SFWA » Networking and Self-Promotion

Authors! 8 Tips For Your Website’s Usability and Design

MonicaValentinelli — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:20:35 +0000

by Monica Valentinelli

In today’s article, I’d like to share with you some tips to consider when you’re reviewing your current website or when you’re thinking about creating one. Let’s take a look at these tips for your website’s design and usability.

1. Structure Your Theme Around Your Update Frequency

2. Balance Text with Images

3. Consider Saying “No” to Fancy Functionality

Additionally, depending upon how your website is programmed, search engines can also have a tough time picking up your content, which can hinder your ability to be accessed through search. If your functionality (Flash, JavaScript, QuickTime, etc.) ends up being a roadblock, that can affect how your visitors and search engines interact with your website.

4. Think About Avoiding a Splash Page

5. Design for Readability and Consistency

6. Own Your Own Domain

7. Provide Easy, Intuitive Navigation

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8. Offer the Ability to Search

The good news is that you don’t have to listen to or agree with anything I’ve said in this article, because you can see for yourself how your website’s design and usability is affecting your visitors through your website analytics data.

Google Analytics (GA) doesn’t charge you a dime to use their service. Even though you technically don’t “own” the data (e.g. you can’t maintain it or download all of it), there is a lot of insight you can glean from the reports. There are also quite a few other web analytics services you can explore, and many of them may charge you a fee. Since there isn’t “one” standardized method of garnering the data from your website, different programs may provide you with different insight. Fortunately, GA has some tutorials and the program is pretty intuitive.

The thing to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to add analytics, is that the data that you learn from a tool like Google Analytics can help you improve your website’s design and usability. Simply identify what questions you want to answer and then leverage your data to find the answer.

About the Author

Monica Valentinelli is the content and web analytics manager for the digital sheet music retailer and publisher Musicnotes.com and the project manager for the horror and dark fantasy webzine Flamesrising.com. Monica is an aspiring novelist working on revisions for her first novel which she’s talked about at VioletWar.com; she has several non-fiction, short fiction and game writing credits to her name including her recent digital e-book release entitled THE QUEEN OF CROWS.

To read more about Monica, visit her blog located at www.mlvwrites.com.

The Networks Around us

Mary Robinette Kowal — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:00:37 +0000

by Cat Rambo

The world is changing rapidly, its moments swarming us like pixillated butterflies. The woman walking down the street in front of you talking to the air may not be crazy, but having a conversation on her Bluetooth headset. Two people who have never met face to face may fall in love, or out of it. Our relationships to each other, both at the personal and professional level, are becoming crowded and changed, to a point where it’s difficult to track what is and isn’t the same as it used to be.

One shift lies in the area of social networks such as Facebook, Livejournal, MySpace, and Twitter and their skyrocketing popularity. According to a Consumer Research Center study, 43% of online users visited social networking sites this year, as opposed to 27% the year before. If you believe maintaining an online presence is useful for connecting with readers, social networks form the way to interact efficiently with nearly half of them.

From February to May of 2009 Twitter grew from six million users to 35 million. Discussions of Twitter’s ubiquitousness were held on the pages of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, as well as the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Some news programs now use “Twitter crawls”, a scrolling line at the bottom of the screen showing people’s “tweets” (Twitter posts) about news stories or issues, while websites may use Twitter to furnish part of their content. In June, Twitter was used to expose problems with the Iranian elections. When scheduled maintenance would have taken the service down, Twitter decided to stay up in order to help with the scheduling of an important demonstration, not just because its users asked, but because the Obama Administration requested it.

At the most basic level, millions of people are using Twitter and other social networks to connect with friends, family, and co-workers. A few are writers. A lot of them are readers.

Social networks manifest what technologists call “Web 2.0″. Web 2.0, a term first used in 1999 by user experience consultant Darcy DiNucci, is the next generation of Web tools and usages. It emphasizes on communication, ease of use, and accessibility. Its products also include collaborative efforts like wikis (Wikipedia being the most notable example), blogs, video-sharing sites like YouTube and Hulu, and the concept of mashups, web pages or applications that combine “data or functionality from two or more external sources to create a new service” (quote taken from Wikipedia). Mashups have become a familiar concept in speculative literature lately, recently introducing zombies to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

A major technological factor encouraging social networks is the acquisition of Internet capability by cell phones. I can update Twitter, Facebook, and my blog through my iPhone, and more companies are developing phones that do much more than phone home. Brief tweets and Facebook updates are suited to a cell phone’s small screen. They can be checked standing in line at the grocery store, waiting for take-out, riding on the bus. No wonder more and more people are participating!

At the same time, people resist what seems a social mandate to electronically network. In a world where things are changing rapidly and technology is having an impact on everything from the way we work to the ways we play and perform, social networks are sometimes unfairly the symbol of Technological Anxiety.

This article intends to do a few things. The first of these is to assuage some of those anxieties. Once that’s (hopefully) accomplished, we’ll take about the differences between the most popular social networks, how to behave in a way that maximizes your effort, and what’s worth (and not worth) doing.

What’s It All About?

Social networking’s basic concept is not difficult. You have people who influence you and are influenced in turn by you. Word of mouth, which depends on social networks, has always worked this way: someone makes a recommendation to a friend or family member. When that friend or family member is shopping, they remember the recommendation and act on it, purchasing the recommended good or service .

Many marketing-minded people enthuse about social networking because as social networks change to suit the Internet, the power of word of mouth balloons. Not only do more people see that recommendation, but it can be made more compelling, through the ability to point someone at a link about the product, include a snapshot taken with a phone, or even embed a YouTube clip of the product in action.

Publication time is different on the Internet, too. A book review on a website sticks around much longer than a print recommendation. While the magazine sits on a shelf or molders in the recycling bin, the web review continues spreading the word about the book indefinitely. Its popularity can fluctuate – a mention on a site such as Boingboing.net or Slashdot.org can send the numbers skyrocketing. As the editor of an online magazine, I’m fascinated by this. One of the most popular articles on the Fantasy Magazine website, for example, is a piece of steam punk gadgets. It continues to gather a significant number of hits and is almost always one of the top ten posts each week. Behold the power of a good search keyword!

Your informal social network, the people you interact with on a regular basis, has changed with the advent of electronic social networks. For example, my Facebook account allows me to connect with: close and extended family, such as my brother and my cousins in Kansas; former workvcolleagues; college acquaintances and teachers; friends from the online game I work with; friends who I gamed with twenty years ago; fans of my writing, fans of the magazine I edit; fellow writers and editors; and assorted people who just really like my name.

Facebook even makes it easy to build those networks. Birthday reminders let me pop over to their Facebook page and write quick greetings. If I wanted to go digital, I could buy them a virtual present to display on their page, like a picture of a pet or a flower. (How smart of Facebook, to be selling what are, essentially, pixels.) I can see what my cousin Faith is up to, and drop a line of commentary on it. I’m told what groups my friends are joining, what videos they’re posting, when they update the “relationship” status of their profiles.

Perhaps you’re new to this world, deciding to dip your toe in the electronic pool for the first time. Or you’ve made a few attempts and never really followed up, letting your MySpace profile moulder or your blog sit there with one post back in 2005. Maybe you have a strong presence on one network and want to know whether or not you should expand into others. That brings new questions: how do you pick a social network? Which ones reach the most people, are the most effective, and/or involve the least amount of effort on your part? How do you avoid getting swallowed up by the social networking world?

Identifying the Important Networks

Why think about the different social networks? Because each represents a distinct group of potential readers. People tend to find a social network they like and stick with it. Therefore, while there’s some overlap between social networks, it’s not as great as one might think.

The social networks with the largest numbers of members are Facebook, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, MySpace and Twitter. Each has its own unique aspects, advantages, and disadvantages. I use three, and by my estimate, advertising a new publication that way allows me to reach several thousand people that are already interested in my writing, for no cost other than the time spent posting. I’m a very minor author, although like everyone else on this particular rung of the ladder, I hope to expand my following. But were I larger, I’d be making as much use of social networking as I efficiently could.

Facebook:

When you create a Facebook account, you are setting up your profile: what people on your friends list see about you. Facebook can be confusing in its distinction between profile, group, and fanpage. Most people are represented on Facebook by profiles. People who want to see their updates must request that the other person “friend” them, and the relationship depends on both parties agreeing to it. A person’s Facebook “feed” consists of updates from their friends, groups, and other subscriptions. Updates can include items a person posted, as well as things they did. For example, my friend Sue just requested help in a Facebook game she’s playing, Mafia Wars, and that item appears on my feed.

Groups revolve around a single cause. Anyone can create a group, and they can range widely, from a group of people wanting to change an aspect of Facebook to a group denying global warming, or another group organized to get out urban voters in a campaign. Silly causes abound too, such as a recent one to “stop over-fishing on Saturn’s moon Enceladus.”

If you are a writer who does has a signficant number of fans, the most useful thing you can do is probably to create a “fanpage”. For example, Fantasy Magazine is represented at and anyone, regardless of whether or not they’re a friend, can become a fan of it. Fans see the updates to the page in their Facebook feed. Post on your fanpage when you have something you want to share with fans. You’ll find that people comment on items, and the comments will be visible. You can respond to them or not, as you choose, but you’ll find that responding will tend to make the group more appealing to new members. However, don’t do it, unless there’s a genuine following for your work — nothing looks sadder than a fanpage with a following of two.

LinkedIn:

When you set up a LinkedIn account, you are also setting up a profile, but one that is considerably less interactive than a Facebook one. Only LinkedIn users that are linked to you (sometimes through another person) can see all of your profile information. LinkedIn is primarily a job and employment site, so the emphasis is on your resume and references. This is useful to writers and editors in terms of finding work or workers to do it. While I make sure I have links to my site in my profile, I don’t think of LinkedIn as a network that will drive traffic to a website. LinkedIn might also be useful in terms of finding reviewers, reading or speech venues, or markets for articles or fiction.

LiveJournal:

The primary purpose of a LiveJournal account is to create a LiveJournal blog. You network with other people by “friending” them. as with Facebook, which allows you to see their private entries as well as collecting their posts with those of your other friends in an easy to read format for you.

LiveJournal boasts a thriving collection of authors, editors, and publishers, including Elizabeth Bear, Ellen Datlow, Gregory Frost, Sean Wallace, and Martha Wells. One of the confusions that has arisen on LiveJournal deals with the issue of “handles,” special names attached to accounts which may bear little to no resemblence to one’s real name. Writers setting up a LiveJournal account under an exotic name may want to make sure their real name and contact information are listed on their profile page.

MySpace:

MySpace is very similar to FaceBook: you set up a profile page which your friends can comment on, and which can hold music, embedded video, pictures, and the like. MySpace is a favorite of musicians, and has additional functionality to offer them, but there are many authors here as well. Many people, including myself, complain about MySpace’s interface, but it does allow writers some good functionality, such as allowing people to readers to your posts.

Twitter:

Twitter is all about brevity. Users post “tweets”, 140-character messages that span a gamut of possibilities. You can subscribe to or “follow” someone’s tweets, or twitter a message that directly addresses them but which can be seen by anyone. The most rapidly growing network, Twitter was the first to exploit cell phones, allowing users to post from phones as well as the web.

Twitter is used by a wide, wide range of people, including Shaquile O’Neill, Jon Hodgman, Christopher Walken, and Ashton Kutchner, and ghost-writing tweets is a growing field for freelancers. The shortness of the form has led to a fascination with it; there are several speculative-fiction Twitter magazines, such as Thaumatrope and horror-based TweetTheMeat.

Twitter spreads information with remarkable quickness through the practice of “retweets”, signified in Twitterese by “RT.” For example, I might see a book recommendation from my buddy, user @bestfriend, and decide to pass it along to my followers, in the form like, “RT @bestfriend says Baloney by Oscar Meyer is the most tightly plotted mystery ever!” Retweets help spread news fast, such as the Hudson River plane crash or the Mumbai terrorist attacks. In both cases, eyewitnesses tweeted, and the tweets were quickly passed along and even used by the slower moving news networks.

Twitter has a secondary mechanism for passing along information, hash tags. They are called hash tags because one uses the hash mark symbol, #, to indicate one. Hash tags are words that people can use to search for a common interest group, such as #fantasy, #tengu, #buffy, or #pabloneruda. They are sometimes used to create an event such as #followfriday, where users broadcast their recommendations for interesting users to follow. Anyone can look for the word and find lists of users interested in being followed and following in turn. A Twitter stream making judicious use of hash tags can steadily increase its number of followers, allowing its messages to reach more and more people.

One of the joys of Twitter is the wide range of tools that can do things with your Twitter feed. Here, for example, is my Twitter stream displayed as a cloud of words. Words are larger and redder if they are more often used; smaller and bluer when they seldom appear.

The TweetBeep service can be used to alert you when certain key phrases (like your name) appear on Twitter, which you can have it do on an hourly or daily basis. I use Tweetbeep to monitor my name and the phrase “fantasy magazine”. Followmebutton.com allows you to generate a button, easy to post to a blog or other social network, that lets someone follow you on Twitter with a single click.

Blogs

Blogs are a favorite form of networking. THe wide variety of blog-based networks includes Blogger, Blogspot, and WordPress. Blogs tend to be time-intensive, although you can take the labor-saving approach of only posting excerpts from your work in progress and/or announcements of events. If the former, responding to comments will, as with any network, help drive traffic.

Sometimes virtual networks are dedicated to meat-space meetings. For example, you might use TweetUp.com, Twtvite.com or Meetup.com to organize events such as signing, readings, lectures, or other performances. Or it may be just as easy to use one’s social network presence elsewhere for such organization.

The feel of different social networks vary according to their communication model. Facebook communication is like being at a party in a very large house or apartment building where everyone knows everyone else, even if sometimes only in a vague way. You can wander into someone’s space and join the conversation, comment on the decorations or the items stuck to the front of their refrigerator. MySpace is the strip mall and trailer park down the road. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is much more like an office building or conference center, where all communications center on employment and professional networking. Of Twitter, novelist Kelly Eskrige has noted, “It’s like being in a stadium full of people and having a shouted exchange with friends on the other side of the field, while also overhearing random bits of strangers’ conversations, which every once in a while tell you something that you actually needed to know right now — a weird and wonderful synchronicity.”

By contrast, blogs usually contain a single resident, unless they’re one of those hippie commune blogs like the Daily Cabal or SFNovelists. – they’re like being invited into someone’s house. All communication is, by the virtue of the location in which it’s taking place, addressed to them, and the sense is that of a one to one relationship between reader and author/host. While readers may address each other in the comments, they’re always aware that the host is there watching, and some, like John Scalzi, have a notoriously firm hand in ejecting trolls and steering the conversation.

There are other networks. GoodReads and LibraryThing, for example, are book recommendation, review, and listing sites. Good reviews on there will help sell copies of your book. You can make use of these networks in two ways, one of which is considerably less time consuming. This first way is simply to spend some time figuring out who the prolific reviewers who you think might do justice to your book are, and then make sure they get a copy. The second is to actually join, and then spend time reviewing other people’s books, so you develop a reputaiton that leads to people seeking out your work. If you go the second route, I would suggest making sure you have links to your work in your profile on the network.

Flickr and YouTube

Flickr is a great site for publishing visual images. It’s free, but a professional account will allow you to publish more pictures. YouTube is often used for video, such as interviews, readings, or book trailers. While there are a number of audio-based social networks, none of them have yet emerged from the pack as a standout.

YouTube is particularly appropriate if you do something visual. For example, writer and SFWA secretary Mary Robinette Kowal has published a number of clever and interesting videos, ranging from popular pieces to DIY to interviews. Book trailers can make for great video. Mario Acevado has done amazing trailers for his Felix Gomez vampire detective series using Lego and a driving sound track.

In selecting a network, figure out what you want to achieve through social networking. Promote events and new material to fans? Reach new readers? That helps you decide both what sort of venue you want to opt for as well as what you do with it.

Behaving Correctly

No matter which social network(s) you decide to join, the important thing to remember there is to behave in accordance with the rules of the group. You wouldn’t walk into someone’s house and spray-paint the title of your latest book on their kitchen wall. You don’t want to do the equivalent in virtual space either.

Don’t spam people by posting the same message or messages over and over again. Make your content interesting, meaningful, and/or entertaining in order to keep people still reading.

One pitfall is thinking of your blog as a billboard. It’s not, or at least it’s one where people have the ability to put notes on it. Read and answer the comments you get, and engage your readers. Answer their questions and give them a reason to feel invested in the blog. Some bloggers periodically ask their readers to introduce themselves if they’re new, or to weigh in on an issue.

What’s a Writer To Do?

Internet social networking sites can provide valuable space for publicizing events such as signings, convention appearances, or book releases as well as products. They also provide ways for you to influence where your writing and publicity efforts appear through tagging and word-of-mouth sites.

An early concern is branding. Writers understand the power of names. You want a distinctive, memorable name representing you on the Internet by . You want readers to find you easily when they use a search engine. For example, my name is one where, nine hits out of ten, they mean me. (The other one time, someone has named their housecat Rambo.)

When setting up accounts , use the name you write under so your readers can recognize you. If you’re a longtime Net participant (or even a short one), you may have developed an avatar name, like grouchyoldwoman43 or PrinceSparkle. Unless that is the identity you wish to embrace, consider making new accounts with the correct name. You may want to make sure that your e-mail address is similarly straightforward and recognizable, as well as professional sounding.

What if someone has your name already? Play around with your name. Can you use a special character, like an underscore, or perhaps a middle initial? Perhaps first person, such as IamYourName, or append something that signifies your genre, like SFwriterYourName. Perhaps a number that’s significant, like 2010YourName (be aware some names may age more gracefully than others.)

Representing yourself visually: It’s worthwhile spending time picking a photo that shows you well, and perhaps even paying for a professional photo. Don’t use an abstract image, like a guitar to show you play one, or a petunia to demonstrate you like flowers. But no matter what, do include a picture – one study showed that no photo decreased a person’s likeliness of being followed by 80%.

Networks don’t do much good unless you’re using them, no matter what. The Associate Editor of PANK wrote: “If you’re going to have a blog or a Twitter feed or a Facebook page, update them regularly. One of the things that drives me crazy is going to a blog that hasn’t been updated in months. If you’re not updating a given social networking tool regularly, you don’t need it.”

And In The End

In the end, are social networks bane or boon to the modern spec-fic writer? While I’ve regretted the hours I’ve frittered away on Facebook games or checking Twitter, in the end I’d still land solidly on the boon side. To me it seems inevitable that we procrastinate and dawdle, and that we poke at the Internet doing all manner of things. Inevitably, we’ll let those pixillated butterflies lure us into enjoying a chat here and there. All in the name of networking.

Ten reasons I might actually want to know what you had for breakfast

You are a close friend or family member and I am interested in your health.
Your breakfast was particularly poetic.
Your breakfast was particularly unfamiliar and thus interesting to me.
You tried a food I am curious about.
You tried something that I know an Interesting Fact about.
You had something that has strong emotional resonance for me.
You tried something a favorite fictional character eats.
Your description persuades me to try something new.
Your description warns me off from something I know I won’t like. (If you’re reliable or I know your taste matches.)
I am stalking you.

Simple Things You Can Do To Build Your Online Presence

Tag things.
Comment, comment, comment. Responding to someone is the best way to show that you’ve read their content. FaceBook condenses this down to the simplest possible form with the “Like” functionality.
Share your opinion.
Tell authors when you like something.
Include links in your e-mail signature.
Make sure your fans gets link whenever you publish something on line.
Sell to some of the online pro markets, which pay as well as the majority of the print magazines, and which allow you to link to your material from your website or blog.
Put a press kit on your website that includes: a headshot, a brief bio, and links to interviews.

—

This article has been reprinted, with permission, from The Bulletin

Cat Rambo lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest. Her collections, EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT, and THE SURGEON’S TALE AND OTHER STORIES (with Jeff VanderMeer) are available on Amazon.com. She is the fiction editor of FANTASY MAGAZINE. Upcoming appearances include a reading for RASP on January 29, 2010, a one day workshop for the FIeld’s Edge Writers Community program, March 13, 2010, Norwescon, WisCon, WorldCon, and World Fantasy Con.

Conventions and writing, or Schmoozing 101

Mary Robinette Kowal — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:49:32 +0000

by Mary Robinette Kowal

Let me talk about conventions and their relationship to my writing life. Everyone will have very different experiences, depending on their personality. Here’s how it works for me.

I primarily go to conventions for three reasons.

To see other people in the field whose company I enjoy.
Improve craft/business sense.
To be “visible.”

1) To see other people in the field whose company I enjoy.
I relish the social aspect of SF. There are people that I just plain like and a convention is like old home week. It’s fun! I like you guys.

2) Improve craft/business sense.
A convention with a really good list of panels is going to appeal to me more than one in which I only hang out at the bar (though I love that, too). I want to know what’s happening in the field and to think about things that aren’t just products of my own brain banging against the inside of my skull. Even if I only learn one new thing, that’s a thing I didn’t know before.

3) To be “visible”
I’m a new writer, so I’m building my “brand.” I’m not going to get that many new readers at a convention, but the people at cons are the ones who vote on things and frankly, nominations can be leveraged ((Nominations and awards do not automatically mean a reader increase. You have to know how to work them, but the power of narrative on career is a different topic.)) into getting more readers which means…that cons are filled with a good target audience. Cons also tend to have editors at them and those are good people to know.

Now, I’ll be frank about how this works, because a lot of people don’t understand how to do effective schmoozing. Yes, yes, I’m aware that admitting this happens is distasteful. But, I’m going to talk about how to schmooze, anyway.

Schmoozing 101

These are all ideas to employ but none of them are hard and fast rules. Schmoozing is all about being charming and that will vary somewhat depending on the situation. So, here are the basic ideas behind successful schmoozing.

First idea: The other person is more interesting than you are.

Clearly, there are going to be cases where this isn’t true BUT act like it is. Why? Because the more time someone spends talking about himself and the more he feels intelligent and the more interesting he will think the conversation is. Hence, the more interesting he will think you are. So practice being a good listener.

Now, the way I do this is that as I’m talking with the person, I listen for the things that we have common interests in. They like cars? Great, I can reference the MG-TD that I covet. That gives me something to add to the conversation so that they don’t feel like they are being interrogated.

What if you can’t find any common ground?

Second idea: Have an exit strategy.
Let’s say you are a writer talking to an editor. It’s a good conversation, but you don’t know them all that well. The conversation pauses. Rather than looking for a way to prolong it, excuse yourself. To borrow from theater, “Always leave them wanting more.”

Exit strategies are also useful when you are trapped in a conversation. It’s okay to break the flow and say, “I’m so sorry, it’s been good talking to you, but I need to [x].” Yes, I’m suggesting that you lie. They trapped you. You are escaping. It’s fair.

But if the conversation is going well?

Third idea: Don’t be the first to bring up business.
Why? Because everyone at the con is talking about writing and business and you, you will be a welcome respite in the midst of a sea of people who have all been talking about the same things. You stand out this way. Now, if someone else brings it up, you are more than welcome to indulge, but don’t go there first. Later, make sure you follow up, but when you are in a non-business setting, leave the business alone.

Fourth idea: When the conversation turns to business, be prepared.
It is a con, so the conversation is very likely to swing round to writing. If you have something to pitch, practice your pitch at home. If you have a question, practice it at home. If you’ve gone to panels, think about what your opinion is before someone asks you.

Right now, I’m sucking at answering the question, “So what do you write?”

I rattle off a couple of magazines — which is what they want to hear — and I fail to say, “I have a novel coming out from Tor in 2010.” I think I told two people that at the last con. This is foolish. Someone gave me an opening to pimp myself and I didn’t oblige them.

Fifth idea: Be physically pleasant.

Is this shallow? Yes, yes it is. But we’ve all read the studies that repeatedly show that people who are attractive are treated better, so for heaven’s sake, take advantage of that. You look good in green? Wear green. Nicely turned calves? Show them off. And for heaven’s sake, bathe. Trust me, in a con, just a little bit of effort will make you stand out.

Want to know a secret? In real life, I almost never wear makeup, but I wear it at conventions. Too many people take photos and I look dead in photos without it. Especially on very little sleep, which is a natural state at cons.

Sixth idea: Follow up.

You meet someone who is either fascinating or who might be a good connection later. Drop them a line afterwards. It can be as simple as swinging by their website and saying “Hey, good to meet you!” Don’t stalk them, but that tiny bit of post con contact will help them remember who you are. Heck, it’ll help you remember who they are too.

By the way, this is why it’s good to hand out cards at conventions. I’ve been bad about this lately and keep forgetting to print enough to take with me.

So let’s review.
1. The other person is always more interesting than you are.
2. Have an exit strategy.
3. Don’t be the first to bring up business.
4. If business comes up, be prepared.
5. Be physically pleasant, ie, bathe.
6. Follow up.

There are other things too, but these are the basics.

—

Conventions and Writing, or Schmoozing 101 is reprinted with permission of the author.

Mary Robinette Kowal was the 2008 recipient of the Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Cosmos and Asimov’s. Mary, a professional puppeteer and voice actor, lives in Portland, OR with her husband Rob and nine manual typewriters. Tor is publishing her debut novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, in the Spring of 2010.

Thoughts on Self-Promotion

WriterBeware — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:09:00 +0000

Posted by Victoria Strauss

As I close in on the end of my current writing project, the issue of self-promotion is much on my mind. I don’t mind admitting that it’s a prospect I contemplate with dread. I’m one of those I-just-want-to-sit-in-my-room-with-my-laptop writers who really is not constitutionally suited for a world in which the definition of “author” also includes “huckster” (or, if you want to be a bit more diplomatic about it, “entrepreneur”).

Nevertheless, self-promotion is a fact of life for today’s book writer, an issue that’s explored in an interesting article by Neely Tucker of the Washington Post. The article explores the dizzying array of self-promotional options that are made possible, in large part, by the Internet. To relatively old-school methods like readings, signings, and author websites, the Web has added blogs, blog tours, social networking, book trailers, and more.

“Being an author has become much more of an ongoing relationship with your audience through the Web, rather than just writing a book and disappearing while you write the next one,” says Liate Stehlik, publisher of William Morrow and Avon Books. “You have to be out there in the online world, talking and participating.”

Typically, the article starts out with a success story: Kelly Corrigan, whose cancer-survivor memoir was not tagged by her publisher for any extra promotional perks, and who took promotion into her own hands. Corrigan created a book trailer, got friends to host book parties, put together her own book tour, hand-sold her books, and posted a video of one of her readings on YouTube. The end result: 20 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and a second career as a paid speaker.

Does this give me hope for the success of my own self-promotional plan, whatever it may eventually be? Does it make me more motivated to roll up my sleeves and dive into the self-promotion ocean? Well, sure. But there are also some things I’m keeping in mind.

The article ties some of the trend toward self-promotion to publishers’ shrinking publicity budgets. But the truth is that publishers never provided significant promotion for more than a handful of their authors, even in pre-Internet days. What’s really driving the self-promotional frenzy, in my opinion, is the dilution of the market. As the article points out, 560,000 books were published in the USA last year (more than were published in the entire 10-year period between 1980 and 1989, when title output averaged around 51,000 per year). Even if you subtract the nearly 300,000 that were self- or micropress-published, that’s way too many books. How do you make your book stand out from thousands of others in your subject or genre? Go forth, intrepid author, and self-promote!

But if the book market is overcrowded and fragmented, the new self-promotional frontier of the Internet is even more so. Not only is there a tremendous number of different options, every other author with a new book to flog is rushing to take advantage of them. For each new Web-based self-promotional strategy that comes along, there’s a narrow window of opportunity in which it’s actually possible to grab some eyeballs; thereafter, everyone piles on, and you wind up struggling not just for the visibility of your book, but for the visibility of your book trailer or blog or Twitterfeed or whatever. So as I plan my self-promotion strategy, I need to remember that, just as my book will be competing against too many others, so will my efforts to promote it.

Another thing to note: Kelly Corrigan’s book was nonfiction, a memoir about cancer survival. This gave her advantage–not just over fiction authors (the market for nonfiction is much bigger than for fiction, and nonfiction audiences are often easier to identify and target) but over many nonfiction authors, since cancer is a subject of urgent interest to enormous numbers of people.

Often, however, when self-promotion is discussed, it’s discussed as if all books are more or less the same, and any and all self-promotional methods are equally applicable. But books are not the same, nor are readers. Though there’s always some overlap, the audience for nonfiction is different from the audience for fiction. The audience for romance is different from the audience for thrillers. The audience for YA is different from the audience for middle grade. In other words, the method that worked for one author will not necessarily work for you. In planning my self-promotional strategy, I’ll look at everything, but I’ll look most closely at what authors in my own market area are doing.

And that brings me to the final thing I’ll be keeping in mind as I think about self-promotion: no one actually knows what works. Agent Richard Pine, quoted in the Post article, praises Kelly Corrigan’s self-promotional moxie, but points out that “Her videos could have not worked just as easily as it turned out they did.” The article goes on to say:

So all these shiny things that go fast are really fun to produce, and some are even fun to watch. But do they move units any better than the old-fashioned author signings in a local bookstore? Do they help a book sell more copies, or merely keep pace with others in the marketplace?

Nobody really knows, a range of publishers and industry watchers say. There is not a clear-cut means of connecting Web site traffic, say, to results in sales, and some experts warn new authors not to go overboard.

In this, despite the bells and whistles of the Internet, the promotional game has not changed at all. Publishers have never really been able to reliably tie sales data to promotional methods–and even if, in some cases, they can, what’s effective for one book will not necessarily be effective for another.

The key, I think, is to be realistic. Have a plan. Do your research. Know the options. Keep your head–don’t get carried away by the hype that surrounds every new self-promotional strategy. Keep it reasonable–for your budget, your time- and energy-level (don’t let self-promotion cut too deeply into the time you allot to your real job, writing), and your personality (do conventions stress you out? Do you despise Twitter? Then focus your efforts elsewhere). Even if you can’t really know what will work, be aware of what probably won’t–press releases, email blasts, “marketing” services that will charge you an arm and a leg for Web-based strategies that are either not worth doing or doable on your own (here’s one example).

And never forget that the basis of all self-promotion is something very simple, and infinitely complex: a good book. There really is no substitute.

Thinking About Your Writer’s Platform? Consider Your Online Reputation First.

MonicaValentinelli — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 23:47:21 +0000

by Monica Valentinelli

If you attend as many conventions as I do, you’ve probably heard about the importance of developing a writer’s platform. There are several books and articles on the subject, including this book featured on Writer’s Digest entitled Why All Authors Need A Platform Before you start thinking about your writer’s platform, I recommend considering what your overall online reputation is first.

“Search” Matters

Through my experiences in online marketing for different companies, one of the most common forms of “discovery” for a person’s name or brand is to simply type it into a search box. (Right now, Google holds the majority of the search engine market share worldwide and in the U.S., but the search engine traffic is constantly changing.) Search engine results pages continually “breathe,” offering different results depending upon a variety of factors.

Search is often referred to as “natural” or “organic” search, and is a key component for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). For any professional, search is extraordinarily important for visibility into your online reputation, for two reasons: One, it’s widely used by many people and two, it’s a “free” way to find information about you. Keep in mind that search engines don’t “care” if you have a writer’s platform or not. In fact, there’s a good chance you already have a reputation on the internet. Do you know what yours is?

Tracking Vs. Managing Your Online Rep

Everyone who has ever posted something online has an online reputation whether they like it or not. Managing a reputation, however, is a different story. Google Alerts are a great way to help you track your current online reputation, but that tool has its limits because it doesn’t tell you a) where you rank for your own name in Google or b) what people are typing in to find you online. You can, through Google Webmaster Central, see some great data not available through Google Analytics. If you haven’t set up Google Webmaster Tools on your website, I highly recommend it.

Tracking your online reputation is only part of the story. Next, you have to figure out how you want to manage and foster it. Take a moment and think about the content you’re posting on various websites and forums. Are you comfortable with complete strangers reading what you’ve posted? What about your employer? Agent?

Online reputation management not only includes monitoring what people say about you, but also your strategy related to what, when and where you post your content.

Your “Content” Comfort Level

For a variety of reasons, I take a pretty careful approach to what I post online. Internet content can be tracked, dissected, read, copied or pasted at any time on any website, regardless of when it was posted. Because of that, I have a broad variety of topics I typically do not discuss online including: personal finances, health problems, politics, religion and family, relationship or job troubles and data related to my book sales or popularity of posts. (Mind you, I’m not perfect.) On occasion I have whined about a bad case of the flu or talked about politics, but for the most part I steer clear of these topics. Why? Here’s my reason once again: at any time, anyone, in any place, can read anything you’ve ever posted. Your “audience” may include complete strangers that live in different countries, but also past, present and future friends, employers, agents, publishers, readers, family members, teachers, colleagues, etc.

When you post content online, it’s important to understand what you’re comfortable with people knowing about you both now, but also in the future.

Tarnished Reps and Their Effects

Unfortunately, there has been a rash of writers that publicly argue with agents, bash reviewers (or delete bad reviews), talk about their “evil day job” or even beg for money. It may take years, if not months, to build an online reputation, but all it takes is one flame war to bring it down into the gutter. (For a funny take on this read my post about How to Ruin Your Online Reputation in Ten Easy Steps.) If the idea of managing your online rep isn’t complicated enough, keep in mind that popular authors may have different methods of managing their online reputation than aspiring writers, simply because the volume and quality of posted content is dramatically different.

People have been sued, accused of plagiarism, lost their jobs or publishing contracts, gotten divorces or have ended long-term relationships over poorly-worded exchanges online. The things that you write not only affect your desired readers, but also the readers you least expect. Sure, you can delete your unwanted activity, but you might find that it’s more difficult than you thought. Twitter, for example, allows you to delete Tweets but they currently still show up in their Twitter search functionality for a period of time. Depending upon when you delete blog posts or other content, it can take up to six months for your content to fall out of a search engine’s index.

With that in mind, do you know what are you comfortable with sharing publicly?

Of course, the question that every author wants to know is whether or not a bad online reputation affects the sale of your book. It’s not uncommon for buyers to research things they want to purchase online before they go to a brick-and-mortar store in their area; no amount of web analytics data will show how many people do just that. While retailers are often obsessed with conversion (e.g. How many people that visit my website buy directly from me?), selling massively-distributed products (like books) online is extraordinarily complicated. Besides a typical buyer’s behavior, there are dozens of factors that may affect online sales including: technology, seasonality, paid advertising, SEO, social media, brand awareness, trends, etc. So the short answer is, “No one knows.”

“You” Or Your Rep?

While I believe you definitely want to be genuine online (especially if you network offline as much as I do), I also think you should define what you’re comfortable sharing for public consumption. Because you don’t have control over your audience, developing your online persona can be pretty difficult. After all, different people will find you interesting for different reasons. Your “reader” could be your editor, your neighbor — even Donald Trump!

So take a minute and search for your name. Seriously. You’ll be glad you did. Ask yourself a few questions to help you make your own decisions about your online reputation. “Am I ranking for what I want to rank for?” “Is my website up-to-date?” “What are people reading about me?” “Are the claims I’m making accurate?” Taking a peek at what content ranks for your name is only one aspect of online reputation management, but it’s a good place to start. (If you have a name that’s pretty common, I recommend adding a keyword like “author” or “writer” after your surname in your content to help your readers find you more easily. Be sure to read up on how to optimize your website for more information.) Remember, the old way of thinking said that if you searched for your own name, you were being vain. The new way? It’s essential to ensure that people not only find “you,” but also that they are left with the impression you want to leave them with.

In the end, remember that the web does not distinguish between your “online” writer’s platform and your online reputation. That’s something you’re going to have to figure out how to do.

About the Author

Monica Valentinelli is the content and web analytics manager for the digital sheet music retailer and publisher Musicnotes.com and the project manager for the horror and dark fantasy webzine Flamesrising.com. Monica is an aspiring novelist working on revisions for her first novel; she has several non-fiction, short fiction and game writing credits to her name including her recent work for APEX MAGAZINE Vol. III, Issue III and FAMILY GAMES: the 100 BEST.

To read more about Monica, visit her blog located at www.mlvwrites.com.

The Pros and Cons of Having Your Own Website

MonicaValentinelli — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:17:48 +0000

by Monica Valentinelli

Whenever I’m at a convention, one of the more common questions I am asked is: “Do I need to have my own website?” I always counter with, “Well, what do you want to use the website for?” Several have answered me either with the proud declaration “To get published, of course!” or “To sell my books!”

Having an online presence may or may not translate to your desired action, in part because your presence really is about “you” as a person rather than “you” the author. With today’s technology, the two are not mutually exclusive. Even if you post personal things on one particular corner of the internet, doesn’t mean that other professionals won’t read those comments and form opinions about you. In this way, a website can help you manage either the “first” impression that people have about you or a designated location you can send your readers, editors and other professionals to. There are pros and cons to having your own website that depend upon where you are in your career and what message about yourself you’d like to share.

It is easier than ever before to create a website that looks polished with a small budget. Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress are a boon to many writers because they allow you to schedule content and update your website fairly easily. Depending upon how you want to treat visitors to your website, you can do all your website updates (e.g. if you have a blog component in your website) weekly, and then set your content to automatically post. Since the technology does exist to “do-it-yourself,” many people (authors or not) are drawn to the idea of having their own presence online.

A website can help leave a positive first impression if it’s designed well and your content is professional. (By designed well, I mean easy-to-use and easy-to-read.) Typically, I recommend not posting extremely personal content on your personal website, because you really don’t know “who” the audience is going to be. It could happen that your neighbor, a random reader, or an HR professional stumbles across your website. For this reason, I tend to use different tools for different reasons. My own website (located at http://www.mlvwrites.com) is very different from my LiveJournal or my Facebook account because my content varies depending upon where I’m writing it.

If you’ve never been published, but you are an aspiring author, having your own website might actually work against you depending upon the content you post on it. For example, if an agent “googles” your name and comes across a website full of bad poetry or rants about not getting published, chances are you have potentially left a bad impression in that person’s mind. However, a web presence can work “for” you. Short writing samples and discussions about the craft of writing can show a positive attitude and an enthusiasm for the industry.

If you have been published, your website can also help your readers find a point-of-contact for you as an author. Once you have a website, you’ll need to maintain the technology and occasionally update it with news about your career or your writing for your readers. That strain on your time can work both for and against you. In one respect you’re providing content about you or your books for your devoted readers. In another, if you don’t plan on being online very much you might view those updates to be a chore. Some readers react positively to a static presence; some don’t. While you can’t control what your readers think of your site, an “official” web presence can be a really positive thing for your readers and your “author’s brand” because your news is coming from another authoritative place

For any website, whether you currently have one or not, I feel that the most important thing to consider is what message you are trying to convey. Even though a website isn’t a guarantee that someone will “discover” you, I like to think of it as a tool that you can wield rather than regard it as a room you’re hoping someone will stumble into.

About the Author

Monica Valentinelli is the content and web analytics manager for the digital sheet music retailer http://www.musicnotes.com and the project manager for the horror and dark fantasy webzine www.flamesrising.com. In her spare time, Monica enjoys writing fiction, and has over a dozen game and fiction credits to her name including: “Pie,” a short story found in the Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas, her recent novella “Twin Designs” which was part of the collection Tales of the Seven Dogs Society, her flash fiction piece “Prey” on Pseudopod.org with more works on the way.

To read more about Monica, visit her blog located at www.mlvwrites.com.

Resource: The Convention Finder

Mary Robinette Kowal — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:33:30 +0000

New writers are often given the advice that they should attend conventions. But what conventions and where? Back in March of 2008, SFWA member John Joseph Adams issued a challenge to readers of his blog, wishing that someone would, “Gather up data on all of the science fiction conventions held every year (here’s a good place to start) and set up a database so that users can enter their zip code to discover which cons are closest to them.”

Nathan Lilly, of Green Tentacles, did exactly that. The Convention Finder searches a database of cons based on location, making it easy to find the convention nearest you.

Reading Aloud

Mary Robinette Kowal — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:53:46 +0000

There are few things that can destroy a good story faster than a bad reading. At the same time, a really good reading can make an audience excited and drive sales. Short of a background in theater, how can authors improve their reading skills?

Let’s start by identifying the three pitfalls that most new readers fall into.

Volume
Speed
Droning

Volume

Many readings simply aren’t loud enough. You can’t rely on every venue having a microphone or good acoustics. Fortunately, your body knows how to be loud. The trap that people fall into is that they talk to the person closest to them, the front row.

Try this experiment. Step outside with a friend and have them walk to the opposite side of the yard or street. Now say, “Hello! How are you?” Your body will automatically make all the adjustments necessary for your voice to carry across the street.

The same is true when reading. Speak to the back wall of your space, not to the front row. If you are loud enough, you should hear a slight bounce as your voice hits the back wall and returns to you.

Speed

Many readers go so fast that their words become jumbled together. The problem is that for the listener, this is the first time they’ve heard the story. The analogy that I use is this: Imagine that you’ve got a mountain cabin. The first time you drive to it, you think, “This is the twistiest road in the world! I’m going to die!” And then gradually, you get used to it. A year later, a friend follows you home and they are driving so slow. That’s because they are behind you thinking, “This is the twistiest road in the world! I’m going to die!”

You are familiar with your text. This is the first time the listener has heard your words. Unlike printed stories, they can’t ask you to stop and repeat yourself. You need to speak slowly enough that they can understand you.

An ideal speed is about150 words per minute. It’s easy to figure out how fast that is by taking a cutting that’s 150 words and timing yourself. I’ll warn you, that it will feel like you are speaking about half the speed you think you should. Keep at it. When you get into performance, you will speed up whether you want to or not. Adrenalin.

Droning

Humans are animals and as such there are certain things we’re hardwired to do. One of those is tuning out sounds once we’ve identified them as not a threat. Droning or speaking in a monotone, sends a signal to the brain of the listener that this is a sound without information. They will, despite their best intentions, lose focus on what you are saying.

Again, trust your body because it knows what to do. Remember that the written word was created to record spoken language. When you are reading a story aloud, you are a storyteller. The way you tell as story to friends about an incident in your daily life is probably totally different from how you read. It shouldn’t be. Use the same animation and pacing that you would use when relating a spoken story when you are reading a written one.

So that’s how to avoid the biggest pitfalls of reading. But what about going to the next level? How do you make your reading exceptional?

The Basics

The first place to start is with your selection. When you pick a story or an excerpt from a novel, make certain that it is something that is suitable for being read aloud and fits your voice. So, what makes something suitable?

Primarily you’re looking for a small cast of characters. The more characters you have, and the narrator counts as one, the harder it will be to vocally distinguish between them. Unless you’re Mel Blanc, four characters, including narrator, is probably your safe upper end. (This will vary, obviously.) Within that cast, it will be easier if your characters are disparate in terms of type. For instance, a woman and a man are easier to distinguish than two women.

Second, you want a self-contained scene, so that the audience gets a beginning, middle, and end, even if it’s part of a larger whole. Now, if you are doing a reading to sell your book there is something to be said for ending on a cliffhanger, but make sure that it’s really a cliffhanger and not just a random stopping place.

Third, language that lends itself to an almost onomatopoeic sense. Rudyard Kipling’s Just So stories were written specifically to be read aloud. He uses rhythm and onomatopoeia to make really dynamic sentences that are just plain fun to read–he’s also writing for children. But an extreme example is sometimes useful, eh?

Really, what you want are words you can linger over and play with. Read this out loud and try to bend the words. “He jogged to the train station, three blocks from his house.” There’s not a lot you can do with it.

On the other hand, “…they ate wild sheep roasted on the hot stones” you can do a lot with. “Hot” for instance isn’t a true onomatopoeic word because hot makes no sound, whereas “sizzle” does. Make sense? But it’s a word that you can twist in a lot of different ways.

Try saying “hot” thinking about the following definitions and make the word mean something different each time.

Sweltering
Very sexy
Spicy
Tense

Try the same thing with “wild,” which is a great word.

So, you’ve found a selection with a small cast of characters, in a self-contained scene, with an almost onomatopoeic sense. Those are stories that will sound good read aloud, but are you the right person to read the story? Does it suit your voice?

If it’s a first-person story, you really, really need to be the same gender as the narrator or your audience will have a hard time getting past the audio cues. Even in third person story, you need to be aware that the narrator voice will often echo the thoughts of the Main Character, so picking a section where the gender matches will be easier on the audience. There are people who can get away with cross-gender roles, but it’s not easy. Know your limits.

Character Voices

The human voice is very flexible and we’ll look at the ways you can manipulate it. Remember though, that the voice uses muscle and you can strain it just as easily as an ankle. Pay attention and stop if anything hurts.

Your basic tools are Pitch, Placement, Pacing, Accent and Attitude.

Pitch is fairly self-explanatory. To check your range, hum from your highest to your lowest note. Of that, you probably mostly use the middle when speaking. While it can help color a character, it isn’t a good idea to rely on pitch alone to distinguish between characters, simply because you use more than one note while speaking.

Placement – There are several resonators which affect the tone of the voice. Put one hand on your chest and the other hand on your nose. Now hum through your range again. As you do, you’ll feel your chest vibrate at the low end and your nose vibrate in the upper middle. These are both resonators.

The facial mask has several other resonating cavities, which you mostly notice with a sinus infection. Ever wonder why you sound nasally with a cold?

You can move the voice from the front of the mouth to the back of the throat. Broadly speaking Russian tends to be at the back of the mouth while British English tends to be very forward.

Let’s, start with the nasal resonator, because it’s easiest to find.

Hold your nose, say, “Nnnnnn” and try to get your nose to really buzz.
Now remove your hand and try to talk, keeping your voice as nasally as possible. Use the phrase, “What did you say?” as your experimental phrase.
Try adjusting the pitch while keeping the nasality.

A little bit of nasality can be used to make a “brighter” sound.

Next we’ll move to the back of the throat. Open your mouth in a yawn. Let your soft palate rise. Try to talk. Does it feel like your voice is at the back of your mouth? Again, play with pitch. Placing your voice at the back of your throat can make a “darker” sound.

Now, we’re going to move a series of consonants from the back of the mouth to the front. As you do this, pay attention to where your voice feels like it is during the “aaaah” portion of each consonant sequence. It will be subtle.

The series runs like this. Guh, guh, guh, guh, Gaaaah, Kuh, kuh, kuh, kuh, kaah, (I’m not going to write them all out, I’ll give you the consonants and you can figure out the pattern.) G, K, D, T, B, P.

Reverse it, moving from Puh to Guh.

Try saying our test phrase, “What did you say?” at each “location” in the mouth.

Roughly, and very loosely, that’s placement.

Pacing – This covers everything from how quickly a character speaks to the types of rhythms they use. Is their voice quick, but fluid or is it staccatto. Slow and halting, or does it drawl?

Reminder: Generally speaking, always speak slower than you think you should when reading.

Attitude – You can tell on the phone if someone is smiling, right? Technically, it’s a combination of the things we’ve already talked about, but fundamentally it’s about attitude. If you know your character, you’ll know how they speak.

Take the phrase, “What did you say?” Say it as if you are angry. Now, curious. Disbelieving? Great. Now say it like you’re a parent and a kid has just talked back to you. That is attitude. Attitude is your friend.

Accent – Chances are, this won’t be something you need to deal with. If you do have a character who has an accent for God’s sake, make sure you can do it convincingly. There’s nothing worse than hearing someone butcher an accent, it will destroy the credibility of your story faster than you can say “Run fer the hills.” There are a lot of tapes that deal with learning accents for actors. If you’re going to do it, do it right

So, those are the basic tools. The nice thing about character voices is that you can be fairly subtle. Most of the time the Attitude and Pace will be enough. If you can affect Placement, that’s even better. What you are looking for is a voice that is distinct from the other voices and appropriate to the character. Of course, which of these tricks you use for each voice depends on the character for whom you are speaking.

Narrating

Narrating is at once the easiest part of reading aloud and the hardest. It is the easiest because you don’t have to worry about character voice or distinction–or do you?

You do. That’s why it’s one of the hardest parts. The narrator is a character in your story and is the one that needs to connect to the listener. The voice needs to be distinctive enough that when you say a line of dialogue and then return to the narrator, the audience recognizes the voice. At the same time, it cannot distract from the story by being so distinctive that it overshadows the words.

The initial instinct is to use your own voice. This is a good instinct, but I’m going to suggest that you use a specific form of your natural voice. When we’re talking, there’s a number of different shadings that happen with our voice most of which have to do with Attitude. Your voice changes, subtly, depending on whether you’re talking to your mother, your boss, your lover, or answering the phone.

Your phone voice is a really, really useful voice. It will probably sound professional, fairly neutral, and slightly more modulated than your hanging-with-chums voice. You know the one I mean, right?

So let’s take that voice out for a spin. I’m going to give you a chunk of text to play with from Ray Bradbury’s The Fruit in the Bottom of the Bowl. Read this silently first.

William Acton rose to his feet. The clock on the mantel ticked midnight.

He looked at his fingers and he looked at the large room around him and he looked at the man lying on the floor. William Acton, whose fingers had stroked typewriter keys and made love and fried ham and eggs for early breakfasts, had now accomplished a murder with those same ten whorled fingers.

He had never thought of himself as a sculptor and yet, in this moment, looking down between his hands at the body upon the polished hardwood floor, he realized that by some sculptural clenching and remodeling and twisting of human clay he had taken hold of this man named Donald Huxley and changed his physiognomy, the very frame of his body.

Here are very rough, basic rules to start with.

Speak slower than you think you should. As you become more familiar with text you will naturally speed up. This is the first time your audience has heard the words. You should be painfully slow, in your own ears.
A period means pause and count to 2.
A comma means pause and count to 1.

Go ahead and read it aloud, just thinking about the mechanics.

Now, the fun stuff.

Each sentence has a word or phrase that is the most important thing in it. Take the first sentence of the second paragraph.

He looked at his fingers and he looked at the large room around him and he looked at the man lying on the floor.

What’s the most important thing here? “the man lying on the floor.” Underline it, so that when you get there you put a slight emphasis on it. Now in that phrase, what’s the most important word? Man? That would be my bet. So a slight line goes underneath it, but you don’t want to do too much or you’ll break the rhythm of the sentence.

Placing emphasis can be as simple as putting more stress on that part of the sentence, the same way you put more stress on the accented syllable of a word.

There’s a simple exercise to make you more conscious of using stress in a sentence to change the meaning. Say, “The ball is on the table.”

Now I want you to answer each of these questions with the same sentence, changing only the emphasis of one word to answer

What is on the table?

The ball is on the table.

Now answer these questions using only “The ball is on the table.”

What is the ball on?
Is the ball under the table?
The ball is not on the table, is it?

There are other ways to do it as well. You can use a vocal tremor, a dimenuendo, a crescendo, tempo, aspiration or a dozen other tricks. The key is to decide how your character, the narrator, feels about the moment. Remember Attitude? Go through this block of text and mark the attitude that you think your character feels. The deeper the penetration into the POV character, the more attitude your voice should display.

Bradbury uses the word “looked” three times in that sentence. The echo of the word can be powerful if it’s used right. Take a minute and think about how William Acton feels about each of the things he’s looking at. Perhaps the emotions could be wonder, disorientation and horror.

Another section to pay special attention to is this bit, “he realized that by some sculptural clenching and remodeling and twisting of human clay”

The verbs “clenching” and “twisting” are particularly visceral. When I was talking about words that were almost onomatopoeic, I meant words like this. When you clench something it doesn’t really make a sound, but you can manipulate the word to create a vocal description of it. If you tighten your throat–clenching it–the sound of the word will change. Find words like these and see if you can wring the vocal description out of them.

So read that chunk o’text again–after marking it–and see how much emotion you can get out of it.

What we’ve done with this exercise is gone from an emotionally neutral narrator to an emotionally invested narrator. There are times when each will be the most appropriate choice. Remember when I said about each sentence having a word that’s the most important in it? When you are using these ornaments try to pick only one per sentence, otherwise it’s like having a superfluity of adjectives. It’s very easy to tip from emotional investment to verbal pyrotechnics. Make certain that you are making choices that advances the story.

With all of these points, the key thing to remember is that you are returning to a long tradition of oral storytelling. Don’t reduce your story to words on a page. Talk to your audience and tell them the story.

Get Personal with your Marketing Efforts

NancyFulda — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:38:51 +0000

In recent years, the topic of online marketing has become more of a focal point for several authors. Coupled with the changes in the publishing industry and advances in technology, I seem to have more discussions about online marketing than I do about writing fiction, in part because I’ve been involved in online marketing professionally for the past few years.

The words “online marketing” are fairly generic, since there are quite a few components involved with this business practice. Marketers (like myself) often utilize web analytics, social media, blogging, natural and paid search, online advertising, etc. For authors, online marketing may be a little more targeted to our writing and publishing efforts via social media and blogging platforms.

Since online marketing is part and parcel to my career, I don’t think twice about leveraging my knowledge for my fiction efforts. Not every author has my experiences, though, which is why I turned to a few authors to find out what they thought. Alex Bledsoe, author of Blood Groove and The Sword-Edged Blonde, had this to say on the subject:

“It used to be that a writer could simply write, and the publisher had a whole marketing structure there to take care of him or her. Back then it was feasible to be a recluse and still be a best-seller. It’s the romantic ideal of being a “writer.” Now, though, those structures are long gone, and the writer has to work in partnership with the publisher, or in some cases entirely on his or her own, to publicize books. The money simply isn’t there unless you’re on the level of a cottage-industry author. That said, there’s also unprecedented ways for authors to find readers and vice-versa.”

Just like an online merchant targets their efforts to their customers, any author can focus their actions to attract, retain and reach their readers. Some authors, like Pat Rothfuss, author of The Name of the Wind, chose a more blended approach to attracting readers:

“I maintain a blog, but I also really enjoy getting out and meeting people face-to-face at signings and conventions. It’s a real trade-off. The blog is more work, but it’s available to everyone with a computer. I make jokes, keep people informed about signings, and occasionally answer questions or give advice. Talking at a convention or a library is easier in many ways. You get to talk to people face-to-face and make a real connection. The audience is smaller, but connection is more personal, dynamic, and real.”

Pat’s approach works for him because, as he outlined in his quote, he feels comfortable making those face-to-face connections. Unfortunately, not every author may not have as much time to blog or go to conventions as Pat does, which means that their marketing efforts have to be structured differently. Does that mean that there’s “one way” to structure an online marketing plan? No, absolutely not. Often, the best online marketing plans are the most customized ones. For your work, that might mean you need to incorporate feedback from your agent or your publisher; another author might set up a content management plan (e.g. blogging schedule) to help them save time.

Unfortunately, time is a factor for online marketing because creating content can be time-consuming. Is it worth it? Lilith Saintcrow, author of the new release Redemption Alley, had this to offer:

“Fans want a personal relationship–that’s why they’re fans. A professional interactive presence online helps fans feel recognized and provides an emotional value to them, over and above the cost of a book. Fans are the people providing my paycheck; my professional online presence is a way for me to find out how well I’m earning that paycheck. It’s value added for the fans, and the best parts of a performance review for me, all rolled into one.

Developing a personal relationship with your readers does provide intrinsic value to them, because fans do enjoy connecting with the authors they admire. In online marketing, we cultivate that personal attachment through something called “personalization.” From creating personalized newsletters to writing about your editing process, personalization is about touching a reader in a place where they identify with you and subsequently, your work. By using personalization techniques, you’re fostering another form of advertising called “word-of-mouth.”

The easiest way to personalize your readers experience with your writing is to simply be online to engage your readers. The key to personalization is not “selling a book to an individual,” it means that you might field questions about your writing or talk about your hobbies or charities you support. It means, simply, that you’re both a professional author and someone interesting to talk to. How will you know when your efforts are successful? While there are multiple ways to track your actions, often the strangest things will start to occur. You’ll find yourself networking not only with readers, but with other authors and professionals, too.

Another good example of how an author effectively uses personalization is Yasmine Galenorn author of the New York Times bestselling Otherworld series. Yasmine is very active on social media, but she also blogs and offers a newsletter for her fans, too.

“I find that it’s important to establish a certain presence with readers, especially in today’s cyber-focused world. Because of the internet, authors have the ability to reach out to readers in ways like never before. However, there is a balance that must be reached. It can be dangerous to become over friendly with strangers who think they know you because of your books, and social networking can be time-consuming and tiring. But when kept in perspective, the net can also be a wonderful way to connect with readers and other writers. We can give our audience a glimpse behind the mask. While we ideally want our books to be the central focus—for writers of series, this can be an invaluable tool. Readers become heavily invested in our worlds. They want to know a little more about the person behind the cover, the creator of their favorite characters whom become beloved friends to them. And online networking can give them a hint of who we are.”

Yasmine is not alone in her experiences with her readers, for there is a challenge with becoming too accessible. Since the internet provides instant gratification with long-lasting effects, you’ll need to set up clear guidelines for yourself to manage your time and your communication. Regardless, if you do decide to engage your readers keep in mind that you’ll need to monitor the conversation. Unlike writing for a print medium, if you have a set-and-forget mentality for the internet, you may find yourself either completely removed from the conversation, or the subject of a delicate one.

Because the bulk of my published work has either been short fiction or game design, I’ve been able to experiment with the concept of personalization. One example of how I’m experimenting with different tools is my website for an urban fantasy novel called “Argentum.” Offering a portion of the first draft for a limited time, I’ve been able to connect with fans interested in watching the novel’s journey. Even though I’ve made mistakes, I’ve been honest and upfront about everything I’m doing, which has offered my readers an intimate look at the process of writing (and marketing) a novel online.

Just like my experiences with personalization might be a little different from the authors I listed above, yours will no doubt be different, too. Don’t be afraid to customize your marketing plan to your personality, because in the end “getting personal” means your readers will get to know “you.” What you want them to see is entirely up to you.

About the Author

Monica Valentinelli is the content and web analytics manager for the digital sheet music retailer http://www.musicnotes.com and the project manager for the horror and dark fantasy webzine www.flamesrising.com. In her spare time, Monica enjoys writing fiction, and has over a dozen game and fiction credits to her name including: “Pie,“ a short story found in the “Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas,” her recent novella “Twin Designs” which was part of the collection Tales of the Seven Dogs Society, her flash fiction piece “Prey” on Pseudopod.org with more works on the way.

To read more about Monica, visit her urban fantasy novel located at www.violetwar.com or her blog located at www.mlvwrites.com.

Networking 201: How to “work a room”

NancyFulda — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:02:55 +0000

Reprinted with permission from Diana Rowland’s web site

How to work a room:

When attending a social function–whether it’s a small gathering at someone’s home, or a political fundraiser, or a room party at a convention–you are being gifted with the opportunity to meet, mingle, and make contact with a wide variety of people.

Unfortunately, most people do one of two things: They either cling to the people they already know, or they cling to the first few people they meet at the function. What I intend to do here is give some pointers on how to get the most out of any social gathering, whether you’re there for business or for pleasure.

First thing is to do a general scan of the room. Most likely you will see that people have broken off into clumps, or small groups. If there is anyone there that you know, go greet that person first. That will break the ice for you, and give you a comfort zone to start from. If this person does not then introduce you to others in the group, you should go ahead and introduce yourself, saying something like, “I don’t believe we’ve met before. I’m [name].” Or, “Hi, I’m [name]. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” If someone looks familiar and you can’t remember their name, it’s absolutely perfectly all right to say, “I’m so sorry, I feel certain that we’ve met before, but I’m rotten with names.” Very few people will be offended that you could not remember their name, since 99.9% of the people in the world have a similarly lousy memory for names. The important thing–to them–is that you recognized them. As an added note, if you’re not sure if you’ve met someone before, err on the side of caution and say the “I feel certain we’ve met before” line anyway. If they then insist that there’s no possible way you’ve ever met before because they’ve been living on Moon Base Alpha, smile and shrug it off and introduce yourself anyway, saying, “Well, then, it’s good to meet you now!” Or something of that ilk.

Okay, you’ve met your first group of people. Now is the time for polite conversation on the order of, “Have you ever been to a convention before?” “Are you a friend of [candidate for judge]?” “Are you a neighbor of the Smiths?” Simple “ice-breaking” easy questions. Then you can move on to slightly more probing questions such as what people do for a living, etc. Try your hardest to wait for someone to ask you about yourself or what you do before talking about yourself. If you are at the party with a friend or associate, this would be a good time for you to “plug” them, i.e. “Mark here recently sold three books to Orbit!” Mark will love you for this, because he desperately wanted to shout this to the entire group, but since you did it instead, he can now appear modest instead of obnoxious. And, hopefully he will return the favor and do the same for you. (In fact, it’s a thousand times more effective to work a room with a partner, but that’s a topic for Networking 301–The teamwork approach.)

It would be incredibly easy and comfortable now to stick with this group for the majority (or entirety) of the party. Resist the urge! If there is anyone else you know at the party, this next step will be easier. Otherwise this will be the hardest step you will ever take. But you absolutely must excuse yourself from your comfortable little group and move on. Do so politely, saying something like, “Would you excuse me? I see someone I need to say hello to.” Or even just a plain, “Excuse me,” as you step away from the group. If you’re moving to another group where there is someone you know, simply repeat the introduction process from the first group. Otherwise, here are a few simple tricks:

Get another drink (though you should be extremely careful that you do not become intoxicated!) Attempt a bit of small talk with others waiting to get drinks. Introduce yourself. “Great party. Have we met? I’m [name].”

If there is food, get a bite or two to eat. Make small talk to others near the food about how great the food is, or (if the food isn’t very good) how pretty the tablecloth is. (Do not disparage the food or the drinks or the party in general at any time that you are at the party. You never know who might hear you, and it’s not a way to win points with the host or hostess.) Introduce yourself. “Great party. Have we met? I’m [name].” (Sensing a pattern here yet?) Also, you should definitely find the host or hostess or organizer at some point and thank them for the party. “Hi, I’m []. I don’t want to take up your time, but I just wanted to let you know that this is a great party. Thanks!”

If you don’t feel like getting anything to eat or drink, gently ease to the edge of a group that doesn’t appear to be having a private or intense conversation. At some point there will be a lull in the conversation and someone in the group will notice you, and might perhaps give you a questioning look. This is when you should give a friendly smile and say something like, “Hi, I’m doing my best to be sociable and meet new people. I’m [name].” Now you are back to the process you were at with your previous groups. See? Easy!

Also, if you are in a group of people and you see someone hovering at the edge, pay the social karma forward and invite the hovering person forward. “Hi there. Have we met before? I’m [name] and this is [name], [name], and [name].”

Continue to repeat this process, however don’t flit from group to group so quickly that it’s obvious that all you are trying to do is meet people. Also, resist the urge to constantly scan the room to see who’s there. You don’t want the people you’re with to think that you’re just killing time with them until someone better comes along. A good rule of thumb is that you should stay with a group long enough so that you know some sort of detail about each person there. (I’m not saying that you will have to remember the details later, but this will also encourage you to ask questions and allow other people to talk about themselves.) Then, excuse yourself from the group at a point where the others will be sorry to see you leave, instead of relieved to see you go. Sometimes this is difficult to determine, so earlier is always a safer bet. It gets easier to judge this with practice.

With luck, persistence, and a friendly smile, this process of mingling will allow you to have a few minutes with the majority of the people in the room.

A few notes: A social gathering is not the place to do business, even if it is a business-related social gathering. You can mention the business that you’re in, or the business that you’re interested in, but if you happen to encounter someone who could be of benefit to you in your business, it is far better to make arrangements to meet later. “Perhaps we could discuss this later at the bar? I’ll buy the first round.” This is especially important to remember for authors who might be shopping for agents and/or editors. Most agents and/or editors are very nice and polite creatures who might ask you if you are a writer. If the answer is yes, control yourself to absolutely no more than TWO sentences about your writing and your work. “Yes, I’m a writer. I just finished a book about a homicide detective who can summon demons.” Then stop talking. If, and only if, the agent and/or editor asks for more information, say, “I’d love to tell you more about it, but I don’t want to take up all of your time at this party. Perhaps we could meet at the bar later? I’ll even buy you a drink.” This would also be an appropriate time to hand over your card. (I once wrote “Good for one free drink” on the back of my card before handing it over. The editor thought it was hilarious, and did in fact meet me in the bar later. Months later, she remembered who I was, even though I never ended up sending anything to her. It’s best to be remembered in a good way.)

If the editor/agent declines your offer of a later meet up, realize that it is most likely not a rejection of you, but more likely due to the fact that they have little to no free time to meet up with someone who is not already a client. If your offer is declined, smile graciously and ask if the editor/agent has a card and then say, “I understand. If it’s all right with you then, I’ll just send you a proposal according to your guidelines.”

Other notes:

-If the room is absolutely packed to the gills and noisy as all hell, you might be better off staying outside or in the hallway. People will eventually gravitate out to cooler and quieter areas, and then it will be possible to carry on actual conversations.

-Eat only very small bite-sized things that you can clear out of your mouth quickly.

-If you are holding a drink, hold it in your left hand so that your right hand is a) free for handshakes, and b) it is not cold and clammy from holding a cold drink.

-If you smoke, try to resist going out to light one up until you’ve done a fairly thorough circuit of the room.

Good luck!