Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 297, more on Reviewer's Quotes, Marketing Materials

1 February 2015, Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 297, more on Reviewer's Quotes, Marketing Materials

Announcement: My new novels should be available from any webseller or can be ordered from any brick and mortar bookstore.  Information can be found at www.ancientlight.com.  Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy them.

Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.

I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four plus one basic rules I employ when writing:

1. Don't confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.

All novels have five discrete parts:
1.  The initial scene (the beginning)
2.  The rising action
3.  The climax
4.  The falling action
5.  The dénouement

The theme statement of my 25th novel, working title, Escape, is this: a girl in a fascist island nation will do anything to escape--a young cargo ferry pilot not following the rules crashes on the island.

I'll make a slight digression because I'm developing advertising and publisher materials for my newest completed novel, Lilly.  Here is the cover proposal for Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer. 

Cover Propsal

Before you can market a novel to the public, you have to market it to publishers or potential publishes.  This means you need to develop materials to market your novel.  These marketing materials can be used when the book is published.  We've already looked at two main pieces used in marketing: the title and the book cover proposal.  These are necessary for a web design, and they are also necessary for a publisher.  You can live without a cover proposal for a while, but you need a title right away.

The next step is to build the marketing information you will use to present your novel to publishers and to the public. Here is an outline:

Title of Work:

Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer

Author(s) Name:

L. D. Alford

Type: Either Screenplay or Book

Book

Length: Either # of words for books, or # of pages for screenplays

105,300 words

Keywords and Market Focus:

Fiction, Washington State, Tacoma, Spanaway, Seattle, Computer, Pacific Lutheran University, Hacker, goddess, sushi, Redemption, kami, Japan, Shinto, torii, Shrine, engineering, math; will fascinate anyone interested in the spiritual, mystery, and suspense—will appeal particularly to those who enjoy historical mystery and suspense novels.

Genre:

Fiction Suspense

 

Author Bio: Approximately 120 words

Synopsis:  Approximately 500 Words
 
Concept of the Work:  Approximately 250 Words

Registration: WGA, ISBN, or Library of Congress, Write the number.

None

Other Information:  If you have more work, a website, anything interesting and professional, especially any awards or recognition.

Reviewer’s quotes.

Lilly is a fun novel filled with mythical creatures and Japanese gods and goddesses—how Lilly handles becoming a goddess herself is delightful and suspense-filled. 

Dane Vale became the infatuation of a genius math girl, Lilly who unexpectedly became a Japanese goddess—Lilly’s problems go well beyond the normal or the spiritual.

Lilly Lin Grant became a kami, a Japanese goddess—her kannushi, priest, is her boyfriend—their adventures in saving a Shinto shrine involve every Japanese creature of myth, dragons, and Japanese gods and goddesses.

Find someone who will tell you the truth about your writing.  I know, I know, most authors have no desire to know the truth about their writing, but if you don't, you will never become better.  I love feedback--I desire strong and emotional feedback.  I always like positive feedback, but any feedback that shows me the reader actually read and thought about my work and characters makes me happy. 

Everyone wants to be praised, but praise can never improve your writing.  What improves your writing is discussion and strong editing--not editing for grammar, spelling, or punctuation, but editing for content, feel, plot, and characters.  I don't need more grammar checkers, I need someone to say: this part is choppy, or this doesn't sound right, or I don't know who is speaking here.  These are editorial comments that can make good writing great--but only if you use them.  This is why I tell my readers and reviewers and editors, I use every comment and idea they give me.  I might not take their ideas of editorial comments without putting my own touch on them, but I use them all.  I don't believe anyone can give you bad editorial comments.  Remember, it may be just their opinion, but where writing is concerned, their opinion is always better than your opinion--novel writing is about entertainment.  Entertainment is in the eye of the beholder.

At this point everything I'm doing with and for this work is about marketing to a publisher and building a website.

More tomorrow.

For more information, you can visit my author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com

Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 291, more Synopsis, Marketing Materials

26 January 2015, Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 291, more Synopsis, Marketing Materials

Announcement: My new novels should be available from any webseller or can be ordered from any brick and mortar bookstore.  Information can be found at www.ancientlight.com.  Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy them.

Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.

I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four plus one basic rules I employ when writing:

1. Don't confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.

All novels have five discrete parts:
1.  The initial scene (the beginning)
2.  The rising action
3.  The climax
4.  The falling action
5.  The dénouement

The theme statement of my 25th novel, working title, Escape, is this: a girl in a fascist island nation will do anything to escape--a young cargo ferry pilot not following the rules crashes on the island.

I'll make a slight digression because I'm developing advertising and publisher materials for my newest completed novel, Lilly.  Here is the cover proposal for Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer. 

Cover Propsal

Before you can market a novel to the public, you have to market it to publishers or potential publishes.  This means you need to develop materials to market your novel.  These marketing materials can be used when the book is published.  We've already looked at two main pieces used in marketing: the title and the book cover proposal.  These are necessary for a web design, and they are also necessary for a publisher.  You can live without a cover proposal for a while, but you need a title right away.

The next step is to build the marketing information you will use to present your novel to publishers and to the public. Here is an outline:

Title of Work:

Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer

Author(s) Name:

L. D. Alford

Type: Either Screenplay or Book

Book

Length: Either # of words for books, or # of pages for screenplays

105,300 words

Keywords and Market Focus:

Fiction, Washington State, Tacoma, Spanaway, Seattle, Computer, Pacific Lutheran University, Hacker, goddess, sushi, Redemption, kami, Japan, Shinto, torii, Shrine, engineering, math; will fascinate anyone interested in the spiritual, mystery, and suspense—will appeal particularly to those who enjoy historical mystery and suspense novels.

Genre:

Fiction Suspense

 

Author Bio: Approximately 120 words

Synopsis:  Approximately 500 Words

     Dane Vale saw the girl come into FastMart about once a week.  She was filthy and always looked hungry.  She bought food, not with dollars, but with FastMart bucks you earned from purchases at the convenience store.  She always used a different account and phone number, but because her password was correct, he didn’t think much of it.  That changed when she used the phone number and password of another customer in line.  Dane had to rescue her.  That was Dane’s introduction to Lilly Lin Grant.

Lilly Lin was a genius.  She was only sixteen, but had a full ride scholarship to his University.  It oddly didn’t include room and board.  For some reason, she suddenly was signed up for every advanced level class Dane was in.  For some reason, she followed him everywhere he went on campus.  Dane’s sister, Phelia, said Lilly was infatuated with Dane.  He didn’t know much about women at all—he couldn’t understand why the genius, Lilly Lin wanted to hang around with him.

There was much more to Lilly Lin than met the eye.  She could hack as easily as a person could type.  She wrote software at the assembly code level.  She made her own operating system and tricked out her junk laptop.  Dane traded Lilly three squares for her operating system, computer enhancements, and her class notes.  She shared her Spartan meals with an old homeless Japanese man.  Since Dane helped Lilly get a job at the FastMart and fed her, he was suddenly part of Lilly’s gift of offerings.  The old man appeared in the evening near a Shinto torii that Dane could never find without Lilly or during the day.  Dane wasn’t certain if the man or the torii really existed.

The old man invited Lilly and Dane through the torii—they entered a Shinto shrine that could not be part of the world in Seattle.  The old man claimed to be a Japanese kami, the Japanese god of metal.  He was tired of existence and confused by the modern world.  He had brought his shrine to Seattle because he hoped to find purpose in a new place, but there he only found unbelief and a young woman who would bring him offerings.  He wanted Lilly to assume his duties as kami and Dane to become the kannushi, the priest of the shrine.

Dane and Lilly found themselves in possession of a Shinto shrine.  Lilly discovered she had powers over metal.  Dane was responsible for the shrine itself. 

The old kami was gone, but Lilly and Dane now face the pantheon of Japanese gods and goddesses who are skeptical of a human made a goddess with her inexperienced kannushi.  They must use their new-found powers to keep the shrine successful and purposeful in spite of its place.  Dane must also contend with Lilly who is infatuated with him and now endued with memories and ideas from a different culture.  He was struggling with her attention before—now she demands much more from him.
Concept of the Work:  Approximately 250 Words

Registration: WGA, ISBN, or Library of Congress, Write the number.

Other Information:  If you have more work, a website, anything interesting and professional, especially any awards or recognition.

 

Reviewer’s quotes.

With a synopsis, your first job is to impress the publisher.  The second step is to impress the potential reader.  The publisher is harder than the average reader.  Because it is so important, we'll get a little more in depth about writing a synopsis.

The trick of writing a synopsis is to focus on the most important points about the characters, the plot, and the theme of your novel--then you weld them into a short, pithy, and creative piece of writing.  Once you have a 500 word synopsis, you can write a 250 word synopsis and a 100 word synopsis, etc.  The point is that this is a necessary part of novel writing and of writing your marketing materials.  Even if you intend to self-publish, you need a synopsis for your back cover, your website, and your press release.  Whatever you do, don't neglect the synopsis.

 Start your writing of the synopsis with the characters.  The most important and hopefully the most exciting scene in your novel is the first scene.  That first scene should be the meeting or first interaction of the protagonist, antagonist, or protagonist's helper.  The first scene can be the initial focus of your synopsis.  In the example above, I started with that scene and that introduction of the protagonist and the protagonist's helper.  Next is the plot.

At this point everything I'm doing with and for this work is about marketing to a publisher and building a website.

More tomorrow.

For more information, you can visit my author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com

Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 287, Market Focus, Marketing Materials

22 January 2015, Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 287, Market Focus, Marketing Materials

Announcement: My new novels should be available from any webseller or can be ordered from any brick and mortar bookstore.  Information can be found at www.ancientlight.com.  Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy them.

Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.

I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four plus one basic rules I employ when writing:

1. Don't confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.

All novels have five discrete parts:
1.  The initial scene (the beginning)
2.  The rising action
3.  The climax
4.  The falling action
5.  The dénouement

The theme statement of my 25th novel, working title, Escape, is this: a girl in a fascist island nation will do anything to escape--a young cargo ferry pilot not following the rules crashes on the island.

I'll make a slight digression because I'm developing advertising and publisher materials for my newest completed novel, Lilly.  Here is the cover proposal for Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer. 

Cover Propsal

Before you can market a novel to the public, you have to market it to publishers or potential publishes.  This means you need to develop materials to market your novel.  These marketing materials can be used when the book is published.  We've already looked at two main pieces used in marketing: the title and the book cover proposal.  These are necessary for a web design, and they are also necessary for a publisher.  You can live without a cover proposal for a while, but you need a title right away.

The next step is to build the marketing information you will use to present your novel to publishers and to the public. Here is an outline:

Title of Work:

Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer

Author(s) Name:

L. D. Alford

Type: Either Screenplay or Book

Book

Length: Either # of words for books, or # of pages for screenplays

105,300 words

Keywords and Market Focus:

Fiction, Washington State, Tacoma, Spanaway, Seattle, Computer, Pacific Lutheran University, Hacker, goddess, sushi, Redemption, kami, Japan, Shinto, torii, Shrine, engineering, math; will fascinate anyone interested in the spiritual, mystery, and suspense—will appeal particularly to those who enjoy historical mystery and suspense novels.

Genre:

Fiction Suspense

 

Author Bio: Approximately 120 words

Synopsis:  Approximately 500 Words

Concept of the Work:  Approximately 250 Words

Registration: WGA, ISBN, or Library of Congress, Write the number.

Other Information:  If you have more work, a website, anything interesting and professional, especially any awards or recognition.

 

Reviewer’s quotes.

Market focus is your idea of who might want to read your novel.  For example, if you wrote a Christian inspirational novel, you might write: will appeal to a Christian audience.  If you wrote a homoerotic novel, you might write: will appeal to readers with a sexually energized gay perspective.  The point isn't to hide your perspective or your audience.  Publishers usually focus on specific audiences of readers and specific types or genre of literature.  The point is to match the two 

In general, you don't apply to publishers who don't publish the type of literature you are writing.  Putting on paper the audience and the focus will help you to know your audience, and your perspective publisher to know your novel meets their most basic publishing audience.  In the example above, you wouldn't usually present your Christian inspirational novel to an erotic literature publisher, and you wouldn't present a homoerotic novel to a Christian inspirational publisher.  Because of their audience and their publishing focus, they will not be interested in publishing your novel.  Publishers, especially smaller publishers, are very specialized about the literature they publish, and their audiences are pretty fixed.  You need to understand your audience--that's the only way you can appropriately target the correct publishers for your writing.

The second point is the focus.  A focus isn't an audience, but is related to the audience.  A focus is closer to a genre.  Here is the example from Lilly:  will fascinate anyone interested in the spiritual, mystery, and suspense—will appeal particularly to those who enjoy historical mystery and suspense novels.  The audience is general, but the novel is specifically targeted to spiritual, mystery, and suspense.  Lilly isn't a criminal mystery, but a person who enjoys a mystery novel might enjoy it.  The second statement clarifies the novel genre as historical mystery and suspense.  This places it in an audience and a genre and is the basis for the genre listed below. 

As an author, you must understand your audience and determine who might potentially publish your novel.  If you want any real hope of being published, your potential publisher must first read your marketing materials and then your novel examples or the completed novel.  If they don't or won't, you will have no hope of being published.

At this point everything I'm doing with and for this work is about marketing to a publisher and building a website.

More tomorrow.

For more information, you can visit my author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com

Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 282, Marketing Materials

17 January 2015, Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 282, Marketing Materials

Announcement: My new novels should be available from any webseller or can be ordered from any brick and mortar bookstore.  Information can be found at www.ancientlight.com.  Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy them.

Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.

I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four plus one basic rules I employ when writing:

1. Don't confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.

All novels have five discrete parts:
1.  The initial scene (the beginning)
2.  The rising action
3.  The climax
4.  The falling action
5.  The dénouement

The theme statement of my 25th novel, working title, Escape, is this: a girl in a fascist island nation will do anything to escape--a young cargo ferry pilot not following the rules crashes on the island.

I'll make a slight digression because I'm developing advertising and publisher materials for my newest completed novel, Lilly.  Here is the cover proposal for Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer. 

Cover Propsal

Before you can market a novel to the public, you have to market it to publishers or potential publishes.  This means you need to develop materials to market your novel.  These marketing materials can be used when the book is published.  We've already looked at two main pieces used in marketing: the title and the book cover proposal.  These are necessary for a web design, and they are also necessary for a publisher.  You can live without a cover proposal for a while, but you need a title right away.

The next step is to build the marketing information you will use to present your novel to publishers and to the public. Here is an outline:

Title of Work:

Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer

Author(s) Name:

L. D. Alford

Type: Either Screenplay or Book

Book

Length: Either # of words for books, or # of pages for screenplays

105,300 words

Keywords and Market Focus:

Genre:

Author Bio: Approximately 120 words

Synopsis:  Approximately 500 Words

Concept of the Work:  Approximately 250 Words

Registration: WGA, ISBN, or Library of Congress, Write the number.

Other Information:  If you have more work, a website, anything interesting and professional, especially any awards or recognition.

 

Reviewer’s quotes.

I'll get to how to fill in the rest in the next few days.  For now, note that I put in the title, the author's name, the type, and the number of words.  The name is my pen-name.  It isn't much of a change from my regular name, but I thought a log time about what name should go on the front of my novels.  Perhaps I'll discuss that next.

At this point everything I'm doing with and for this work is about marketing to a publisher and building a website.

More tomorrow.

For more information, you can visit my author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com