Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 288, Genre, Marketing Materials

23 January 2015, Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 288, Genre, 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.

I've written before about genre--I'll do it again.  Especially with novels today, genre is more a marketing concept than a distinction of plot or theme.  Many novels today do not fall easily into one genre pile or another.  Many, if not most, are mixed in their appeal--it just becomes difficult to state: historical mystery suspense.  This starts to sound like the focus of the audience and not the work at all.  It would help--or perhaps not, to have a genre: historical mystery suspense.  The reason it might help is it would categorize many works that fall into all those piles--it would hurt because many readers who like historical works, but not necessarily suspense would not have a chance to be exposed to it. 

In general, the genre of a work can and should change based on the audience.  Here is a great example.  My Ancient Light novels are historical suspense with a spiritual twist.  They don't fit well in any normal genre, but they are easily historical suspense.  They are now published as dystopian fiction--which broadly, they could kind of be, but only if the history of the real world is dystopian.  In this way, my publisher is taking advantage of a new genre that has excited the marketplace.  Ancient Light can be said to have a somewhat dystopian feel.  They can broadly be called dystopian.  They kind of fill a unique niche in literature and are hard to place--why not be dystopian? 

In your marketing materials, you should try to take advantage of both the marketplace and the interests of the public (you audience).  Your publisher will certainly do that, but realize, a dystopian novel might have some play with a publisher today--more play than historical or suspense.  Likewise, a novel about supernatural creatures might excite  publisher into, at least reading your work.  I'm not sure if the supernatural creature market is dead.  I wrote a book about a vampire--I just was inspired and not by the current crop of vampire novels.

So pick a genre that might excite a publisher and your audience--that's the way to market your novel.  

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

Opps I am writing a new book - Daemon

This happens about every six months.  I get an idea for a book that is worth pursuing.  That's what just happened.  Since I am working double full time, this book will take a while to write.  Therefore, I thought I could take a break from writing about the subjects I have been pursuing and actually give a little blow by blow about writing this new book.  So, we are going to take a little hiatus from writing about writing science fiction to actually talk about starting a new book.

What's it all about.  If you have read any of my writing, you know I am not a single genre author.  My writing tends to be mixed genre.  The plots of my early historical fiction novels tend to be about the ancient world, but I use different mechanisms to bring you to those ancient worlds.  My latest novels have been historical moving into the modern era.  I have written three novels that are modern era but that point back into the past--they are, as yet, unpublished.  They are Antebellum, http://www.antebellumnovel.com/, The Enchantment of the Hearth, http://www.enchantmentofthehearth.com/, and Dana-ana, http://www.goddessnovel.com/.  They are all mixed genre books, and like I have mentioned they are different.  All my books are different.  The reason is, you can't expect people to be enthused with a rewriting of x.  Pick any book or any plot to fill in x.  Remember, your themes can be similar, but the plots and storylines need to be unique.  So my books are unique.

Now I have another unique book to write.  As I mentioned, it is kind of set in the modern era, 1917 to be exact.  The premise is based on a specific scene.  I pictured in my mind a young woman, Aksinya--the age isn't set yet, but I'm thinking 17 to 19.  She is not beautiful or developed or refined, but she is a child of aristocracy.  Her father is a Russian Count and her mother is a Romanov Princess.  She is an odd child who was always alone but who loved her family.  She had access to an old guest house on her father's property where she found some odd and ancient Latin books.  She taught herself Latin and discovered the books were all concerning the use of magic.  (This is all back story).  The book begins when Aksinya is conjuring a demon to protect her family from the Bolsheviks.  She succeeds in calling up the demon Asmodeus and contracting him, but she is too late to save her family.

That is the beginning.  Now I am working 40 hours a week on Engineering, 40 hours a week on all my other business (property, books, author, 2 classes, and management), and the rest on writing this book.  We shall see how much I can give to these pages, but I will update you on the book.