Promo sweet promo

Today’s blog is about promo- what’s worth it and what isn’t. I’m not at the promo stage yet- but I’m always keeping an eye on what folks do.

What got me thinking about it this time was an article in the San Diego Tribune about certain large studios choosing not to participate in Comic Con International San Diego. The reason? They weren’t sure their promo dollars were best spent there at this time. Now, for those of you who never watch anything remotely related to entertainment news- you may have not heard of Comic Con. Briefly, it is a HUGE geek fest that pulls in over 125,000 folks each year and needs more room. Geeks come from all over the globe to be here. It takes over a huge chunk of San Diego each July. Yet Warner, Dreamworks, and Disney have decided not to do panels this year (panels: big dog and pony shows with some of the top actors in the business talking about the new project).

For a multitude of reasons, these three biggies in geekdom are staying away/reducing their participation from what is arguably the biggest geek gathering IN THE WORLD.

Why? They’ve decided at this point in whatever their upcoming project(s) is at- it’s not worth it. They are taking a risk- CC attendees love their mega panels and not being there could cost some geek love come movie release time (or not- we’re geeks ya know ;)).

Now granted- no author I know of could spend the type of promo dollar these Hollywood heavy hitters can (we’re talking ads that cover sides of hotels here folks- see the photo ;)).

But how do authors make that decision? How does one decide- do I do a book trailer? Blog tour? Post cards? Swag? Workshops (which can be seen as promo really). What events do you hit? I once took a big collection of paranormal romance writers’ book marks/post cards etc to Comic Con- they were gone very quickly. I’ve also seen free romance books being happily sucked up by fans at Comic Con (both guys and gals ;)). And more romance writers are crossing over and presenting there each year. It wouldn’t be the first choice for many authors- but trust me- it’s gaining in popularity.

So this question is for any of you published authors- speak to us pre-pubbed folks- what promo events/items worked for you- and what ones not so much? If you were just starting out what would you do to promote that first book all over again (or some of you MAY be promoting your first book).
Thanks in advance for your responses- you’re helping other pubbed and pre- pubbed folks.

Monday Motivation

This week's photo writing prompt:


This one is mine- please don't re-use without permission :). Thanks!

Stuff Ya Didn't Know Friday-Alklha

Welcome to another new weekly feature- Stuff Ya Didn't Know Friday!

Stuff Ya Didn't Know Friday is a weekly look at weirdness...creatures, places, people, myths, whatever I happen to come across that makes me say, "Hmmmmm?" The idea is that maybe some of the weirdness will rub off in an idea for a story, snippet, character- whatever! Happy Week-end!

Our first one will be the Alklha (aka Alicha)

Alklha was the great dragon of the cosmos for the Buryat people of ancient Siberia. Its wings were black and said to be so huge they could cover the entire sky. If it was cloudy, you could bet that Alklha had opened its wings.

This dragon lived high above the earth as it made regular attacks upon both the sun and the moon. Even now it is said that the faint marks we see on the moon are said to be the work of the teeth and claws of Alklha. When one of the Buryat people saw the sun or moon obscured, such as in an eclipse, they were certain the Alklha was attacking. To fend it off they threw rocks at the sky to try to discourage it.

Legends say the gods finally found a solution by cutting the difficult creature in half- one half stayed on earth, the other in the heavens. This was so that when the Alklha tried to consume either the sun or the moon- the heavenly sphere would pass through and return to the sky unharmed.

Alas no photos could be found for this creature.

Why do we blog? Why should we?

Simple blog post today folks- why do we do it? I’m talking about published writers and pre-published writers blogging. And I’m not talking about the “I like to cook” blogs, or the summer vacation blogs. I’m talking about blogs about writing and reading. Whether they are for fans or for fellow writers, tons of writers spend massive amount of hours on blogs and websites.

Why?

Well one reason may be an attempt to control some aspect of a very tricky and subjective business. We can control our output; but we can’t control agent, editor, or even reader response (beyond being as prepared as possible). However with a blog or website we control it. If I want to have a blog appear each week, I do it and its there (unless blogger is having another issue- AGAIN).

Also, our business is changing radically. Authors have to be willing to go out into the big scary world- both cyber and real- and promote themselves and their work. More and more agents and editors are mentioning that they Google prospective clients. Now having a bad blog, or lack of one probably won’t shoot you down. Obviously a kick-ass book hitting at the exactly right time will trump just about anything.

But having an online presence can help nudge interest if maybe that perfect timing isn't in place.

We need to get used to being out there. Published folks have to hit the ground running and promote. Us pre-pubbed (or under pubbed ;)) have to get used to the medium and how to function in it. I don’t have a “fan” blog because my books aren’t out yet. But I wanted to share and interact with folks on my writer journey, so I created this blog (non-writers welcome too ;)).

I’m also on a number of other social and business related media and groups for the same reason- mingle with authors and readers, get the feet wet.

So what do you think? Are you pubbed or pre-pubbed? Do you have a blog? Website? Are we wasting our precious writing time, or actually helping to build out chosen writing life and career?

Monday Motivation!

Welcome to a new weekly blog event- photo writing prompts. Each monday I'll throw some sort of interesting photo up here- no need to comment (you can if you want) but the idea is to start your writing week by taking the image and running with it.

Use the prompt however you want, work it into your WIP, make a short story, just do a paragrapgh or two to exercise the ol' brain cells.

Some of these photos are mine-like this one (please ask for permission before re-using somewhere ;)). Others are just cool photos I've found on domain free sites.

Chh-changes! This blog's a changin'!

Happy summer everyone! In honor of the hot season- I'm changing a few things on here :).

Every Monday will now be "Motivation Monday"- I provide the photo prompt- you do with it what you will. You can share your ideas on the blog if you want, but otherwise it's just a weekly brain starter :)

Wednesdays will still be my regular essays on writing and writers.

Fridays will now be "Stuff you didn't know" days. I'll post little snippets on weird creatures, places, terms, ideas- whatever I come across. These are just for fun- or they can also be used as another writing prompt. Maybe to add to some notes for your next book? ;)

Then during many weeks there will be guests! If you would like to be one of my Tues or Thursday guests- please respond here with a way for me to contact you. You don't have to be a published writer to guest! Anyone who would like to try out their own blogging is welcome.

Saturdays will be grammar starters- we'll start with the "easy" stuff (You know what we all forgot in school?) And see how far we get by the end of summer!

PLUS- I'll soon start a for the writer section with those great writing books you all sent :).

So come on by and join me :).

How a rejection and a screwed up ending are good

Happy Wednesday all!

I was thinking about various stages of a writer's life-not career, but life.

We're excited when we first sit down to create something out of nothing. I still recall a bit from my first "attempt" at a book when I was 13. The section I remember had to do with the brother of my character stubbing his toe on his surfboard in the hall. I don't recall much about the story and since I never got very far I'm not surprised. Mostly I just had an urge to see what I could create. Sort of like picking up some paints and playing. It was cool to see my ideas typed out though...but then boys came along and I moved on.

A few years later, I had an idea for a story. A real one this time-LOL. I LOVED seeing my words in type! (Yes a typewriter folks-- young ones, get your folks to explain it to you ;)). I was still very excited, but very distracted. I don’t think anyone outside of my family knew what I was doing. It wasn’t a secret per se- it just wasn’t something that came up while chasing guys ;) (Yes there was a trend in my youth ;)). This book, a SF adventure with a lead character named Vaslisha Tor Dain (I stole her name years later for the Warrior Wench- although is it stealing if you stole from yourself?) was fun…but I lost interest after about 175 pages. Always meant to go back to it, but never did.

Still more years later (we don’t need to discuss the numbers here ;)) I started Essence of Chaos. A fantasy trilogy of full geek standing, and I was more self conscious this time. I found I wrote better by hand and cranked out an over 700 page first draft. I still recall when I typed “The End” on that massive beast. It felt so flipping good! Some close friends knew what I was doing, and as I started on book two, I told more. I did some editing, got book one typed into a computer, and sent out for a round of rejections. It was still too dang big. Emotionally, I was sorta self conscious about writing. I didn’t know any other writers and it just felt like my friends humored me. Went back to school to get my Master’s degree- sat the writing aside.

A few years ago I started working at SDSU. My writing was mostly just poking at the Essence of Chaos with a stick from time to time, and shleping around some short stories. I had lunch with one of my co-workers who I didn’t know very well yet and somehow we got to talking about books, and writing. I told her I wrote and she didn’t mock me or pat me on the head. She wanted to READ IT. My friend (waves to Sandi Jordan) rekindled my interest in my books and my writing as she went through the first book. Talking with her about characters, plot, etc got me ready to write something new. I joined the RWA to get in touch with more writers (since there isn’t a similar group for SF/F writers). Soon Warrior Wench ( SF), The Glass Gargoyle of the Last Elven King (light fantasy), and A Curious Invasion (steampunk) were born.

Emboldened by my dear friend Sandi, and my new friends in the RWA, I hit the rejection circuit again. All the while still working on new projects. Last year I didn’t submit at all to give myself time to work on my craft (and finish two and a half of the above named books).

Now I’m editing, working on yet another project (The Four Dragons of the Apocalypse), and submitting. Two recent events told me I’d moved into another writing stage. First, I met this great agent at the RT convention. He doesn’t take my genre, but really liked the Glass Gargoyle story and wanted to see it (I was on cloud nine lemme tell ya!). He was a very cool guy and I would have loved to work with him. I KNEW if he rejected me it was going to hurt bad.

Then he rejected me.

And I survived! LOL! As I sat there waiting for the massive stabs of loserdom to hit- I realized they were a no show. Now don’t get me wrong, I knew this guy was a long shot being as he doesn’t do my genres- any of them! But he was so dang cool! And his rejection just made me mentally go “next”.

The other event that made me realize I’m moving on to another level was the discovery that my ending on my steampunk SUCKED. Massively sucked big time to horrifying proportions in fact. I hadn’t looked at this book since I finished it last fall, and I knew I rushed the ending. But when I realized how awful it was I didn’t freak, I didn’t panic, I just went “well, that’s not good” and started re-writing the dang ending.

In both of the later two cases, the old writer me would have freaked, broken down, curled in a corner, or at least eaten too much chocolate. Instead, I just mentally shrugged and moved on.

I think I’m getting it into my head that this is a CAREER not a one-shot deal. Having multiple projects (and another just popped up) really helps remind me- if these don’t sell, maybe the next one will.

I’m looking forward to the next stage of my writing life, and that time when I finally get my books out there to be read by the public.

Where are you on your writing stages?