Genre and the Older Writer

Genre and the Older Writer

– Are you writing the right one?

With the advent of independent publishing upon us, Genre is no longer a slave to formulas established by large publishing houses and longtime editors.

You only have to look at titles offered on the Goodreads giveaway list to see that there is a new trend—mixed genre. Along with other favorites like Vampire, Sci-Fi, and Zombie, the mixed genre, often mingling romance or fantasy with the others, tends to be favored largely by the under 30 crowd.
And then there is YA, the Young Adult genre, whose main characters tend to be in the 15 to 25-year-old range and are written mainly for readers in the preteen to under 21 category. Lately there seems to be quite a flux of writers aiming to capture this audience.

            What does all this mean for the older writer? Think before you leap into a genre that is not for you. Considerations:

1.     It is probably best to stick with a subject you’re familiar with. Don’t try to write a Zombie/Vampire/Romance novel unless you are an avid reader of, and familiar with, the genre.

2.     Don’t pick a genre just because it’s one you believe is marketable. Older people read too, and often read mystery, thrillers, suspense, westerns, romance, and also some of the same genres the younger readers enjoy.

3.     When they say write what you know, this doesn’t mean strictly what you know in life experience. Reading a genre exclusively over many years gives you a measure of expertise invaluable when drafting your novel.

4.     If your goal is to become traditionally published, be aware that editors look for certain genre standards and will reject a book that doesn’t follow them. Do your homework and make sure your book follows the expected guidelines.

Dear Readers,

It is truly amazing how genres fluctuate. I read suspense almost exclusively, so deciding which genre to write has been an easy decision. Writing a genre you aren’t familiar with will not only be difficult, but it will be difficult for you to determine what is original and will entice the reader.

Happy writing,

Marla

KDP Quality Notices

 Authors and KDP speak out!

         Last week’s blog on KDP Quality Notices to authors generated a lot of interest. Here are some things I gathered from your responses.

1.     Everyone is in favor of the Quality Notices. The end result will improve the reader’s experience.

2.     A universal concern is that KDP will send them to all authors as needed, not just independently published ones. In particular, everyone feels that big name authors need to receive them equally.

3.     There is a fear that by locating and complaining about a few errors, readers will be able to use that to demand their money back for the books they buy.

4.     Also, there is a concern that complaining about a few errors (which every book has, believe me, and I read about two a week!) will become a way to persecute the author for a grudge held against them.

I contacted KDP and asked if they would please share any information on how they distributed the notices. Here is their response:

Hello Marla,

I can understand you wanting to know how we get to the point of sending Quality notices to our publishers.

When you publish a book, it will be set to "In Review" status for a short period of time so we can ensure that we are providing the best possible eBook experience to our customers. Should we miss something (however small) in this process, our readers can submit feedback, report poor quality or formatting from the book's product detail page on the website.

If we get more of the same feedback from a number of customers about the same book, then we send a quality notice to that book's author.

I hope you will find this information helpful. If you have any further question about this or any other topic please feel free to contact us, we'll gladly assist you with your request.

Thanks for being part of the Amazon KDP family.

Then, in a response to a question about my own books, I got this answer:

Hello Marla,

We appreciate your attention to our recent notification.

Content published through KDP is held to the high standards customers have come to expect from Amazon. To ensure this, we react to reports from readers who experience problems when reading KDP books and perform random quality audits on books in the Kindle Store.

If we confirm the problem within a book negatively impacts the reading experience, we will always notify you of any problems we find and will make sure to point you in the right direction to get the problem fixed.

Thanks for using Amazon KDP.

Not sure why, but when responding to my direct question they only mentioned reacting to readers complaints, and in the other message, they did tell me that random audits were being performed. I think most of us would feel the notices were being handled in a more fair and consistent manner with the random checks. I must say, that KDP has been responsive to my questions and been professional and helpful with their answers.

Dear readers,

I think we all understand KDP notices a little better. Personally, at the risk of sounding whiny and whingy, it seems somewhat strange to spend time reprimanding an author for one or two typos, when all books, even the NYT best sellers, have a few.

What I’m hearing all of you say, though, is that there is an appreciation by authors for having errors pointed out in order to perfect the manuscript. I’ve fixed mine. And am once more resolved to learn how to do my own formatting so I can go in and clean up problems by myself! Probably won’t happen, though. I have little patience for formatting! I’ll have to perfect the proofing process.

Have a great week everyone!

Marla

KDP Quality Notices

KDP Quality Notices

Authors beware!

The latest low blow for Indie Authors – Amazon is sending out Writing Quality reprimands!

            I just received two of the dreaded missives, one for each of my two suspense  novels. According to their message, “readers” complained. What’s seems odd, is that my latest book, which has been professionally proofed, had two errors pointed out. I’ve read others’ eBooks, many which have errors in nearly every paragraph. Are they getting these notices?

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m all for Amazon tightening the reins. In the end it will only improve the quality of independently published books. But it stretches my credibility meter to believe that more than one reader notified KDP to report a book (my latest, Relative Malice) because it contained two typos.

I’m in the process of fixing them. In fact, She’s Not There, my first book, has been re-proofed and it is now being reformatted.

My advice to independent authors is:

1.     Hire a professional proofreader.

2.     Have that person reproof after you’ve made your changes even if you must pay more for this service. If you don’t, you may be inadvertently adding more typos, etc.

3.     If you are a first time author and are thinking about asking a friend or relative to do your proofing, think twice. Unless that person is a proofer by trade, you could be setting yourself up for problems after you publish.

4.     Is there such a thing as too much proofing? No! That may be true for editing, which could easily be an infinite process, but proofing needs to be perfected before sending out the new book notices!

Dear readers,

I have to apologize for yet another post on proofing. But the Amazon notices were very upsetting for me and I’m hoping that sharing my experience will help prevent other authors from getting one of the “Quality” notices. I’ve learned the hard way that it pays to spend the money to make your book a polished product. Apparently, I’m still learning!

Have a wonderful week,

Marla

Summer Slump, 7 ways writers can survive poor sales and heavy distractions.

Summer Slump

7 ways writers can survive poor sales and heavy distractions.

Finding it difficult to stay positive when book sales drop 

and warm-weather activities beckon? You aren’t alone. 

There are five authors in my writers’ group, and one by 

one, we’re feeling the effects of July on our book sales and

 our attitudes. We’ve commiserated and come up with a 

list of ways to stay focused and positive.

1.                    Take a break without guilt. Sit on the porch and read a book, go for a walk, enjoy a parade, a festival, whatever makes you feel good on a summer day.

2.                   Try something new to market your writing.  If you’re one of the many whose sales have gone south since June, try something different. Do an interview on your blog, try a Goodreads giveaway, something you haven’t done before.

3.                   Plan ahead.  Use your time to work on the next big push for your book, a new release, or short story. The most successful events are well thought-out. Be sure your next one is great.

4.                   Don’t omit writing time. Try setting a page goal for the coming week. It’s hard to do a daily commitment during summer, but setting a page goal will keep you using the time you do have. Keep your goal achievable!

5.                   Examine your successes.  Look back on what has worked for you during the past months. Don’t lose sight of the things that you both enjoyed doing and worked well for you. With those in mind, develop a plan for fall.

6.                   Carry a notebook or a small recorder.  Creative ideas can pop into our heads when we’re having fun. Find a way to capture them.

7.                   Misery loves company. Spend some time with fellow writers. Brainstorm with them. You’ll be amazed how much better you’ll feel having shared your doldrums and bounced new ideas around.

Dear Readers,

I try to blog on issues I’m dealing with myself and this one sure fits in that niche, unfortunately. My book sales have gone south, and my attitude with it. Hopefully you’ll enjoy knowing that you aren’t the only one, or even better, share a pointer or two if your summer is going well.

I’m writing this on a hot, muggy day in NW Wisconsin, one in which the bugs and the humidity make going outdoors a challenge! So at least outdoor temptations aren’t too bad. Of course, the screen porch is calling my name right now, with a good novel (Marcia Clark’s latest, Killer Ambition) and a glass of lemonade.

Till next time, hope you had a great Fourth and are enjoying summer,

Marla

HATE DIALOGUE WITH GESTURITIS?

HATE DIALOGUE WITH GESTURITIS?

Using body language effectively.

     Ever been distracted by dialogue where every line was followed by a gesture made by the speaker? Often, a simple “he said” or “she said,” will do. All writers have favorite gestures they sprinkle through the dialogue of their novels. 

         Some of the most ubiquitously used are:

 Sighing, grinned, smiled, frowned, shrugging, glaring, sitting, looking, pausing,  chuckling, bolting, smirking, staring, breathed, nodding.

       Writers use gestures and body language as speech tags or as ways to identify the speaker. What you don’t want to do is bore the reader with them!

       It’s easy to critique your writing is by doing a search of your manuscript for any body language you suspect you’ve overused. A yawn, blink, or grin can be used occasionally, but original phrasing and fresh observations are always better. Try to use gestures that reveal something about the character or the situation. A glut of position-shifting description is not action. It’s fidgeting, and will encourage a reader to drop your book out of sheer frustration.

        When checking your work for gesturitis, study your usage and ask:

1.     Do the gestures add value by deepening characterization?

-       If not they’re merely a collection of tics and fidgets.

2.     Have you included any redundancies?

-       e.g., “nodding in agreement,” or using a gesture to describe what the dialogue already mentioned.

3.     Whenever possible, use a gesture description to show what a character is feeling, rather than just state the emotion.

4.     Make every gesture serve a purpose.

5.     Use your computer’s search feature to check for repetitious use of gestures.

As a reader, and I still manage to read a book a week, I hate the use of constant body movement to identify characters in dialogue. I think the reader wants to know who is speaking, but if the dialogue is compelling, frequent identifying of the speaker by his name, followed by “said” is much easier to read.

  

Dear readers,

 I’ve written this post is for both authors and readers. I’m hoping you readers will comment, letting us know if you even notice overused gestures. It's possible, the average reader, once involved in a book he enjoys, will not necessarily be put off by them as long as the writing in general is good. However, readers are becoming more critical as many new writers enter the book market and great numbers of them do so too quickly, overlooking the importance of editing and proofing their writing.

So readers, tell us what you think!

 Hope all of you are enjoying your summer,

Marla

 Note: The term “gesturitis” and some of the commentary on this subject, is from Chris Roerden’s Don’t Murder Your Mystery. I highly recommend the book for anyone who writes mysteries, thrillers or suspense.

MUDDLING THROUGH THE MIDDLE

MUDDLING THROUGH THE MIDDLE

Stuck in the maze between beginning and ending?

            Your idea for a story is brilliant. Original. You begin your novel, excited about the project, then it happens—you get mired in the middle. Sound familiar?

That’s where I am in my third novel, going down in quicksand with no save in sight! Recently I read some great advice: when stuck in the middle of your novel, go ahead and work on the end. Okay . . . Did that. The middle remains an endless sea of ideas, twists, and surprises for the reader. I feel like I’m going in circles. What to do now?

I look to my shelf of how-to books on writing and basket of Writer’s Digest magazines, all screaming advice. Some of the best suggestions:

1.     Go back to the beginning and work on your characters’ evolution.

2.     Plan conflict resolution for your main characters. And for the crime, if writing a mystery, thriller or suspense novel.

3.     Go over all of your clues (or subplots) and make sure they are all relevant. Add any that are needed, keeping them as subtle as possible.

4.     Work toward tying up loose ends. Start with one and move on from there.

5.     Have the end planned? Work on it a bit, then go back and see if it inspired you to work toward it!

6.     When all else fails, do something! Edit what you’ve written or develop an outline for your book. Outlining is a tedious task, but will have the effect of bringing it all together in your mind and encourage you to keep moving.

7.     Plan your final action scene. As a reader, I like them to be neither  too short or too long. A dragged out climax will send your reader rushing to the end. Also, one of my least favorite endings is when the killer (usually at gunpoint one way or the other) tells the protagonist every detail of his/her crimes. Boring. Find a more creative way to wrap things up.

Dear readers,

I hope these suggestions are helpful. Putting them together has me eager to go back to my writing! I’m getting over a lingering case of the flu and need to get my physical and my writerly mojos back!

Thank you for stopping in and for all your wonderful comments. If you have any other ideas for tackling the middle, please share with us.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Marla

WHAT A CHARACTER!!

What a Character!!

Can your characters please all readers?

 

  

            Long before I became an author, I was a reader. Have been since I got my first library card at age 8. Now I write books too, but still make time to read. I read 1-2 books a week. Suspense is my genre of choice, and as a suspense reader, I’ve become weary of female protagonists who are all beautiful, have perfect bodies, and either bright green or orchid eyes and male protagonists who are all tall, handsome, athletic, and have every woman they meet willing to drop their panties for them. Sound familiar?

            So when I wrote my second suspense novel, Relative Malice, I created a female detective who wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous, had weight issues, doubts about her femininity, and didn’t even have a boyfriend! Shocking, right?  When the reviews began coming in, I smugly sat back and collected their praise for this character. Then I got this one:

AND, why oh why do these self-published authors always portray female law enforcement officers as being so masculine! Even the name, Kendall so all the men can call her Kenny, is masculine. I've known and worked with many females in law enforcement and while, yes, some of them are gay, many of them are not! They wear make up, they're married, they have children. Oy, and every darn one of these chicks jog! Can you say cliche?

 I wanted to develop a character we could all identify with. Kendall is not gay, and during the course of the book, evolves into a woman comfortable with her femininity and male attention.

            I share this with you to illustrate the impossibility of drafting a character everyone will adore. A lot of advice is given to writers to find their “target audience.” In my case, the majority of my readers loved Kendall. 

            John Locke advises independent authors they only need to satisfy their target audience. And he’s right! I have to keep reminding myself of that and not waste time whining about the inevitable handful of one and two-star reviews.

            What I’ve learned about character creation:

1.     Characters need to have individuality. If you must have a beautiful protagonist, give her a foible or two that we can identify with. Perfection is boring.

2.     If your main character is gorgeous, either male or female, be sure not everyone he or she meets wants to hop in bed with them. At least have a few exceptions to their charms.

3.     Readers like variety when it comes to characters. Mix it up! In my first novel, all of my main characters were good looking. When my writer’s group pointed that out to me, I toned their looks down a bit.

4.     This is probably fodder for an entire book, but try to watch your characters' dialogue to be sure they don’t all sound alike. This isn’t easy, but can be as simple as a small difference in the usage of slang, swear words or cliché’s.

Dear readers,

What do you love in a character? Perfection or reality? One of my favorite characters is an FBI agent, Will Trent, Karin Slaughter’s damaged hero, who suffers from a severe case of dyslexia and manages to live with it and still maintain his career. I think the characters we love the most are the ones with imperfections.  I know I do.
The doggie with the big smile is a Staffordhire Terrier, a very loving, happy breed. This one happens to look a lot like my dog, who is half Staffie and half lab. I've never seen her smile quite that big!

Have a great week everyone, and enjoy the spring weather,

Marla

How Many Characters Are Too Many?

How Many Characters Are Too Many?

 Will too many make readers lose interest?

My critics told me my first novel had too many characters. My critique group said the same thing, and during the writing, I actually cut down on them! Even a good friend, who loved the story, told me she had to take character notes. So on book number two, I made sure that particular complaint wouldn’t happen again. Guess what? One person said even that book had too many.

Should authors worry about having too many characters? I write and read suspense. I have to agree that sometimes the use of large numbers of characters gets confusing. But it’s pretty hard to write good suspense or a good mystery with just a few characters. Remember the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series? Yikes! If there were ever books requiring the reader to take notes, those were the ones. A few of the names were even spelled very similarly. And that series was on the NYT bestseller list for years.

            So I had to ask myself, what makes a tolerable character list for readers? Why will they accept dozens from some authors yet complain about too many from authors with 10 or twelve? Readers—we want to hear from you!

            Here are some ways I’ve learned of to keep your reader abreast of your characters:

1.     Do keep characters’ names different. Avoid names that sound alike, look alike or begin with the same letter.

2.     If possible, introduce characters one at a time, with scenes in between the introductions. There’s nothing harder to follow than getting hit with an entire team of law personnel, for example, at the same time.

3.     Try not to switch points-of-view within a scene. This is a basic “rule” of writing style, however, I’ve seen some famous writers breaking it when doing dialogue between two main characters. Unless you’re in their league, I’d stay away from it. It’s difficult to do it effectively without confusing the reader.

4.     Find creative ways to remind the reader of who a character is and how he fits into the story when he or she hasn’t been mentioned for a while. Keep in mind every reader won’t be reading the book straight through and will need to have his/her memory refreshed.

5.     Always be sure each character is necessary to your story. Characters, like words, may need to be cut if not relevant to the plot line.

Dear Readers,

As always, I’d love to hear from you. I hope some of you are enjoying spring! We’re still waiting for it here in upper Wisconsin. Amazingly, there are still ice-fishermen on the lake in front of my house, which I’ve heard is going to be a record breaker this year! They seem to be pulling a lot of fish out of the lake, while the eagles are circling, patiently waiting for their opportunity.

            Have a wonderful week,

Marla

Do Your Sample Chapters Outshine the Rest of Your Novel?

Do Your Sample Chapters Outshine the Rest of Your Novel?

How perfect sample chapters could hurt your book sales

  

            In my last blog, as we discussed the prevalence of eBook returns, I was informed that often books are returned because the sample chapters were polished and professional, while the rest of the book lacked the same effort.

            Writers beware. I know we read everywhere how important those opening words are for our sales. But as eBook authors, we have to remember, we need return readers. The more product we have out there, the more each book or story helps sell the others. If a reader buys your first book because the sample chapters made him want to read it, he would have felt cheated when the rest didn’t match the beginning. Even if he doesn’t return it, you end up with a reader who will never buy another of your books, or worse, write you a scathing review.

            Word of mouth remains the best form of advertising. Don’t let a disgruntled reader spread the word that your work is not professional. It is up to you to make your writing captivating all the way through.

Two important reminders:

1.     Be sure your entire work is free of spelling, grammar, typos and formatting errors before you publish. It’ll save you a lot of work later!

2.     Everyone knows not to add too much back-story to the first pages of your novel.  But you also don’t want to leave it out of your opening chapters, and then dump it on the reader all at once. Add it when the storyline warrants it, but as frugally as possible!

Dear readers,

Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments on the topic of eBook returns. After considering them all, my personal opinion is that rather than shorten the time during which they can be returned, it might be fairer to limit the number of returns any individual could make in a given year.

            I was dismayed to hear that writers actually published books having perfect sample chapters without an entire book to match! I thought addressing that might be worth talking about.

            Thanks to all of you for your continued support,

Marla

eBOOK RETURNS

eBOOK RETURNS

The Newest Scam?

  

             I admit I tend to be a negative person. To use an old cliché, I always see the cup half empty and tend to read the worst interpretation into anything I perceive as a slight. When I look at my eBook sales and see returns, I immediately leap to the conclusion that people are using Amazon’s generous return policy to read my books without buying them.

I got used to seeing a few returns among the sales of my first book. It seemed to happen the most after I’d run a free KDP promo. Annoying, but understandable. People apparently thought the book was still free. I didn’t stop to think that even though they asked for and received their money back, they still had the book on their Kindle. How could they possibly return an eBook?

When my new book, which has not had a free promotion yet, began to have returns, the practice began to concern me. The book has not gotten a huge  number of sales yet, so returns are very obvious to an author who keeps an eye on daily sales. I decided to go right to the source for answers.

Here’s what I found out when I contacted KDP.

1.                    Amazon’s return policy on eBooks is seven days. If you purchase an eBook, you get your money back as long as seven days after the day you bought it.

2.                    Amazon has the ability to remove the book from your device once you’ve returned it.

3.                    After the second email, I was informed that was the last communication they would give me regarding the subject.

I understand it is important for Amazon to give the customer excellent service. But, to me, seven days is excessive. It is easy to read a book in seven days. And, Amazon gives the customer a significant amount of the book to read which should be all the reader needs to make the decision to buy.

I'd love your input on this subject!

Readers, do you feel the 7 days is necessary even thought you have the ability to read at least an entire chapter of a book? Do you believe the increase in returns are all innocent errors?

Fellow authors, are your eBooks being returned? How frequently?

Dear friends,

I had a hard time deciding whether to address this topic on my blog. Personally, I hate dwelling on things I cannot change. I respect Amazon for the many things it does for self-published authors. The 7-day eBook return policy, however, is one thing I wish they would change. I don’t think eBooks should be returnable unless a person hits a wrong button and immediately contacts Amazon. My real fear is a burgeoning practice of read-and-return.

Here’s wishing all of you a glorious Easter, and hoping to hear from you.

Thanks for joining me,

Marla


3-31-13

I've just been informed that there is a petition circling on trying to get AZ to change their eBook return policy. Go to Change.org. You will have to sign up in order to sign a petition there, but it is a simple process. Then do a search for "Amazon eBook return policy." I was surprised to see that there are more than one in the works! Let's hope they help.