Lovely Edenton and Roanoke Island Festival Park

I won't bore you with the details of our recent trip to Edenton, Roanoke Island Festival Park, and Manteo, but I will tell you it was a successful adventure. I took several good photos of the Lost Colonists' ship replica, Elizabeth II,and other boats; we visited with dear friends, and we splashed in ocean after a fine lunch dockside in Manteo.

A worthy trip, given I wanted to take back-up shots for my novel's cover (and to have others on file -- just in case). For those of you who haven't been yet, Festival Park is a great place for children of all ages. There are exhibits, hands-on activities in the museum, and of course the Elizabeth II on which to play first mate (or cast-away, or whatever your heart desires). I heartily recommend it!

Book Cover News

An excellent image taken by South African photographer Lourens Naude will grace the cover of The Pirate's Bastard and I couldn't be more excited. In the next few days, we'll finalize the details, and start posting links.

Speaking of details, I've received two of the three book reviews requested that will appear on the back cover and website. I'm thilled at how it's all coming together.

I'm still working on the marketing plan, and hope to have that nailed down by the end of next week so I can move on to another important task. This marketing stuff could easily become a full-time effort. More about that next time.

Plan the Work, Work the Plan

Unless the last name is Grimes, Grisham, or Clancy, authors must market their works. Since my last name isn't any of those listed here, I'm building a plan. It's a good one, but boy, it's going to take a lot of time and work to move books. Writing the book, by comparison, seemed easy! Since this is "my" area (I've been writing and executing marketing plans for businesses of all stripes for over 20 years), I thought I could dash off something quick and make it stick. Nothing doing, though.

In an attempt to capture as much information on how to market a novel, I've visited and revisited dozens of websites and several books I own that each have wonderful nuggets on marketing books. The website/blog  MarketingFloozy.com is an excellent blog and repository for all things marketing. The author, Pat, is also a Second Wind author, so I know I'm in capable hands when I visit her site.

The book which has held my attention this week is Peter Bowerman's Well-Fed Self-Publisher. While I'm not going the SP route for The Pirate's Bastard, a good bit of what to do in Peter's book still applies. Since my book is truly a "niche" book (historical maritime fiction), I'll be pushing it in less-conventional places, like to historical sites, museums, and associations serving members intersted in the topic. But Peter suggested something that made me go "hmmmm": pushing me to seek speaking gigs at conventions, writers' conferences, and the like. The author status carries some weight in some people's minds, and Peter says it's not necessarily the topic that matters to them. Stay accessible, and the possibilities crop up like weeds.

Really? Now I have to consider how I feel about speaking. Oh, sure, I love to talk (anyone who starts a blog must, I reason). But in front of a room full of people?? I'll have to think about that.

Bits and Pieces

I'm working down the long list of items necessary to make a book complete this week and discovered something interesting. Although I can write, write, write about most any subject, coming up with just the right words (and the proper amount of words) to describe me for the "About the Author" section on the back cover is challenging.

How would you explain who you are and what you're like in two sentences? It's an interesting experiment! 

Reviewing the Manuscript ... Again

Today, my task is to read aloud my story. I'm listening for flow, pacing, structure. Yes, I've done this several times in the last few years as I've rewritten, edited, and tried hard to figure out what I needed to improve to have it accepted by an agent or a publisher.

Today though, I'm reading it for me. This is not the absolutely last time I'll have a chance to see my story before it becomes a book, but the manuscript does have to be in near-perfect condition before I send it off to the publisher for layout purposes. I also want it to be as close to perfection before sending it to published authors Jane Tesh and to Claire Wharton, both of whom have agreed to write reviews for the back cover. A third review from James Bartley has already been secured. As former site manager, he was gracious enough to help me when I researched my story's location, NC Historic Site Brunswick Town. He's now moved up the food chain to another position in the NC Cultural Resources division, and agreed to have his comments captured on the back cover. Simply put, he said it was "an awesome story" -- I couldn't have asked for better for my first novel.

Priorities

Overwhelmed. That's how I felt when I read the "to do" list from Second Wind Publishers -- a good, well-organized list of things I needed to provide them with to make the book, well, a book. Now generally, I'm a list maker of the first magnitude. I make lists for a day's tasks, the typical grocery list, a list of places I want to visit when I can, a list of story ideas I want to explore, a list of goals for life...the list goes on.

To work my way down the list from the publisher showing how many pieces and parts I need to gather and submit, I focused not at the top (a typo-free, error-free, pitch-perfect manuscript) but with an item that falls in the middle of the list: the image for the front cover of the book. Focus may not be the best word. Obsessed might be a better choice.

If a book is judged by its cover, then what could my image say about my work? I wanted something appropriate to the setting, the feel, the style of my tale. I found a magnificently moody black and white photograph by a professional photographer that fits so well with my story. I wrote the photographer to inquire of its price for this purpose.

Suffice it to say, I also have a back-up plan. Last week, I dug through old photographs (I consider myself handy with a camera) and found the one that could work. I wonder if this is actually more appropriate given its location and the setting for my novel (coastal North Carolina). It seems to me that a potential reader would feel warmed to "recognize" the imagery on the cover. My target audience (coast lovers, readers of North Carolina writers, and history buffs) may be narrow, but its deep. Very deep. They may not feel the same seeing the professional's mystical shot I'm considering.

Should beauty win out over propriety?

Start at the beginning

Yesterday, an aspiring writer (aren't we all?) asked me about my query letter that got the attention of the kind folks at Second Wind Publishing. It wasn't really the beginning of my attempts to get my manuscript out into the light of day, which included more than a few dozen "no thank you" form letters from agents and publishing houses. Trial and error in approaching them and a bit of researching over many years led me to query Second Wind -- a small publisher who seeks to publish works not discovered by other publishers (hence, giving a work a second chance or a second wind).

I chose the "dive into the story first, then tell about my writing credentials later" approach. I suspect there are publishers, editors, and agents out there who are as crazy busy as the rest of us, so I tried to grab what little attention I might get with a strong one-sentence hook. (And I followed directions regarding submission requirements.)

Writing credentials are helpful if they relate to the story you're pushing, but a passion for the story is even more important, I believe. My "little" story is one that I believed in sharing. Sure, I've written over 500 feature articles in magazines and the like, but perhaps the notion that I enjoy history, coastal settings, and anything related to boats may have come into play. Are you passionate about your story? You better be -- you'll be selling it once it is published!

(My little story, by the way, is a historical maritime fiction. I'll tell you more about it as it gets through the publishing process and we get to know each other, okay?)