Thinking About What Is Going to Sell Before You Write the Book

When New York Times Bestselling Author Charles  J. Shields spoke to the Virginia Writers Club symposium recently, I was especially interested in his comments about thinking about what will sell before proceeding in writing a book. Too often, we as writers are drawn to work on the "book of our hearts". Then, we are disappointed when the finished product does not sell well.

Shields is a well-known biographer who chose author Harper Lee as the subject of his "highly acclaimed, bestselling biography" Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. He also wrote And So It Goes:Kurt Vonnegut: A Life. During his talk Shields explained how he did research for both biographies and pointed out that research is much easier now with the availability of the Internet. There are online journal sources and librarians who help out by looking in folders and making copies for authors who pay for that convenience.

A retired educator, Shields noted that writers should not overlook the school publishing market for their work. He won several awards for his young adult version of the Lee book - I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee.

These are some of the thoughts and tips Shields gave:

*Don't look for approval from other people.

*If you are a serious writer, you have to treat it as a job.

*Read your work aloud; it should just flow.

*Good writing should read like good conversation (from Virginia Woolf).

*Interviewing is a reciprocal process.

*Follow you bliss; take a chance.

The last thought seems in opposition of the idea of considering what will sell before writing a book, but perhaps it is not. After all, we as writers can first study what will sell, then follow our bliss with the right idea for today's writing market.

So much to learn in this amazing and ever more exciting world of writing...

Mary Montague Sikes

Marketing on the Internet

Getting ready for my talk at VWC Symposium August 4, 2012

When I was preparing my talk on e-book internet marketing for the Virginia Writers Club Symposium, I gathered a few tips to mention at the end. Regrettably, I ran out of time and didn't get to tell this group of writers my extra thoughts. 

Here are the tips and thoughts I didn't get to share:

1.  Hardsell doesn’t work well on the Internet. You want interaction, not marketing.   

2.  Be a genuine person on line. Make friends and enjoy knowing them and helping them when you can.

3.  Your web site should be the foundation of your promotional and marketing plans. That’s where you post:

   1.  Excerpts from your writing.

   2.  Book links with cover photos and description of your books separated by genres.

   3.  Buy links from your publisher, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and any other link that’s appropriate.

   4.  Your bio.

   5.  Contact information—how you can be reached on line.

4.  Your blog is the site you should visit and update daily, if possible. Your web site is updated periodically and is more static.

More Tips:

*Make banners for your books and find suitable places to post them.

*For book signings, write short blurbs in large fonts about your books and have covers on view if the books aren't available. That will enable readers to know more about your books and hopefully interest them in purchasing one.

*Always sign your bookmarks and your postcards (which I prefer over bookmarks). Most people won’t throw away signed stuff.

*It's important now for the author to have a goal of increasing the number who read their blogs. They may become your followers who want to buy your books.

*Write short stories or articles set in your book’s universe and give those away.

*Join blog hops. That's a good way to gain more followers.

*Get reviews for your book. Reviews can enhance the success of your book. 

*Plan blog book tours and guest blog when possible. Also invite authors to be guests on your blog. Try to leave comments whenever you can on the blogs of others. 

*Make and use book trailers. If you can’t do it yourself, hire someone to do it for you. Once you have one, post the link on your webpage and tell everyone via all the online possibilities, including your newsletter and all your social networks. 

So much of marketing is commonsense for both print and e-books. We need to organize our efforts and follow our plan. The possibilities for success are endless. 

Mary Montague Sikes

Playing Tennis, Writing Books, Creating Paintings

At the Tennis Center

For years, I spent my summers on local tennis courts. Day after day in the brutal mid-day sun, I battled opponents in mostly singles matches. That was my passion.

Yesterday, my daughter, Alicia, and I played in the 19th Annual Charity Tennis event at the College of William and Mary Tennis Center in Williamsburg, VA. Although we didn't win, we fought hard and ended with a two-hour-long match that rekindled my passion for competitive play.

Money raised from the tournament goes to the very important charities, Avalon and Casa. As a freelance writer for the Newport News Daily Press, I have written many stories about these worthy groups in past years. I congratulate the people who worked so hard to make this year's event a great success.

The tournament brought back many memories of past tennis events--local tournaments, Mother-Daughter USTA matches in Florida, etc. However, it also made me think about writing books and creating paintings as other passions. Which of these is most important? I don't know.

Is life a balancing act split between many passions? I know that my years on the tennis courts and aerobics floors have been good for my health. Writers spend far too many hours in front of a computer screen. Thankfully, painting can be more physical because I don't like to paint sitting down.

What are your passions? How do you balance them in your life?

Mary Montague Sikes

Turning Your Book Into a Movie

"From Page to Screen: Turning Your Book Into a Movie." That was the title of one of the workshops I attended during the "Navigating Your Writing Life Symposium" presented by the Virginia Writers Club. I was intrigued. What author doesn't want to see his or her book up on the silver screen?

The workshop was given by John Gilstrap, a New York Times bestselling author who sold movie rights to his first two novels, Nathan's Run and At All Costs. He talked about important points for selling rights to a movie studio. Even after you've sold the rights, there's still no guarantee a movie will be made, he explained. Here are some points he gave in the process from book to movie:

1. Write a cinematic book with compelling imagery and lots of things happening.

2. Attract a movie producer. It helps to have Hollywood contacts.

3. Sell or option the film rights. Nothing happens until the money exchanges hands. Hollywood is all about the money, he pointed out. He said that nine times out of ten, the author is out of it at this point.

4. Develop the project. This involves a treatment which presents the structure of the movie in a compelling way. The screenplay comes next, and someone--it could be the book author--is hired to write it. Then the acting talent is brought in.

5. Involve a studio.

Gilstrap explained the difference between selling an option and an actual purchase of all rights. The purchase means more money for the author. However, if that producer never makes the movie, a movie will never be made of the book. That's because the purchase deal usually involves buying all film rights to all the characters in the book.

One point Gilstrap emphasized was, "Never cut a deal in Hollywood without an agent."

Getting a movie deal for your book is an exciting dream. For my first novel, Hearts Across Forever, I visualized a romantic movie scene of women clad in glorious pastel-colored ball gowns dancing on a misty portico in old Jamaica during colonial times. So much action. Such fantastic tropical scenery. From page to scene, I can still visualize it as a movie...

Mary Montague Sikes

Your Voice As An Author

"Angels I See Everywhere" encaustic MMSikes

When I first began writing book-length fiction, I kept hearing over and over again, "You need to develop your own voice." What that meant I did not know at the time.

Reading an article published in Professional Artist magazine, the October 2011 issue, I was captivated by the words of Matthew Daub who discusses the artist's struggle for originality in his or her work. In this article, he says that many of the watercolors he sees today resemble, both in technique and in subject matter, examples he has seen in popular "how-to" books.

I was especially drawn to this statement by Daub, "Although no one can lay claim to complete originality, once an artist has become recognized and known for a certain thing, he or she owns it--it's off limits to those who follow after."

Daub also points out that the artists who stand out are the ones who create something never seen before. His words started me thinking about several books I've tried to read lately. Perhaps the reason I found them difficult to hold my attention was because of the same thing Daub found in the art he was discussing. There was nothing new or different in the storyline nor in the way the writer told the story.

The books I enjoy most are ones unique in subject matter and the way it is presented. I appreciate the writer's voice that is different and stands out from the crowd. The writers I love to read have developed their own voices, and, for me, their books are page turners.

As authors, I believe we should all aspire to rise to a higher level by telling distinctive stories, developed from vivid imaginations, and all the while using our own unique voices. That is writing creativity in the truest sense.

Have you developed your own voice as an author? Or do you attempt to imitate the voice of another author?

Mary Montague Sikes