time and money, before they will do (by buying our book).

So does this mean that the fiction writer doesn't have to get on social media and blog or tweet or pin or instagram or do that 15 second video thing? That we can stay home from book fairs and conventions and signings and readings?

We should be so lucky.

Right now most of our potential customers have no idea how good our writing actually is. And unless we are already bestselling authors, no one except for us is going to put in the effort to let people know it.

So yes, we need to do social media, and book tours and conventions and all of that. And we need to promote it to the right people, or we’re wasting our time.

So it's not just the book, it's the writing.

So my job is to convince people that I write well and that they should buy my book.

Now, how shall I reach them?

Next week: Social Media Platforms or What Fresh Hell is This?

This Writing Life 2: How I got here.

The final step was losing my job.

The first step was thirty-five years earlier in grade 3 at William Grayson School in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan, when I decided to write a book.

It wasn’t original – the characters and stories came from comics I was reading. It probably wasn’t that good because, hey, I was nine. But it was ten pages double sided in my duo-tang and I thought it was pretty impressive.

That was when I started writing.

I wrote stories continuously, but never thought of submitting them. And while the family might have been impressed and my granddad liked my writing, at no time did anyone suggest “you could make a living from this.” It wasn’t something my family (and therefore I) saw as a career path.

By the time I finished high school I wanted to be an actor. I studied theatre in university.  I moved to Toronto, discovered fight directing and learned how to do that. I finished my first novel but didn’t do anything with it. I met the woman who became my wife. I supported myself doing contract work for charities while not so much pursuing as stumbling blindly after an elusive acting career at a time when the film industry in Toronto was flagging.

My wife decided to leave the theatre to find steady work. We decided to have a child and so I left the theatre too and searched for a career. I tried working as a fundraiser and discovered I was terrible at it. Then I got hired by Manage My Home to be their staff writer.

I wrote more than 150 Home Maintenance articles in a two-year period. And if you think you can’t find more than 150 things to talk about in home maintenance, you’ve never owned a house. I have.

We bought it because we were both making good money and we had a child. I published my first novel, and for the first time writing seemed like a viable career. Everything seemed right. Except it wasn’t.

Our marriage started falling apart. We went to counselling. Manage My Home was bought by a much larger company who didn’t believe in having staff writers and I lost my job. We quit counselling so I could focus on finding a job. I went to school at night and got a certificate in Corporate Communications. I was hired by Trillium Health Centre, making better money than before.

Things righted themselves for a while. We went back to counselling, and I wrote my second published novel in 2-hour slots from 10 p.m. to midnight while my wife and little girl were asleep. I lived on six or less hours sleep a night for a year and somewhere in the midst of it all we realized our marriage was over.

We sold the house, separated and moved into apartments close to our daughter’s new school. And just as things were sorting themselves out, Trillium Health Centre merged with another hospital and I lost my job again.

They were very nice about it. They set me up with one of the best employment agencies in Canada and sent me home.

Where I stewed.

I didn't want to work in offices anymore. I didn't want to drive two hours a day to get to and from work.

I didn’t go to the employment agency, or take their courses. Instead, I started wondering about starting my own business; one where I write and people pay me for it.

So I did.

Which leads us to next week's post: How I make a living at this.

Marketing "True Magics" 1: It’s Written! Now What?

I’ve got True Magics written! It’s done! And I have a contract with a Dragon Moon Press to publish it! This is amazing! It’s wonderful! It’s…

… the third time I’ve done this. And yes, it is still cool.

My first published novel was Small Magics (2007), my second was Cold Magics (2010). True Magics (2014?) will be my third.

My name is Erik Buchanan. If you read my last post, you’ll know I’m an author, and you’ll know that I am a professional writer. It’s all I do and it’s how I earn my living.

What you don’t know is that I spent seven years working in corporate communications, which is a not-selling-you-something way of saying marketing.

And for those seven years I was too busy, too tired and too wrapped up in making a living and commuting and working over time and dealing with my disintegrating marriage and building a new life after separation to focus on the thing that I really wanted: being a professional author.

Now, things have settled. I don’t have a commute anymore, save from the bedroom to the kitchen table where I work. I do what I love for a living.  My domestic life has stabilized and most of the stress that was sucking the energy and life out of me has gone.

And that means I have both the time and resources to properly market my latest book, and use what I build there to help sell the next one.

These blog posts: “Marketing True Magics” are going to document this journey, from picking the tools I’m going to use, to planning out the marketing strategy, to implementation of the tactics that will support that strategy.

And I am hoping that you’ll come with me. Whether you’re an author or an aspiring author, a marketer, an agent or an editor, a fan or just curious to see what goes into making a small press book get noticed.

Together we’re going to see what works well and what works poorly, what helps sell my book and what wastes my time.  And at the end of it all, we’ll all know more so that for my next book (or for your next book) we’ll do even better.

Next week: It’s Not Just the Book.

This Writing Life 1: Introductions

It's 8:30 a.m. and I am at my desk.

Well, desk is a misnomer.  I'm sitting at the kitchen table in our apartment in downtown Toronto, Canada. But this table is where I work, so until the family comes home it’s my desk.

My name is Erik Buchanan. I’m a professional writer, and I make a pretty good living at it.  “This Writing Life” is a series about how I got here, how I stay here, how you can get here, and what all of us who write can do to improve our writing.

My desk chair faces a wall. There’s a window beside me but I have to crane my neck to look out, which keeps me from staring at the garden and daydreaming.

Instead, if I look up from my computer I can see two whiteboards. The smaller whiteboard lists my projects. There are about a dozen, and so far everything is running on time.

The big whiteboard shows the story arcs for my new novel, True Magics, (due out this fall). The story arcs are written in in eight different colours and look a mess, but they tells me exactly what I need to fix.

Today’s writing tasks:

• This blog post
• Four hours of ghostwriting for a client,
• Three hours of editing on True Magics

Tomorrow looks similar, except it’s six hours of editing True Magics, seven if I can squeeze in the time.

This is where I am: in my office, writing for a living. And I love it.

So how did I get here?

I’ll talk about that next week.

Blog Hop: My Writing Process

My good friend and fellow writer K.T. Briskie tagged me in a blog hop meme and gave me some questions about my writing process.  Unfortunately, I have no other authors to tag to keep the meme going, but here's my answers.

1) What am I working on?

I have a fair number of projects on the go, which is why I keep a whiteboard with all of them on it. Otherwise I wouldn't know what to do with myself in the mornings. Fortunately, I'm sitting across from my whiteboard, so I can list them for you.

Let's start with the novels:

I am editing two books right now.  The first is True Magics, the third and final book in my Magics Trilogy, due out this fall (YAY!). I have sent it to my editor, the brilliant Gabrielle Harbowy, and am waiting to see how much I have to fix to make it marketable. And by the way, if you haven't bought Small Magics and Cold Magics yet, now is an excellent time to click on the links and do so. Otherwise, how will you be ready to buy the third one?

My second editing project is City of Phantoms, a YA horror novel, and hopefully the first of a series.  It's about a young girl in Victorian England who disguises herself as a boy to take a job, only to find that the work is very mysterious - and dangerous.  I'll tell more when I get the edit done and start shopping it around.

I am working on the series arc for this one as well, so I know what's going to be happening down the line of books. I have a good concept, now I just have to get it to the end, so I can write the rest of the books.

I am in the planning and research stages for an historical fiction novel, set in Pre-Elizabethan England. Not going to say much about it, but it's a book I've been wanting to write for a long time and I really like the concept so here's hoping it works.

And now that we're done the novels, here's the rest:

I have just finished a short humorous story and am sending it out to market. I will also be starting a second story with a Noir style set after the Zombie apocalypse.

For some things completely different, I am also working on a six episode web series called "Hendrix's People" about two thieves trying to prove one of them didn't betray their boss and their organization.  I'm hoping all the pieces will come together this summer and we can shoot it then. It will feature a lot of humour, a lot of fighting, and a great deal of fun. I am also working on a book with a personal trainer friend on on how to train for Obstacle course races, because they are fun.

And then there's my day job. I ghostwrite for a living and currently have 3 projects on the go.  My client is excellent, and that's all I can say because, you know, I'm the ghost.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

All stories are about people, and the challenges they face, and it is seeing how people are transformed by their experiences that is one of the most interesting parts of reading.  That is what I try to bring to my work. When I write , I am more interested in the personal side of the story, rather than the grand epic scale of things (though the grand epic may make an appearance).  

The other thing I believe in is consequences. Too often in fantasy or sci-fi we have "monsters" - orcs, aliens, zombies, whatever - and the purpose of those monsters is to give our heroes a license to show how powerful and strong they are by killing, and doing so in the knowledge that there will be no consequences.  In reality, all actions have consequences. They may be external, such as society punishing you, people's relatives our for revenge or  friends being driven away by what you've become. They may be internal: nightmares, shifts in world view, questioning of the society in which you live, self hatred or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

And it is those consequences, or the possibility of those consequences, that I like to explore when writing.

3) Why do I write what I do?

Because it's fun.  I love exploring the "might have been" worlds, and the impossible. It's a chance to let your imagination go in places that literary fiction doesn't allow.  And in contrast, I like the strictures of historical fiction. There's a challenge in not just getting the characters right, but getting the world around them right as well.

Most important, I like to tell a good story, and these are the sorts of stories I like best, so they're the stories I write.


4) How does my writing process work?

My writing process has changed a great deal in the last few years. I used to just write, let the story take me where it will and enjoy the ride.  I still do this to an extent with short stories because they are short.  That said, I've discovered that mapping out novels ahead of time makes it a lot easier for me to write them quickly and to get them out. It's especially useful in the ghostwriting, and I've brought it in to my own work as well.

So these days, I will start with a concept, write out ideas and bits and pieces, until I have enough for a story outline.  At the same time I work on developing the characters so I'll know how they'll behave and what sort of reactions I can expect from them in the situations I put them in. Of course, sometimes the characters react in ways that are completely different from what I had planned, which can be annoying or fun, depending on whether it improves the writing.

I try to write every day, because if you don't write every day, you can fall out of the habit, and from experience, that can really mess up your timetable.

And that's me. Hope you enjoyed it.

Ad Astra! I'm going to the Convention!

It's the Ad Astra Convention this weekend! I'm on panels, reading a new short story, and aiming to misbehave! Here's my schedule:

Saturday Morning:
11:00 Swords: Not Just the Pointy End

Saturday Afternoon:
1:00 How to Read...Good
2:00 Signings!
7:30 Reading: Sweater Girls of the Apocalypse

Saturday night: Dragon Moon Press Launch Party! Come visit!

Sunday Afternoon:
3:00: Historical Fiction: Balancing Fact with Fantasy

The rest of the time I'll be wandering about, attending panels, hanging with other authors, and taking my turn staffing the Dragon Moon Press table in the dealer's room.

I hope to see you there!

http://www.ad-astra.org/

A New Year, a New Book

Well, at long last, I have it done.

True Magics, the final book in my Magics trilogy is finished.

(I wasn't planning to write a trilogy. It just worked out that way)

I have the contract from my publisher, the ever-brilliant Dragon Moon Press, and we are aiming for a release date at the end of September.

And by the way...

WOOT!

(I am very happy!)

Ever wondered why we all like stories so much?

Lifehacker.com has a great article on The Science of Storytelling that explains why stories are so powerful, and why a good one works so well with an audience.

My favourite quote:

When we are being told a story, things change dramatically. Not only are the language processing parts in our brain activated, but any other area in our brain that we would use when experiencing the events of the story are too.

Read the whole article here.

Neat!

That's just neat: What was that book

Ever tried to find a book where you couldn't remember the title or the author, just vaguely remembered snippets?

You're in luck!

What was that book? is an online community that reunites folks with the booksthat they've lost.

This may be one of the best ideas ever.

Hat tip to io9, which is where I learned about them.

New Review: When the Hero Comes Home

The folks over at Black Gate gave a very thoughtful review for "When the Hero Comes Home." You can read it here: http://www.blackgate.com/2012/05/01/when-the-hero-comes-home-a-review/ And they gave me a mention!

Erik Buchanan’s “The Evil That Remains” is nicely structured, has a strong thematic idea, builds a credible setting with a few well-chosen touches, and uses the fantastic in a memorable way.

So yay! for "When the Hero Comes Home," and our wonderful editors Gabrielle Harbowy and Ed Greenwood. If you haven't picked up your copy yet, what are you waiting for? Buy it here!

I agree with everything said in this story!

From io9:

Ten of the Most Awesome Sword-Fight Scenes Ever

And I especially agree with their choice of number 1.

Holy Sh...

This is really cool in a "let's clean up the whole plant" kind of way.

Alternate Timelines: Things not to do

Came across this article on io9:

10 Worst Mistakes that Authors of Alternate History Make

An interesting read, and some good tips to work on if you might be thinking of working on a novel that plays with history.

...not that I know anyone planning to do that.

...Really.

Oh, and they added this one this evening:

Another Mistake That Alternate History Authors Fall Into

Enjoy.

As for me, I'm editing (still). It's like writing only less fun.

But it makes the work so, so much better.

Late night Christmas Poetry

The cake is now baked, the whisky's been poured

And downed as we wrapped the whole Christmas hoard.

It's way, way too late as we stumble to bed,

Hoping to lie down and sleep like the dead,

But knowing that soon the child will arise,

And wake us all with her loud, happy cries.

It's that time of year, so what can you say,

But Merry Christmas! And may you nap later today.

They Read my Story in Salem (or Why the Internet is Really Cool sometimes!)

I received an email today from Kevin Newland Scott, who was participating in Deck the Halls: Grown-Up Storytime at the Salem Public Library in Salem, Oregon.

And there, he read my story, "A Visit from Cousin Charles." (which you can find here)

A quote from his email:

Everyone wanted to know where I had found the wonderful Christmas ghost story -- and it was a lucky Google. I was looking for a Christmas ghost story by Robertson Davies, and chanced to turn up one that mentioned him.

I am all sorts of thrilled!

Thank you for picking my story, Kevin, and I am very glad the audience enjoyed it.

And now I'm wondering if I can get another one written by Christmas. Hmmm...

Merry Christmas to everyone who attended the event, and heck, Merry Christmas to the rest of you!

Science! Learn like they did in "The Matrix"... maybe...

What if there were a technology that would allow you to learn how to do new things with no conscious effort?

According to scientists at Boston University and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, it might be possible.

Click the link above to read the whole article, and then imagine opening your eyes in the big chair and and saying, "I know Kung Fu."

Cool.

NaNoWriMo Wrap-up and next steps...

I wrote 50,440 words. I also took 6 days to recover. The question is, was it worth it?

The answer is, I'm not sure (how decisive of me, eh?).

Yes, I wrote 50,000+ words on my new novel. On a normal month I write around 20-25,000. So I doubled my output. The problem was, it wasn't a sustainable pace.

Like a lot of other people who tried it, I have a full time job and a small child. I also have a nasty exercise habit that gets me out of bed at 5:30 a.m. and a convention I go to in the middle of it all. All of them are immoveable objects in my life.

So what did I give up?

Sleep.

I averaged 5 hours a night or less for a month. Yes, I can do that. No, it is not happy making. It leaves me zombified and drinking too much caffeine, which in turn (because I am allergic to caffeine) leaves me shaky, irritable, prone to mood swings and given to sudden exhausted collapses, one of which happened on a weekend with my daughter.

That was not happy making.

The other issue is that the name of the game in NaNoWriMo is volume, not quality. I can already see that there's at about 10,000 words that are going to be cut entirely. And there's a fair amount of the rest that will need some serious re-working (even more serious than usual, and that's saying something).

So while I highly recommend NaNoWriMo for those who need impetus to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, I will not be taking part next year. Instead, I am focusing on three writing projects between now and then:

1. Editing my new book, a young adult piece set in Victorian London.

2. Finishing the third book in my "Magics" series for Dragon Moon Press (which was my NanoWriMo project last year).

3. Writing a new historical fiction piece that's been brewing in my mind for a while.

Will I get it all done?

I think so. And hopefully with more sleep than I got in the last month.

Too funny not to share

From the website Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal:

Good-bye, Anne McCaffery

You gave me dreams of dragons.

Anne McCaffery, 1926-2011

SFContario!

This weekend is SFContario!

I'm tearing myself away from NaNoWriMo (32,819 words, by the way, which puts me past last year's count. YAY!) to staff the Dragon Moon Press table, which this year will feature:

When the Hero Comes Home (anthology), edited by Gabrielle Harbowy and Ed Greenwood

Small Magics and Cold Magics by Erik Buchanan (of course)

Destiny's Blood by Marie Bilodeau

Triptych by J.M. Frey

Authors J.M. Frey and Marie Bilodeau will both be at the convention (Marie on Sunday only), and both will happily sign books whenever they get the chance.

Also, panels!

Weapons and Armour - Fri. 8 PM, Parkview
An examination of the historical and ongoing technological race
between weapons and the equipment that makes them obsolete. (Erik
Buchanan, Stephen B Pearl, Adam Shaftoe(M), David Stephenson)

Are there any new stories? Sat. 4 PM, Parkview
It's been said that there's a limited number of stories - the number
varies with who's saying it - but each generation of writers seems to
come up with a few truly new ones. How can you break out of the
classic story forms and do something really new, while still being
understandable to readers? Is it even worthwhile to try? (Erik
Buchanan, Derek Kunsken, Ira Nayman(M), Craig Russell, Michael
Swanwick)

Accents and Speech Patterns - sun 11 PM Ballroom BC
When representing accents and ways of speaking in fiction some authors
choose to add slang terms while others may write entire novels in a
vernacular accent. When is it too much? Is it worth sacrificing
readability for authenticity? Our panel will give tips, strategies and
techniques for accurately representing speech in fiction. (Richard
Baldwin, Erik Buchanan, Ian Keeling, Stephen B Pearl(M), Robert
Charles Wilson)

So do come by this weekend, if you have a moment and want to have some fun. It's a great little con and this year is hosting the Aurora Awards.

Or, if you don't have the cash to spare, but want to get your hands on some fine DMP books, the dealer's room is open to the public from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.