Terry Brooks

I've been captured again. I remember being 16 and looking for another 'Lord of The Rings,' replacement, and I picked up Terry Brooks' 'The Sword of Shannara.' I remember thinking, all right, this might be good and then it might not. My impressions while reading it, was, 'not bad, not bad at all, but the name Allanon, not the character, made me snicker a bit. But wait, did you know that Tolkien, when he was shopping around for names, nearly picked Bingo for Bilbo.  In the final analysis, I really liked 'The Sword of Shannara.' Now, here I am, thirty four years later reading Terry Brooks' books 'Armagaddon's Children,' 'The Elves of Cintra,' and 'The Gypsy Morph,' and I am wonderfully astounded how Terry Brooks has grown as a writer.  If you are looking for a 'how to' example of excellence, read the first few chapters of 'The Gypsy Morph.'  Very few writers have such excellent and impeccable timing as Terry Brooks.  If I have a wish, as a writer, I would wish that I could meet Terry Brooks and just simply talk about writing and humanity.

Villains

Remember on a previous post when I wrote about wanting to write a Murder Mystery set in Elizabethan times? Well, I came up with a solid device, how women looking like the Queen were being killed all over London. The problem is I find Elizabeth's world too big for me. So, I'm taking that idea and plugging it into the fourth book in the Colin series. I thought book three would be the last, but it seems the tale has some juice left in it, as long as there's a good villain to be had.

Writing of villains, the best of which live in the stories Charles Dickens.  He knew how to play out a good tale by beating down the hero and then raising him up on the wings of moral justice. There is nothing better than a nasty villain, armed with all the tools of their trade, to beat down our hero. I have to work on making my villains more substantial.

I think it's a trend today to see blood and guts and all sorts of nasty things, but a good villain will beat all the sensationalism hands down: remember Kevin Costner's "Robin Hood?" Who was the villain that stole the show? Remember "The Princess Bride?"  It is nice to have a solid "Harry Potter" in your story, but what is Harry Potter without Lord Voldemort?  He would just be another abused orphan, and that's too real. How about Steven King's 'IT'.  A clown as a villain? Brilliant! I've never been able to look Ronald McDonald in the face again without feeling some malignant purpose lurking behind the paint.  In Shelly's "Frankenstein," there is a word that is used to its full effect, and that word is "Monstrous." There is even a trend of making villains the heroes of the tale. I can't do that. I like sweet and sour together but separate, battling each other, with of course David Copperfield and Agnus living happily ever after.

Marketing I

One of the most interesting, and one of the most frustrating things in the world is marketing.  With ebooks becoming more and more popular, the publishing industry has opened up to a more democratic process. Gone are the Media Kings (although they are still around), the self-appointed gate keepers of all things litterary.

"The public is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all." Mark Twain.

Expose yourself (your work) to the people and let them decide as to its entertainment worth.

So, with places like Smashwords and Amazon, the power is in the hands of the writer, but because of accessibility there is a flood of material, and unless you have a way of catching someones attention, your work, even though it's brilliant, could join the sediments at the bottom of the sea of unread words.

What is marketing? (I don't really have the answer: that's why I'm asking the question)
If I was to make a speculative guess, I would say that marketing is a wagon that passes through town, upon which everyone jumps, whether the wagon is a dilapidated piece of work or a shining example of prose.

Have you ever read a book that was a 'bestseller,' and been left feeling somewhat less for the experience? 

Right now, I'm in the process of selling my material on Amazon. I've discovered the 'gift,' function.  You would pay for advertisement and hope to increase sales. Why not just gift your work. It will only cost you a fraction of the true cost, because you'll still get your royalties.  This accomplishes two things: you sell your book and you (hopefully) get others to read it.  Presently, I'm toying with the idea of throwing a Kindle party at my local library. If you've got a Kindle come on in, give me your email and I'll gift you one of my books. If you like it maybe you'll purchase one of my other titles.

Kindle Party, anyone?

Amazon Select

I thought I would let everyone know that I've placed my books on KDP select in Amazon for a 90 day period. As a result I had to remove my titles from Smashwords. I was very happy with Smashwords, but the KDP Select on Amazon has an exclusivity clause. I'm sorry for the inconvenience this has caused anyone searching for my work through Barnes and Noble. I will, however, be launching my third book in the Colin series through Smashwords.



Thank you again to all my readers.

Author Marketing Club

I love to write, but I also love to when people read my work.  Writing is a peculiar art. It's done in isolation but has the potential to be shared world wide. True there is that inner need to be happy with what you are working on, but the joy comes when someone reads your work and they express excitement or gratitude. That's what makes it all worth while. The great advantage with ebooks is that there are a lot of them, and unless you have a way of differentiating yours from others, then your ebook is likely to settle at the bottom of some primordial, digital sea, never to be seen until someone digs it up. This is why I transferred my books over to Amazon Kindle and registered with Author Marketing Club. I need to learn how to market whether I want to or not.

I know the artistic refrain, 'maybe I'll be famous when I'm dead.' I never understood that. If I'm dead then it doesn't matter. It might matter to my children, but I'll have moved on. So, what I hope to do is document this journey with Author Marketing Club through this blog.

As a result of registering my digital books with KDP Select I can not longer offer them with via Smashwords.com.

Wish me luck.

Here's a link to the Author Marketing Club site:

Book Marketing Selling Tips for Authors

Queen's Gift

I've just finished watching the movie production of Shakespeare's "Much ado about Nothing."  There is a scene where Benedict and Beatrice are having it out. Beatrice wants Benedict to challenge Claudio, and when Benedict refuses and says "not for the world," she transforms. What I mean by that is Beatrice transforms into a queen when she exclaims what she would do "if" she were a man. Here, she is manipulating Claudio. Oh, my! This sounds like Queen Elizabeth herself.  She kept the Count of Anjou, Catherine de medici's son on the hook for eleven years. Phillip II of Spain, Elizabeth's sister's husband was held off until 1588. She played with Robert Dudley, his step son, The Earl of Essex and Walter Raleigh, and flew into rages when they all married women who looked like her.

I'm sure there are many learned men and women out there who have asked the question: "Why is it that Shakespeare has some of the strongest female characters of the age, especially in an age where women did not act on stage? If there had been no Queen Elizabeth, I doubt there would be no strong female characters on stage at all.

I'll even go so far to say, no Elizabeth, no Shakespeare (or whoever wrote those marvelous plays).

There are great women who come along and not only make life interesting, they define it. Queen Elizabeth was one of these women. It was said she love a soldier, and wit, and intelligence, and women (who reminded her of herself). It is strange to note that many of her maids were like her in appearance, rays emanating from the sun. Marvelous, just marvelous.

Oh, just another thought. Before The Earl of Essex got carried away and tried to revolt they paid to watch a private stage production of Richard III, a production that promoted replacing the monarch. Her furious response to that was: "Know you not that I am Richard III!"

I don't doubt that Elizabeth was excellent at "shaking spears."

Coupon

In anticipation of the release of the third book in my "Colin," series: "Colin and The Revenant," I'm going to offer a coupon worth 25% off on the second book in the series. "Colin and The Little Black Box." The First book, "Colin and The Rise of The House of Horwood," is free.

When you go to Smashwords.com and purchase the book there will be a coupon box, just punch in KZK84J (it's not case sensitive.)

Colin and The Little Black Box




Colin and The Rise of The House of Horwood