Plot will carry you through a book as a reader, but the characters are usually what sticks with you after the book is finished. But how do you ensure your characters are memorable enough?

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Podcast Interview:

In today’s interview, I talk to Roz Morris, author of Nail Your Novel: Bring characters to life . Roz is the author of over a dozen novels as a ghostwriter and has also written ‘Memories of a Future Life’ under her own name. She has a series of books for writers, the first one is ‘Nail Your Novel’ and now ‘Bring characters to life’ which we’re talking about today.

You can also listen to the audio above or on iTunes here. You can also find the backlist of podcast shows here. There’s a video version of the interview on YouTube here. 

Why are characters so important anyway?

A plot is only as interesting as who the plot is happening TO. It will only come alive when you’re in someone elses shoes. Character binds us to a story – from the biggest, post-apocalyptic world to a personal, intimate drama. You can’t just have people do stuff without building a connection with the character and fathoming their humanity. In non-fiction, and even in business books, people use stories of real people/characters rather than just elucidating facts. You can’t go wrong in focusing on people and life.

What are the top 3 things people get wrong about protagonists?

• Novice writers often create a saintly paragon for a protagonist. But we connect with humanity in all its variation so you can have more complex characters with some unlikeable characteristics. By putting your character in an extreme situation, you can find ways to bring out the weak spots in your nicest characters.

• Plug the reader into the character’s internal life, as well as showing their behavior and dialogue. Have some scenes that allow this to develop.

• Don’t leave your mysterious characters empty, if you want them to be intriguing. You have to show something. Make the reader wonder if there is more there by creating conundrums.

Creating characters from within yourself and research

• Over time, as a writer, you understand yourself more and you can write more into your characters. Knowing yourself is critical but from that place, you can imagine many situations where you are many different people. We all present different faces to the world.

• Perhaps there is a hierarchy of character over our writing life. We develop into more different characters over time and move away from autobiographical characters.

• We talk about research for characters e.g. reading blogs of mothers whose children have died. Roz also mentions reading a lot of memoirs. Anything to give you an insight into how people live and survive after particular situations.

On antagonists, evil characters and villains

• A memorable antagonist needs to be as well developed as your protagonist. They have to be a good match and have the staying power to make it all the way through the book. An antagonist opposes the hero’s desire, it doesn’t mean they are a villain. But all villains are antagonists. We talk about some categories of villains that interest people because it’s not what they see in real life.

• Give your antagonist the same backup as your protagonist e.g. friends, colleagues, family. They are not in isolation. They are also highly motivated. Make it personal to the villain and humanize them so the reader can understand why they are this way. We discuss how fun it is to write a villain, perhaps because it is more based on your imagination.

On dialogue

• You do not write dialogue in normal life, so it is a specific skill you have to learn when you write fiction. We do have to make characters sound different but that doesn’t mean an accent. It is worldview, education, language, use of synonyms as well as humor and their physical/non-verbal actions around the discussion.

• Remember to keep the physical descriptions at the same time – have visual details, other characters doing things or have other noises that ground the scene in reality, rather than a dialogue in a vacuum.

• The character’s relationships with each other will also change according to roles and status e.g. Prime Minister talking to a King vs Prime Minister talking to a servant, or the King to his daughter. Change in status can be very interesting.

• Always read your dialogue out loud! You will find out so much from doing that.

 Do you have any comments or questions on writing character for Roz? Please leave them below.

You can buy Nail Your Novel: Bring characters to life on Amazon here.

It’s packed full of loads of detail on how you can create memorable characters and increase your reader’s attachment to the character.

You can also find Roz at her fantastic blog NailYourNovel.com

If you’re just starting out in fiction, Roz and I also have a multi-media course How To Write A Novel which includes videos, audio and text information from her expertise after 13 novels and my tips as a newbie author. It’s $99 and you can read more about it here or buy now.

 I am definitely a travel and experience junkie and I still have ‘itchy-foot’ syndrome which means I have to get away to somewhere different regularly. I definitely have a travel memoir in me, perhaps one day it will see the light of day!

But in the meantime, I have a special interview for you with Alastair Humphreys, named as a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and someone who motivates me personally.

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Alastair is an adventurer, author of 5 books and a motivational speaker. His last book was “There Are Other Rivers“, about walking across southern India and the deeper side of travel addiction.

Podcast Show Notes:

You can watch the video interview on YouTube here, or listen/download the audio above.

• Alastair’s potted travel history includes cycling around the world for 4 years, walking across southern India, rowing the Atlantic, and walking across the Empty Quarter desert, amongst many other #microadventures. He makes his living as an adventurer, author and motivational speaker.

• Taking action on dreams and getting past inertia. This is what differentiates people who actually end up achieving stuff, rather than talent of any particular type. Al talks about forcing himself to begin, noting that the first step is the hardest to take. Reading books about travel rather than traveling, or reading books about writing instead of writing.

• Al’s writing technique is to procrastinate a lot and then finally sit down to write. He doesn’t start with the beginning, he starts with whatever comes to mind. Getting the first draft done is the hardest part. In writing travel, you are recounting what has happened so you can follow that flow and re-organize it later in the editing phase.

• On editing, especially when there is much repetition in travel experiences. On taking the writing emotionally further by going beyond just what happened and into the deeper side of the adventure. On radical word cutting and making sure the story is interesting to other people. Alastair does actually still do the traditional – physical – cut and paste of his manuscript. [I recommend Scrivener!]

• On writing the truth in memoir – about real people, about what really happened, about raw emotion. Using the truth to tell a better story. Changing names is always a good idea, but the reality of travel is that there are conflicts and issues, especially when the journey is physically and mentally difficult. That’s an important part, but you can still be friends afterwards.

• “All the right notes, not necessarily in the right order”. There Are Other Rivers is out of synch chronologically and is more about the experience, making it a ‘more truthful truth’.

• On growth as a writer. Now Alastair has written 5 books, he has moved beyond the basic diary style approach to going deeper into the emotional experience. He took risks with the writing his last book as well as choosing to self-publish. It was a personal expression and he did it his way.

• On persistence and discipline. The expeditions are much easier than writing books, which, for Alastair is an excruciating process. He only writes a lot once he has got really annoyed with himself! Once it starts to take shape, it is more interesting. There Are Other Rivers took several years, after giving it up entirely and then rewriting it in a new way. There’s no other solution – you have to sit at your desk and write. He wrote a lot of it in the middle of the night, sleep-deprived and high on caffeine and then was ruthless around editing.

• Advice on writing memoir, and specifically a travel memoir. Make sure you have something worth writing about. People who want to do travel writing often need to actually do some travel first. Make sure it’s a journey you want to do, don’t just focus on the end goal. The journey has to come first. I mention Wild by Cheryl Strayed as a good example of a travel memoir that goes deeper into the emotional level. Give a lot of yourself on the page, rather than just recount things that happened. The more honest you can be, the better.

• On writing for therapy vs writing for publication. We talk about diaries and then about blogging. Alastair writes a lot of personal thoughts on his blog.
• On how blogging is critical for Alastair’s business as a professional speaker. It’s a platform that he uses to help people find out who he is, and a way to connect with people and share his experiences. [I also get all my speaking work from my blog.]

• On making short films and developing story visually. Alastair takes a lot of (amazing) photos but started using films when it became standard functionality on cameras. He uses films to show the journey and give a personal connection. It is a way to stand out online as making videos is still not mainstream, although millions are now text-blogging. It’s all about getting started and learning as you go. It’s also about the principle of know, like and trust – which leads to book sales over time as people get to know you. Editing video is the key to making it excellent – the latest video of the Empty Quarter is being cut from 26 hours of footage to 30 mins. Ouch.

Adventure = risk + purpose

• On risk – both personal risk as Alastair tackles on his adventures, but we also discuss the risk of embarrassment and fear of failure and judgement. The online trolls, the bad book reviews, the negative blog comments – these things are a risk and they hurt, but we can’t let them stop us from writing and getting out there.

• If there’s something you want to do and it scares you, then it’s probably something you should be doing. You just have to get over the fear, and go do it. Breaking the inertia is difficult but well worth it.

• #microadventures is Alastair’s latest project, which is about encouraging people to get out and do a small adventure – maybe just a night on a hill, instead of a huge adventure that takes a lot more commitment. He’s currently writing this as a book and you can also check out twitter #microadventures to see what people are up to.  Try writing a short story while you’re out there!

You can find Alastair at AlastairHumphreys.com and on twitter @Al_Humphreys and using #microadventure.

If you have any questions about writing travel or memoir, or just adventure in general, please do leave a comment below.

If you’re looking for adventure, you can also check out his brilliant videos on Vimeo here.

You can find There Are Other Rivers on Amazon in print and ebook format and more information about Alastair’s other books here.

Here’s my review of the book – 5 stars on Goodreads:

I’m one of those people who devour adventure books because vicariously I can be out there experiencing it too. In this book Alastair takes us on an internal journey as much as describing parts of his walk across India. It resonated with me deeply in parts, the need to be someone extraordinary, the desire to shed all physical possessions and just exist simply. I identify with the need to keep moving – I move every few years but I’m not as brave as Alastair. I also fell in love with India when I travelled there. It’s one of those places I felt at home in so it was great to revisit some of those impressions through the eyes of such a seasoned traveller.

I find myself strangely jealous of the freedom to sleep under the stars, to walk towards the setting sun, to take each day anew. If you sometimes feel this way, you’ll love this book. Highly recommended.

So I’ve been involved in a secret project for the last month or so and today I can finally announce it!

So What’s Happening? The Descent: Kobo’s Inferno Contest

Dante’s Inferno hopefully needs no introduction, but on May 15 Dan Brown’s new novel, also called Inferno is launched, based on Dante’s work.

For the lead up to the launch of the book, Kobo is running an exciting new kind of interactive online contest that you can enter for free in order to win fantastic prizes, including $5000 and Kobo Glo devices signed by Dan Brown himself.

The first step of the contest is a series of short stories, written by – yes, you guessed it, me – under my fiction name J.F.Penn EXCITING!

You can get the first story right now: Kobo.com/TheDescent

and here’s the official Kobo press release about the contest

(The contest is only open to residents of US, Canada and the UK, but everyone else can still get the stories)

Solve the clues in each of the stories and they will lead you to the next step of the puzzle.

It’s an extremely cool idea and I’ve had a total blast writing the stories, exploring aspects I haven’t yet done in my full-length novels. They’re steeped in the symbolism of the world of Dante’s Inferno as well as religious and supernatural themes that Dan Brown fans will love.

I haven’t been involved in the development of the rest of the contest, so I can’t give anything away, but from what I have heard, it is amazingly detailed and layered in symbolism, myth and literature. It’s worth reading Dante’s Inferno (a modern translation) in order to get the most from the competition. For example, you might not know that the center of Hell is actually ice, rather than fire, and the story will inform the clues.

You can check out the Pinterest board here to see images of the various aspects of the story.

Here’s an intro to the stories – as you can see, the covers feature the wild creatures Dante encounters in the wood at the start of his Descent.

Story 1: Sins of Temptation

When the tortured and mutilated corpse of a wealthy author is discovered, the police officer sent to investigate finds a curious diary amongst the occult objects at the scene. Will he uncover the author’s secret at the ruined chapel, and does he really want to pay the price that it demands?

Get the story right now at Kobo.com/TheDescent

Story 2: Sins of Violence

In a post-apocalyptic world, a young girl is about to be taken to the man known as The Minotaur for a Blessing that will end her innocence. Can her sister gain access to the fortified city of Dis in time to stop the ritual and wreak vengeance for her own lost youth?

Available on 2 May 2013 …

Story 3: Sins of Treachery

On the death of their Grandfather, twin brothers Simon and Gestas are left a map covered in alchemical symbols that could lead them to great wealth and power. But they find more than they expected in the frozen wastes of the Arctic north …

Available on 9 May 2013 …

You don’t have to have a Kobo device to read the stories, you just have to join the site to get the download and then read on your computer, your mobile device or other apps listed here.

Once you sign up, you will also be in the contest to win loads of great prizes, so now’s the time to check out Kobo!

The stories will be on sale after the game is finished but they are exclusive to Kobo for 6 months, so best get them for free right now.

You Can Also Listen To Story 1: Sins Of Temptation

I’ve recorded the first short story in this very podcast episode with an accompanying explanation about the launch. The bridging music before the story is Creative Commons Royalty Free Discovery Hit at Incompetech

If you’d like the unadulterated short story with no intro, you can also find it here as an mp3 file: www.JFPenn.com/sins

As an author, you should definitely be on Kobo Writing Life.

After Amazon, Kobo is the greatest proportion of my income, and many other authors and they have now overtaken B&N Nook as the #2 e-reading platform. Learn more about Kobo Writing Life in this interview with Mark Lefebvre from Kobo about how they help authors.

Find more info at KoboWritingLife.com

Please do leave any comments or questions below. Enjoy the stories and good luck with the competition!

Authors are becoming entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs are becoming authors and both need to sort out their branding, content management and social media. We cover all that and more in today’s interview.

In the intro I mention Amazon buying Goodreads, B&N launching NookPress and how it’s still not for non-US publishers and some updates on my writing and speaking projects as well as my BookBub promo stats.

Trevor Young is an author, speaker, consultant and start-up entrepreneur. His new book is MicroDomination: How to leverage social media and content marketing to build a mini business empire around your personal brand.

• We mention the awesome sub-title containing multiple keywords which can help with book sales, especially for non-fiction.

• Trevor started as a journalist and later moved into PR and publicity. He ran his own agency and worked with large global clients as well as individuals. Trevor started blogging in 2007 and immersed himself into the new world and this has morphed into a business where he is an author, professional speaker and consultant. We talk about both of our lives have changed since Trevor was first on the show a few years ago.

What is a micro-maven?

• Malcolm Gladwell popularized the word ‘maven’ and it’s really someone who becomes a trusted expert in a field. Trevor uses the term to encompass creative entrepreneurs leveraging the internet to build a platform. Once they build a reputation, they build a sustainable business with multiple streams of income so they can follow the lifestyle they choose. Develop platform, build your brand, build your business, live your dream.

On personal branding.

• You have a brand whether you like it or not. It’s how people perceive you. It’s what people say about you when you’re not in the room. It’s their experience of you. You have a chance to control that by actively choosing the way you portray yourself online. Be consistent e.g. use the same professional photo, color scheme. Be authentic as you need to live your brand. If you want to be considered helpful, then you can’t rant like a crazy person on Twitter. People will judge you by what you portray, so make sure you do it well.

Content marketing vs social media marketing

• Content marketing is about earning attention with quality, original information – it could be an article, podcast or video. It’s to demonstrate your expertise, help customers and be a thought leader. It’s designed to help/inspire/entertain your specific target market and get their attention so they can find you. This is one of the main ways that people are demonstrating expertise online now.

• Social media encompasses the tools for sharing your content, but also sharing other people’s content, communicating, commenting, getting to know people, participating on the social web.

• The two aspects work in tandem -  ‘content is the fire, social media is gasoline‘ [Jay Baer]

• It’s important to own your own content and ensure you don’t build on someone else’s platform, otherwise they could change the rules. Use the tools to share discussions about your original work.

• It all takes time and effort to create great content. Over time, this is what separates the pros from the amateurs.  I mention how many of the feeds I follow have gone dead in the last few years as people have dropped away. The initial phase is the hardest and it takes a while to get going. Trevor mentions Chris Brogan in particular who started slow but now has a huge global profile and multiple businesses under his brand. Many of these mavens have book deals based on their platforms.

• The backlash against blogging for authors vs. we talk about the personal relationships and social karma that come from connections, and the business we get from our platforms. I would not be anywhere without the my blogging and social platform. If you want to have a business online, you need it. We also mention podcasting your fiction – see the interview with Scott Sigler for more on this. The blog is just a conduit for people to get to you and your brand. That’s what they are buying.

• We talk about the culture of generosity and reciprocity that we find among the bloggers we know that makes this a very rewarding business to be in. Everything comes back to connection. Although the return on investment is hard to track directly, both Trevor and I have gained business, speaking opportunities and more from our platform online. We both met a lot of key people on twitter as well. But yes, it’s fun but it’s also hard work.

How  Trevor is marketing his book

• The book launch was actually a panel event with fabulous speakers, well known in the field, so people came for an event and also found out about the book. Great tip – always think about what your customers want! Book launches are often just focused on the author and aren’t so much for readers but this is a great example of a useful event masquerading as a book launch.

• Trevor also talks about what he’s doing on social media as well as blogging, giving the book to influential people and contacts he has made over time, plus he’s about to start a media campaign. He does has a publicist for a few weeks from Wiley.

You can find the book and info at www.MicroDominationBook.com

You can find Trevor at TrevorYoung.me and on twitter @trevoryoung

Please do leave any thoughts or questions about branding, content marketing or social media in the comments below.

I’ve recently been through the process of getting all three of my thrillers turned into fantastic quality, professionally designed print books, and I’m really pleased with the results.

In today’s interview, my interior designer, Jane Dixon Smith talks about some of the important elements of design.

In the intro, I talk about linking your Goodreads reviews to Kobo, how the UK publishing industry is embracing self-publishing and give you an update on my rewrites plus book-bindingand more.

** UPDATE: Since I recorded this only a few days ago, Amazon has bought Goodreads. They have promised to keep the feed to Kobo but basically what I’m suggesting may not work going forward regarding reviews. **

Today’s Podcast Sponsor: Clutch: I am just Junko by J.A. Huss

I am just Junco. Behind me is a past better left dead, and in front of me is a future I’d rather not meet–because my life is nothing but lies.

Buy now on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Find out more on sponsoring the podcast here.

Interview with Jane Dixon Smith:

JD Smith is a graphic designer for book covers and interiors as well as other branding materials. She’s also the author of historical fiction and the editor of Words With Jam.

• How Jane’s writing career has progressed from writing for pleasure to starting Words with Jam, a writing magazine. She has worked in graphic design for 13 years and last year went freelance, working with predominantly authors she has met through the magazine. She’s just finished her first historical novel, Tristan and Isolde which will be coming out mid 2013.

Design elements and typography

• What are the graphic elements that authors get wrong that mark them out as amateur? Imagery and typography are the main elements and most people don’t get typography right, even if they pick a good image. If you can’t use Photoshop professionally, don’t use it! Color matching needs to be done in the right way. Don’t use the fanciest font your can find as it needs to be legible.

• Author branding needs to be good on websites as well as cover design. Use a good pro template on your author website. By portraying a professional image, you will look ‘more important’ that not. Cluttering and the black background are two major issues with many author websites. Make it clean and easy to read. Space out your text and make it easy to read.

• 

  This was the font I saw on a thriller that I really like!

  On typography. There are font designers and new fonts being released all the time. I mention a recent Kickstarter for a font based on Sigmund Freud’s handwriting (cool!) For the interior of your book, it needs to be plain and easy on the eye. Jane uses similar variations to Times, Garamond, Caslon – plain and easy to read. The interior font shouldn’t even be noticeable. Jane recommends checking out Fontsquirrel and MyFonts.com.

• Why covers are so important in attracting readers and setting their expectations around quality. All your author branding needs to convey quality and professionalism.

• Why professional interior formatting can make a huge difference in the look of your print book. In the video, I show some of the pages of Pentecost and the aspects I love like the extra images, typography and the way the page numbers and headers are formatted. We talk about font size and typography that will make a difference to the length of your work and cost of printing as well as readability.

• Jane talks about making a print book a more highly valued product e.g. adding in special elements or adding a short story as well as investing in the quality of the book so people want to buy print as well as ebook versions.

• Interior formatting is not something I have the patience to do on my own and it’s very hard with MS Word, so usually you need a professional program to get it right. (If you want to DIY, try Joel Friedlander, The Book Designer, who now has a whole load of print and ebook design templates that you can buy for a very reasonable price.)

• You can find ‘royalty free’ stock images online – Jane recommends iStockphoto.com and Shutterstock.com, Thinkstock and also 123RoyaltyFree. It depends on the budget and what she’s looking for. If you want images that will resize without losing quality, try VectorStock. Remember that you need to use high-resolution images, 300dpi for printing. This also relates to your own photos if you want to use those.

• We talk about the iterative process of design and also the file upload process on Createspace and other sites. Sometimes there are warnings and errors when files are loaded, that’s quite normal in the process.

On the author collective

• Jane is part of the Triskele Books author collective, a group of authors with books around ‘time and place’ who work together with beta-reading and marketing. They all keep their own rights and are all self-published, but they reap the benefits of a collective approach.

You can find Jane at JDSmith-Design.com as well as at WordsWithJam.co.uk and TriskeleBooks.co.uk

Do you have any questions around design or typography? Please do leave them below.

I believe all authors need to become entrepreneurs and treat their writing as a business, but today’s guest started as an entrepreneur and then got a book deal from her blog.

Marianne Cantwell is an author, speaker and entrepreneur, making a living with a free range, location-independent life. Her new book is Be A Free Range Human – Escape the 9-5, Create a life you love and still pay the bills (or on Amazon.co.uk here).

You can watch the video interview here, or listen to the audio in the player above, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or listen to the backlist here (150+ episodes).

• How Marianne got started. Marianne has always been a voracious reader and created stories in her life from a young age. She did a Creative Writing degree but then went into a ‘proper’ job with media, marketing and management consultancy. She put aside her writing for a number of years until, as part of her own career change adventure, she started a blog, Free Range Humans which kick-started her writing again. We both agree that if you don’t know what to do with your life then starting a blog is a great way to work it out!

• Marianne’s latest blog post states that her business is based on writing and that writing is not a waste of your time. She explains how writing has been indirectly responsible for her income, and that until the recent book, she hasn’t been directly paid for writing. She has an email newsletter weekly as well as writing articles to attract her target market on the blog. All her clients have come from people who have liked her writing enough to find out more.

• What is a Free Range Human anyway? A few years ago, Marianne was working in the city of London and commuting on the Tube, packed into crowded transport with lots of miserable commuters. During the summer, the temperature gets so high that, if animals were inside, the rights campaigners would be up in arms. Marianne thought about the much happier free range animals out there, and decided she wanted to be a Free Range Human. She started the blog and the name stuck. Now she helps people figure out what they want to do with their life and make money from it, as well as considering the option of location independence.

Getting a book deal and working with a publisher

• How Marianne got a book deal, even though she didn’t really want one. A few years ago, her site did get noticed and she did start talks with a major UK publisher but it turned out they wanted her as an author, but only did it their way. This negative experience with publishing put Marianne off, preferring the freedom of blogging. About 18 months later, a publisher approached her but that person had been on her email list for several months, so she “got” Marianne’s message and unique voice, giving her more freedom and an expansion of her message in a book format. It’s important to be able to commit to the book for the long term so you have to be happy with your publishing partnership.

• Marianne talks about the experience of publishing as up and down during the process. She didn’t like not being able to control the title or the cover design, but she is still glad the book is out there, and the publisher has let her put the book she wanted to write into the world. She feels it does give her a bigger reach than she could do alone. On balance, it is a positive thing and thinks her publisher is amazing, despite their battles!

On marketing.

• Marianne went into the publishing process with her media and marketing hat on, and with a business discussion in mind. Part of the reason she was even approached was her marketing ability and her existing audience through the blog. She used her knowledge of what the publisher wanted to bargain for some of the things she wanted as part of the deal. A big part of marketing is writing a book that people want.

• Publishers love comparisons, so never think your book is unique. Make sure you can name 3 other titles your book is like, which empowers the team to market your book internally.

• You will be asked about your existing platform, so include your own mailing list numbers and social networks, but also think about your broader network and contacts e.g. I know these other influential people and these are THEIR followings. So you have access to far more people than are just on your email list if you connect through other networks.

• They will also look at media profile, but the focus is on your ability to be promotable, so look at how you would respond to interviews or speaking live. Some publishers want their authors to talk in public or speak to journalists. Being presentable and media savvy is always a bonus and will help your pitch.

How relationships are critical to your success online

• Part of blogging is about connection even if you’re not a natural networker or outgoing person. You can do that through writing or social media, so it doesn’t have to be in person. But when you are putting yourself out there, you tend to meet other people who are in the same niche over time and that helps build a reputation.

• Going to conferences is a great way to start, and also emailing people who you have connected with over social media first.

• Both Marianne and I use interviewing other people as a great way to connect, as it’s an excuse for a 30 min chat as well as an opportunity to market them. Always be promoting others. What can you do to promote them?

On launching the book to the top of the Amazon.co.uk charts

• Marianne concentrated on building her email list and doing a pre-launch to drive pre-orders before the book came out with her existing fan-base. She offered bonuses and got other bloggers to promote the book and it debuted at the top of the charts in Entrepreneurship. This got a lot of notice for the book and then of course, it dropped during the Christmas rush but then after it officially went live it started to rise again, on the back of word of mouth, as the book is so useful.

• Pre-launch is important but it’s also over-hyped. You can make many more sales after that initial launch period. It’s more about awareness raising and generating reviews. Don’t let it go – keep focusing on marketing for the long-term.
  

• Her publisher wanted to do media in February after the book went live in Jan, which then caused a second spike for the book. Marianne has had interviews for major news and magazine outlets, including Business Week and CBS Moneywatch based on her publisher hiring a PR company. (Most authors will not get this, so don’t bank on it!)  She uses HARO and Sourcebottle to respond fast and concisely to journalist requests and with a new book in hand, most journalists want to talk to you.

• Choose your publisher wisely and the experience will be much better.

You can get Free Range Human, the book on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk and at bookstores everywhere.

You can find Marianne at the Free Range Human blog, or on twitter @freerangehumans

Here’s my review of the book:

This book is a great primer for people who are considering stepping out of the corporate world, the traditional career ladder and aiming to make a living doing something they love. You can still earn good money but the focus is more on life wealth, on how you spend your short time on the planet. Marianne walks the talk, living the free-range life, so she is the perfect guide to this way of life. I particularly think the section on “creating your free range life” is important for people to consider when deciding on a business. Do you really know what you want? Or are you using the metrics that you have been taught to use? Being the person you “should” be or who you really are? Inspirational and useful as a way to consider your next steps towards your future.

Do you have any questions about getting a book deal from a blog, or launching a non-fiction book? Please do leave them in the comments and we’ll jump in to answer them.

Your book is not just a physical book or an ebook. There are plenty of other subsidiary rights that you can exploit and audiobooks are high on the list because of the rise in popularity of listening during commutes or workouts, and the increased penetration of smartphones. In today’s interview, we explore how you can get into this market.

In the intro, I talk about my own audiobook deal, how I’m progressing with my latest book, Desecration (it was called Hunterian) and the problem of titles for a new series, and some of the updates in the publishing world. I also mention this post on meta-data and discoverability, the London Book Fair and the Non-Fiction Writer’s Online Conference, which I am speaking at. 

J. Daniel Sawyer is the author of 13 books across sci-fi and fantasy, mystery, non-fiction and a lot of short stories as well as being an award-nominated podcaster, audio producer and voice-over artist. Dan’s latest non-fiction book is ‘Making Tracks: A Writer’s Guide to Audiobooks and How to Produce Them‘. You can listen to the interview above or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, or you can watch the video on YouTube here.

What’s so special about audio anyway?

Dan talks about listening to stories as a child and how magical it was to have a movie play in his head based on words that were read aloud. Human culture began by sitting around the campfire telling each other stories, and now it’s keeping commuters entertained, or what you might listen to at the gym that’s driving the growth in this market.

What’s the difference between an audio podcast and an audiobook?

In terms of fiction, it’s the delivery format. For an audiobook, you divide the audio into chunks and it goes into the store as a complete product for sale. As a podcast, it needs to be a standard length per episode, usually 20-30 mins (average commuter time) and people subscribe and get each episode. Podcasts are usually free, and audiobooks are paid. Podcasts are really a fan service and the conversion rate to paid fans is pretty low. But some authors have done a great job of creating a hardcore audience who become evangelists for the author. Dan is one of them, Scott Sigler would also be a great example.

Dan’s book Making Tracks includes a lot of the business end of audiobooks e.g. what markets you can consider in order to actually make money at this.

What are the technical complexities of creating an audiobook?

The book includes the details of what you need to know about the technical side of audio, all the way from one-person, single-read to full production audio with multiple actors and sound effects. But you don’t have to get too technical.

One good example is Nathan Lowell who uses no special studio or equipment for his podcast fiction. The audience will engage with the story as long as the production quality is consistent over all. There is a connection between the audience and the author as a reader, and this can happen even if you have a professional read the book. The audio is another interpretation of your work. Having it read aloud is different to someone reading it on a page. There’s an interpretative filter, so it is an artistic choice.

What’s the difference between reading and performance?

This is just as important for authors who want to read at a festival or live event, as there is nothing worse than monotonous reading. It bores the audience and puts them off your work. Dan demonstrates with a few lines of his own work how your tone, emotion and expression can change the effect of the book.

“I hate my voice”

This is a typical reaction to the suggestion of reading your own work. But the voice you hear in your head is not what other people hear. The sound YOU hear also includes the bone conduction in your head. You can modulate the way you speak and also change the type of mic you use e.g. use a dynamic mic.

You can read in different voices as a single-read (if you can), or just read it however you like, and the audience will get used to it! Dan demonstrates some techniques.

How do you find a voice artist if you don’t want to read it yourself?

You can use ACX or look into the voice-over industry and there are a lot of sites out there. If you listen to audiobooks, note down the talent you like and since they are all freelancers, you can often get that person to read if you can afford them. You can also go to a local college or community theater and get a young and hungry actor. Make sure you pay for their time, but you can get a good deal that way.

What about editing?

Essentially, you will always make mistakes while reading. A single read when you’re really good will take about 4: 1 editing time. So for every finished hour of audio, you need at least 3 or 4 hours of production. If you’re just starting out it can be more like 10 hours production to 1 of finished audio. This is why it can be expensive to produce good quality audiobooks.

What is ACX and is it a good idea?

The Audiobook Creation Exchange is a marketplace for audiobook creation and production, where you can find voice talent and producers for your books. It does tie you into 7 years of being limited to Audible.com which distributes through Amazon and iTunes (at the moment) so you miss out on other physical markets. But it can be a cost effective way of getting your book into audio format because you can do it as a profit share based on royalties, which are on a sliding scale.

Unfortunately, it is NOT available to authors outside the US. I have emailed them about this and there are no immediate plans to expand. But there are other companies online that aggregate audiobooks for distribution so check out Dan’s book for a list.

Dan warns of ACX’s exclusivity. It ties you to Audible which is only online and there are a lot of other markets, including physical truck stops and gift shops/bookshops and that type of distribution that Audible doesn’t cover. Dan has a lot more information about other distribution options in his book so check that out before you jump into Audible/ACX. Also, the exclusive deal with iTunes expires in the next few years so even though Audible has most of the market now, it may change in a couple of years time.

Is it worth doing?

Audiobooks are the 3rd biggest chunk of income that any writer can get. Try not to sell the rights even if you get a book deal. If you retain those rights, it can be a long tail, long-term income stream. The market is growing fast and the number of audiobooks is a lot less than the number of physical or ebooks you are competing with. The growth curve is steady and persistent for audiobooks. Some people will never ‘read’ your work but they will consume through audio as the only time they have is while doing other things.

Dan and I get very excited about the possibilities for authors and exploiting rights for our lifetime AND onwards after our deaths. What used to be considered a failure in traditional publishing terms is now a pension for us in the long term.

I’m very excited about the potential for audiobooks. How about you? Please leave a comment or question below and Dan will pop in to answer.

You can find ‘Making Tracks’ on Amazon and other online stores right now. Plus the paperback is available here.

You can find Dan’s books, audio productions and more at JDSawyer.net and on twitter @dsawyer

Most of us, thankfully, have no personal experience with violence, but many of us write it in our books. In today’s podcast, I discuss our attraction to violence and how to write convincing fight scenes with Jarrah Loh. If you prefer video, you can watch the discussion on YouTube here.

Jarrah Loh is the author of  Ultimate: The Complete Guide to UFC and Mixed Martial Arts and the creator of the fiction series Cageside Chronicles, YA fiction for the warrior at heart. Jarrah is also the editor of Inside MMA and International Kickboxer.

• How Jarrah got started writing young but then thought it could never be a job. He got into some trouble in his youth but later developed self-esteem and confidence through achieving his goals. He went back to University to do professional writing and editing and ended up getting a job with Blitz Publishing, Australia’s premier sports publisher. Jarrah talks about being focused and driven, doing anything it takes to succeed. Martial arts have helped him with discipline over time.

• Jarrah’s first book was Ultimate: The Complete Guide to UFC and Mixed Martial Arts. UFC is the fastest growing spectator sport in the world and is basically two fighters in a cage with no extra gear. After writing articles about it, Jarrah was approached by a publisher to write the book. He turned the outline around in 24 hours and got the publishing deal based on his platform and expertise.

• We discuss the attraction of violence in UFC. There’s no purer competition so it is more of a vicarious experience, the excitement and physicality of the fight. It’s not a big over-the-top show like boxing and some of the other sports. It’s more realistic. Humanity has always had an aspect of violence so we are drawn to it, especially since we don’t live a very physical life anymore and most of us experience little physical danger. Jarrah explains there’s a difference between fighting and violence, two people in competition vs rage driven aggression.

Tips for writing realistic fight scenes

• (1) Watch some fights, not just movies. Jarrah does recommend UFC as the closest to a street fight
• (2) Go get in a fight – but in a controlled environment, for example, a martial arts class. You will be shocked by how you feel. I mention that I went to a Krav Maga class (as Morgan Sierra, my protagonist, is ex-Israeli military). They kicked my ass and it took me days to recover!
• (3) Don’t explain the fight too much, but describe the heat and fury and emotion of a fight rather than the exact physical movements. Keep the pace moving.

• Gender differences in fighting. UFC are just introducing a women’s division and there are women fighters. Jarrah explains that the female fighters he knows have a lot of self confidence, for example, Bec ‘Rowdy’ Hyatt, has 2 children and went from overweight to a champion fighter who turned her life around with martial arts.

• Jarrah is writing Cageside Chronicles, aimed at the YA market. A young man grows up in Mexico, lacking in confidence and beaten up, but over time finds confidence through martial arts. We discuss the potential controversy around fighting books aimed at the YA market, in the context of The Hunger Games and how a fighting life is a good metaphor for any kind of struggle. Jarrah says The Karate Kid was an influence on him and actually the feedback has been great on the book in terms of teachers able to give boys something to read.

• On self-publishing and why Jarrah turned down a publishing deal to do it himself. How an author is just another number to a large publishing house and on balance, the money is better as an indie and you have to do the marketing work anyway. As an editor and knowing graphic designers, he had the team in place to create a professional package. We talk about empowerment of the author, which is also a key part of Jarrah’s life.

• On being in Australia and selling primarily to the US and the UK. Jarrah mentions that the Kindle isn’t so popular in Australia but the iPad is much bigger there.

You can find Jarrah at his site JarrahLoh.com and his books on Amazon including Cageside Chronicles, YA fiction for the warrior at heart, the first one in the series is currently available for free.

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy: How to write fight scenes with dark fantasy author and martial artist Alan Baxter

What do you think about violence in books? Please do leave any questions or comments below.

Many authors want to get media attention, whether it’s to build reputation or attempt to sell more books. But how do you do it without spamming everyone and getting nowhere? And how do you avoid spending loads of money on a publicist? In today’s interview with Steven Lewis, I find out how to write perfect press releases.

In the intro I talk about why I’ve returned to print for my books, an update on my own writing and the importance of understanding keywords when publishing your books.

Steven Lewis is an author, entrepreneur and speaker, helping people tell stories through social media, online marketing and self-publishing. His site Taleist.com is packed with resources for authors, and today we’re talking about one of his books, How to Write Perfect Press Releases.

• Steven’s background as a feature writer/ journalist and how he transitioned his career to writing travel books and speaking professionally as well as helping authors. As a journalist he received a LOT of press releases and the biggest issue was the difference between what the journalist is looking for vs/ what the author is trying to tell them.

• A few years back I decided to try and get some traditional media attention for my first book. Through strategic, targeted use of press releases I managed to get on national Australian TV, national radio shows, in national newspapers but it barely shifted any books. So is it even worth chasing traditional media if it doesn’t sell books? Steven explains that media is more about reputation building and validation, although it can sell books as well if they are widely available.

• Why the book itself is not the story. People don’t care that you wrote a book, they care about what it can do for them. Non-fiction is relatively easy because you can use your topic to craft an angle that suits readers. For example, Steven had a guided app tour of Sydney Harbour and got press about it related to tourism.

• How can fiction authors think of hooks for their books? Example of a novel about an Irish cop in Shanghai in 1920s could be framed around a travel article about Shanghai, or something aimed at the Irish community.

• How do you find your target audience? You should already have an idea of the target market for your book, your ideal reader. What else do they do apart from reading your book and where do they hang out? Look for publications that target this market, then drilldown to the specific journalists who write about specific aspects around the topic. For the maximum chance of success, target them specifically.

• The key elements of a press release. The purpose is to paint a picture of a kind of story the journalist might want to write. Use an arresting headline. [I recommend Copyblogger's headline clinic to get better at headlines for both press releases and also blogging.] Then start with the biggest news and work down to the least important detail. A press release has more formal language than a blog post because you are cramming facts in and must keep it short. Keep it to one page but use a decent sized font.

• How to submit a press release. Use the headline in the subject line of the email. Put the text in the text of the email so the journalist doesn’t have to open any other document. Paid/free press release services basically spam thousands of journalists with no targeting, so Steven doesn’t think much of those for actual media attention. It’s better to target specifically.

• HelpAReporter.com is brilliant though, so definitely subscribe. Steven also mentions Sourcebottle.com.au which is a similar service to match journalists with experts. Having a platform is also fantastic as people find you through the internet. I mention a Jungian journal that interviewed me about Pentecost.

• Make sure you have a Google Alert for your name and book title and any key-phrases, since sometimes you won’t be notified if media is actually published.

You can find Steven Lewis at Taleist.com, which is packed with resources for authors.  

Check out How to Write Perfect Press Releases on Amazon and other ebook stores.

While adult narrative fiction moves easily into the digital environment, children’s books are a different challenge. In today’s podcast interview, children’s author and illustrator Katie Davis talks about writing, illustrating and marketing.

Children’s author and illustrator Katie Davis has published ten books and appears monthly on the ABC affiliate show, Good Morning Connecticut, recommending great books for kids. She produces Brain Burps About Books, a podcast about kidlit, a blog and regular newsletter. You can watch the interview on video here, or listen as above.

• How Katie got started with writing and illustrating. Her first book came out when she was nearly 40, so it was a long journey, although she was in writing and marketing businesses before that as well as supporting herself with her art. She talks about the lack of confidence she has in her own artistic ability – something we all struggle with!

Aspects of being a successful children’s author

• To be a children’s writer, you only need to have been a kid. You don’t need to have kids (Maurice Sendak didn’t). One of the things newbies get wrong is to only write in rhyme. The story needs to be the driving force, not the need for rhyming language.

• The other error is over-emphasizing the lesson, instead of the story. It’s important to respect the child’s intelligence. Don’t talk down to them. Talk in their language, but don’t baby-talk.

• How long it takes to write a children’s book, when the choice of a few words can make all the difference.

• On traditional publishing vs self-publishing for children’s books, which are often more expensive especially picture books where color makes them expensive to print. Katie says that the stigma within the industry has really changed, but you need to know how it works in order to submit correctly. Katie recommends SCBWI.org as a great resource to find out more. Plus Children’s Book Insider and 12 x 12 which was about writing 12 children’s books in 2012.

Ebooks vs apps for kids

• Ebooks are defined as ‘Electronic version of a print book, or a book composed and published electronically with minimal interactive elements.” Whereas apps have interactive elements. It’s important to make sure the format fits the story, and not use the format to try and shoehorn the story into interactivity.  Read the whole article on Create your own storybook app at Writer Unboxed.

• Apple really is the market leader for children’s books and apps. You can create your own art for iTunes using iBooksAuthor Book Creator

How to find an illustrator for your children’s book

• Check out ChildrensIllustrators.com which also sponsors the Bologna and London Book Fair. Also HireAnIllustrator.com

• Look at books that have won Caldecott awards, to at least understand the styles you like in order to help you get started

• Make sure you have a written agreement around delivery dates, expectations, numbers of illustrations, printable formats.

Marketing books for children

• Katie shares a lot of tips in her new book (for adults) ‘How to Promote Your Children’s Book: Tips, Tricks, and Secrets to Create a Bestseller‘.

• Whether you market to kids or adults is based on the type of books you’re writing. Clearly, picture books for aged 4-5 need to be marketed to adults.

• Establishing your platform is just as key in selling kid’s books. Katie mentions John Green, YA author with a hugely popular YouTube channel with  vlogbrothers which appeals to his market of teenagers. Recently, he sold out Carnegie Hall for a variety show for teens, covered by the NY Times and USA Today.

• The principles of reciprocity, generosity and social karma are really important in the online space. Help others and it will come back to you. This is how you should approach the online marketing environment.

• Katie mentions the Grad School rap which author Adam Ruben created for his book ‘Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School‘ and it got picked up by national media and sold a ton of books. Video can really work if it gets attention.

• Having fun marketing – is it possible? Redefine it as ‘talking to people and making friends’. Katie uses the example of Twitter Book Birthday.

• For video, you can record interviews like these. If you’re worried about using your own face, you can use animation e.g. GoAnimate.com . But eye to eye contact can be very powerful. It doesn’t matter what you look like. People don’t care. They want information or entertainment, and connection is important. Free information will ‘buy’ people’s trust and loyalty and this will translate into sales in the long-term.

You can find Katie at KatieDavis.com and her podcast Brain Burps About Books.

You can also check out her video course VideoIdiotBootcamp.com

You can find the interview Katie did with me here on self-publishing.