No One Will Buy Your Book

...if they don't know it exists.

Seems a simple concept, yes? Yet, as I troll around the Internet visiting writer's forums and chat rooms, websites and feeds, I can't help but notice the number of writers who don't quite grasp this concept.

"But, isn't it the publisher's job to market our books?" Sure, if you're James Patterson...

"The publisher has a vested interest in seeing our books succeed." Yup, your book and the other two hundred thousand books published each year...

Imagine walking into a supermarket to buy produce, only instead of one large aisle packed with coolers full of fruit and fresh veggies, the entire store sells only produce. One entire aisle is devoted to apples; hundreds and hundreds of apples, from all over the world, of all different colors and shapes and sizes. And the next aisle is filled with oranges. Only oranges. Grapefruit in the next. Asparagus in the one beside that.

How would you decide which fruits and vegetables to buy?

The end result of this little experiment? A lot of rotten produce.

And yet, I'm willing to wager that every writer on this planet has been inside a bookstore at least once. They've witnessed entire aisles filled with only mysteries. They've looked down the long, long center aisle filled to the breaking point with commercial fiction. They wandered into the far back, the brightly-colored section where children sit on the floor and play with toys while parents read to them. And they've looked behind those parents and their kids, and the rows and rows of young adult and middle readers - hundreds, maybe thousands of books depending on the size of the store.

Yup, your publisher does have a vested interest in seeing your book succeed...your book and all the other books just like it, sitting spine out on a bookshelf, waiting, hoping someone will slide it out and take a look, hoping the title alone will garner enough interest to at least get someone to look at the cover. From there maybe they'll read a blurb or two, might even flip it over and read the back cover copy. If you're lucky, someone might crack it open and read a few pages, and then, just maybe, drop it in their cart.

Do you really want to take that chance? You spent years writing manuscripts that will never see the light of day until you finally had one you thought might just be good enough. You edited, polished, edited, rewrote, edited...you even sent it to friends and colleagues to read, then edited, polished, rewrote, edited...

Then, you spent months, maybe even years, trying to land a literary agent, who spent months, maybe even years, trying to find a publisher, who spent months, maybe even years, working diligently to get your book to print. Twenty months later you're standing in that bookstore with it's long aisles and packed bookshelves and there's your book, a single copy sitting spine out, for all intents and purposes lost amongst a sea of books just like it, waiting, hoping someone might be so intrigued by the title printed on that spine that they'll slide it out and take a look.

All that work. All that time. Are you really going to sit back and hope your publisher does enough to market your book, to make it stand out from all the others around it, all the others that look just like it, and feel just like it, and sound just like it?

The truth is, nine out of ten shoppers know what they want before they even enter the bookstore. If they're not already looking for your book, they're probably not going to find it.

No one will buy your book if they don't know it exists.

What are you doing to create buzz? What are you doing right now, today, to get the word out?

For the sake of your writing career--and it is a career you want, yes?--you better be doing more than just relying on your publisher.

If you haven't already done so, check out MJ Rose's Buzz Your Book six-week online class. The creator of AuthorBuzz, the only marketing company designed specifically for authors, and a self-published writer turned International Bestselling Author, MJ's going to share her secrets come January with about 20 or so writers who want their books to stand out and be noticed.

Having helped host the Buzz Your Book class the past few years, I can give you hint as to what that secret is. Since I'm running out of time here, I'm just going to come right out and say it: Hard work.

You're a writer. You're soon-to-be published. You probably have a day job, a family, even friends. You probably don't have hours and hours of free time to invest in a trial and error marketing campaign to hopefully raise awareness of your book. So, take the time now to learn from one of the publishing industry's pros and learn how to market your book before it hits bookstore shelves, before happy readers the world over already decide what they're looking for, before it's shelved on a bookcase, spine out, beside hundreds of books just like it.

*****

Christopher Graham is a former reporter and independent bookstore owner. He’s currently the co-founder and technical administrator of Backspace, LLC (www.bksp.org) and co-hosts the annual Backspace Writers Conferences and Agent-Author Seminars. He also performs freelance technical work for the International Thriller Writers Association’s website. In addition to writing dozens of freelance articles for a variety of weekly newspapers on the Jersey Shore, his short fiction has appeared in The Blue Print Review.

With Help, Making the Leap From Aspiring to Professional Writer

by Sanna Levine

As traditional publishers prune their editorial staffs and booklists, aspiring writers are increasingly pressed to convince editors and agents that they’re bankable, agreed the panel of agents at the opening session of the 2010 Backspace Agent-Author Day in New York.

“Show me you’re a professional writer,” Elizabeth Evans, a literary agent at the Jean V. Naggar Agency told 120 delegates who gathered to pick the brains of agents, bestselling authors, editors, and social media gurus about how to make the leap from aspirating writer to published author.

The agent query letter, the first point of contact between the writer and the publishing pros, is the writer’s first opportunity to impress. In addition to keeping it short and sweet, said the agents, writers must distill the book’s style, plot, and conflict in about 10 sentences.

“I read about 150 queries a week,” said Eric Myers, (The Spieler Agency) at the conference’s first session, “Query Letters That Work.” “I’m curious about one-tenth of those.”

Writing a good book and writing a good query letter call on different skills. To get a feel for the marketing skills query letters use, advises Paul Cirone, an agent at the Friedrich Agency, read a lot of back flap copy. “Flap copy gives just enough sense of the place and scope and stakes of the story to get you to read on,” he said.

And the faux pas that make agents hit delete without reading the query? Unrequested attachments. Inappropriate genres. Simultaneous queries to other agents at the same agency. A dozen other agents on the “To” list. Gimmicky queries. Emoticons. An impersonal salutation. “This is a business,” said Joe Veltre, who recently founded the Veltre Agency. “When we get a crazy query, we e-mail each other.”

Peer review, both of the query and the manuscript, is an essential step before sending it to agents, according to a consensus of panelists. “Join writer’s groups and listen to advice from the readers with critical chops,” Veltre said.

It’s the Book, Stupid

Once the query attracts the agent’s attention, the book must deliver. “It’s the book, stupid,” said Lois Winston, an agent at Ashley Grayson Agency. “The most depressing thing is when the query letter is great and the book disappoints.”

If it were easy to write and market a financially viable book, professional advice – and meetings like the biannual Backspace conferences – wouldn’t be necessary. But it isn’t, says Donald Maass, an agent

representing bestselling writers for 30 years and himself the author of books and workbooks about writing.

“Show your protagonist longing for change and redemption – and the promise of achieving it and the obstacles in the way,” he said in a workshop modeled after one of his books, Writing the Breakout Novel. “Find a way to make the protagonists’ problems worse. With every page, raise the stakes. The constant simmering of tension in the background and overt tension in the foreground makes a book a page-turner.”

Maass derived this formula after analyzing hundreds of bestsellers for their common elements. It applies across genres – the romance novels, science fiction, historical fiction – and the full range of protagonists – everyman, hero, wounded dark hero, nonconformist. Without being formulaic, he said, the best-told stories share this formula.

Jerry Gross, a book doctor and editor of Editors on Editing, agrees that the protagonist must be a hero who overcomes obstacles. “He makes life happen; life doesn’t happen to him.”

Gross ups Maass’ ante a little bit, if such a thing is possible, if only for marketing purposes. “Start with a scene that grabs attention. Agents and editors make their thumbs up or down decision within the first 20 or 30 pages.”

The actual shape of the drama, however, tends to differ, depending on which side of the Atlantic Ocean it’s published. “Most American fiction is based on a quest, where the hero triumphs in the end.” In Europe, however, the hero is often defeated in the end.”

Get Your Name Out There

Even after the writer signs with an agent and the book is ready to sell to a publisher, the writer’s job isn’t done. There’s still buzz to be built and name recognition to cultivate. As publishers’ marketing and advertising budgets shrink and book tours become a fond memory, the author assumes more responsibility for the book’s success.

“There are people out there who care about you – or will care about you – and you have to find them,” said Don Lafferty, a social media consultant for writers. Increasingly, he said in a session called “Social Media Fast Track for Authors,” the author’s tools include blogs and social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Writer’s have four categories of social media readers, each with the potential to boost sales: readers, booksellers, colleagues, and “connectors” -- the people in PR, publicity, and traditional media whose job is to spread the word.

“Social media’s success originates with good branding through a robust web presence and good listening” through tweets, Google reader, and other listening tools, Lafferty said. “Listening well delivers a steady stream of leads.”

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

And if you go through all the right steps and still fail to publish? “Be happy,” said Neil Nyren, keynote speaker at the 2010 Backspace Writer’s Conference as well as SVP, Publisher and Editor in Chief of G.P. Putnam’s Sons, which under his leadership has led the industry in hardcover fiction and nonfiction New York Times bestsellers.

“Write every day,” he said. “Learn the business. And be happy.”

Many writers defer happiness, he said. “You know the line. ‘I’ll be happy when I land an agent. I’ll be happy when I sell that book. I’ll be happy when I sell three books. When I hit #1 on the bestseller list.’”

“These people are never happy,” Nyren said. “Be happy now.”

*****

Sanna Levine is a debut novelist with 25 years experience writing for trade publications. She attended a Backspace conference for the first time in November 2009 and went home with two requests for full manuscripts and a kick-ass query letter in case those requests don't pan out.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Writers

Originally posted on September 8, 2010. Reprinted with permission.

by Danielle Chiotti

September—ah, September! The hot haze of summer has blown away, and along with it our laid-back summer ways. The publishing industry, which has been snoozing away these last few weeks, is back from its vacation, and editors are at their desks and ever-anxious to discover that One. Perfect. Novel.

There’s something so energizing about back to school time. It always makes me think of getting organized, setting new goals, and accomplishing them. And is there a better time than back-to-school to refresh your commitment to your craft, your creativity, and your goals as a writer? I think not.

With that in mind, I’ve cobbled together a list of advice about the act of writing. You’ve heard some of it before, no doubt, but if you try doing just one of the things on this list,  you’ll see an improvement in your productivity—and your writing. [Find the list after the break.]

1. Write often. Blogging doesn’t count. Texting your friends doesn’t count. Tweeting that you’re thinking about writing doesn’t count. Facebooking that you have writer’s block doesn’t count. Unplug yourself from the white noise of social networking babble and write.

2. Finish what you started. You know how it happens—you wake up in the middle of the night with an idea for a novel that’s so brilliant, so amazing, that you simply have to get out of bed and write it down because you’re convinced you’re about to become the next J.K. Rowling. You work on it feverishly for awhile, then you start to feel kinda lost about where you’re going with the story, and before you know it, you’ve forsaken your novel for surfing the internet. It’s still there, languishing on your hard drive. You think of it fondly, but just haven’t found the time to get back to it. Guess what? Now is as good a time as any.  So whether you join one of those crazy nanowrimo thingies or set your own goals, commit to finishing a project.

3. Read well. US Weekly does not count. Sh*t My Dad Says (though hilarious) does not count. Sports blogs do not count. For your pleasure reading, choose something well-written (and maybe something—gasp!—out of your comfort zone) that will help you think about craft and inspire your own writing. Personally, I always seem to return to the classics. I re-read The Great Gatsby over the summer, and enjoyed it so thoroughly that upon finishing, I had to fight the urge to go back to the beginning and read it all over again.

4. Get out of your own head. Writing is quite the solitary journey, but just because you write by yourself doesn’t mean your work in progress should remain under lock and key until you’ve lovingly typed that final page. The best way to improve your writing (other than writing consistently), is to find inspired, like-minded individuals whom you trust to read and critique your work. So if you haven’t already, join a crit group, and if possible, make plans to attend writer’s conferences (either locally or nationally), where you can attend workshops, meet other writers, and get the chance to put your work in front of editors and agents.

5. Carry a notebook. Keep a notebook in your purse (or your man-purse or messenger bag or whatever guys are calling their purses these days). Use it to jot down sudden ideas, titles, thoughts, and impressions of what you see and experience. By jotting down things that touch you, impress you, strike you as beautiful or funny or odd, you’re giving yourself permission to take a break from the rush of daily life and reconnect with the world around you. It’s good for the soul—and for your fiction.

6. Set a weekly goal. Too often, I see writers tweeting away about being waaaay shy of their daily word count goal for their WIP (gee, maybe that’s b/c they’re tweeting instead of writing). Well, rather than set a lofty daily goal for yourself, why not try a more reasonable goal? With life being so busy, it’s entirely understandable that you won’t be able to write every day. So try setting a weekly goal rather than a daily one—maybe strive to write for an hour a day, 5 days a week, and see how that works for you.

7. Learn something new. The more you read and learn about the world, the more your writing and your characters will benefit from it. Read a book on a period of history that interests you, or on a subject that you’ve always been interested in that you didn’t know much about (llama farming, scuba diving, cheese making in France, whatever.). Stay curious about the world around you, and all of that good stuff will make its way into your writing.

Remember: Have fun with whatever you’re working on, and always seek out things in life that inspire you.

What about you? What books do you read for inspiration? Do you have any goals you’re working toward this fall? Do you have any tips for creativity and inspiration that you’d like to share?

*****

Danielle Chiotti is a literary agent with Upstart Crow Literary.  She has been working in publishing for nearly a decade. Formerly a Senior Editor at both Kensington Publishing and Adams Media, she has worked on a wide variety of books ranging from contemporary women’s fiction to narrative nonfiction, from romance to relationship stories, humorous tales and young adult fiction. Thanks to her extensive editorial background, she enjoys working closely with authors to develop projects. She welcomes first-time authors with a unique voice and point of view

The Burden of Good Taste

by Judith Lindbergh


I’m constantly captured by other writers’ stories – of course, their literary masterworks, but in this case I’m talking about their personal stories: how they struggled, how they anguished, how they sweated, persisted and survived (or sometimes not) until they managed to squeeze out something from their fingertips and hearts that moves us again and again.


I read these writers’ tales to find comfort in my own struggle, in the constant feeling that, despite my best efforts, yet again I’ve missed the mark. For writing, there is no formula, no rubric that explains for us unequivocally what we’ve done right or wrong. There’s only the subtle sense that, whatever it is, it’s just not quite there.


Ira Glass, host of “This American Life“, has as interesting explanation for this in this video:

It’s “because we have good taste”! As such, we know when what we’ve done is not up to snuff. If we couldn’t tell the difference, we probably wouldn’t sweat or drink or attend years of writers workshops or wake up to jot down notes in the middle of the night. We’d be happy with mediocrity and move on.


Instead we demand of ourselves months and years of revising. We subject ourselves to the opinions of others whom we hope – pray! – are wiser than ourselves. We tear up yet another stack of drastically edited pages and open up the file at Chapter One again. No one is asking us to do it. Very few of us have an anxious editor breathing down our necks. And yet obsession and the intractable vision of perfection spurs us to suffering. Or is it martyrdom? Or joy?


I came across two useful reservoirs of writerly angst, method and madness. First, from NPR.org, What’s The Story? Writers Reveal Why They Write, and second, an online treasure trove of literary greatness,The Paris Review’s entire archive of interviews with some of this century and last’s most influential writers.


Needless to say, I haven’t had a chance to do more than peek into this extraordinary repository. But what I’ve seen displays the wisdom of experience and the depth of thought that must inform all efforts to create something worthwhile. There is no author out there who hasn’t had their share of struggle, self-doubt, and failure, even after monumental success. It is all a journey and all of us are constantly learning and relearning our craft.


As Ray Bradbury succinctly put it, “You fail only if you stop writing.


*****
Judith Lindbergh’s debut novel, The Thrall’s  Tale, was a Booksense Pick and a Borders Original Voices selection. She is the director of The Writers Circle Creative Writing Workshops and works with professional authors, aspiring adults and children to share the joy and struggle of writing. Read more at her blog, The Writers Circle: Process, practice, hope, and the business of writing.

A Writer's Rebellious Streak by Author Cat Connor

People ask, “What do you do now?”

I say, “I write thrillers.”

Their eyes immediately glaze over.  I’m a kiwi and a writer. Therefore the perception is I write New Zealand fiction. We were all tortured by such in both primary school and high school. Forced to dissect the most boring stories and poems ever written. Were awesome engaging kiwi writers included? No, they were not. Our school journals were filled with yawn inducing stories of small towns where nothing happened, or beaches where nothing happened, or were about a bird that lived in someone’s backyard and nothing happened.

The minute the words, “I write…” leave my mouth I have lost any opportunity to explain it’s not NZ fiction. That is how very traumatized kiwis of a certain age are.

There was recently a discussion on a kiwi blog about that exact thing. 

The other very odd thing: (although now you know the basis it’s not so odd) Kiwis steer clear of anything written by a kiwi unless it’s a coffee table book about sheds or a memoir. Bookstores have dedicated displays for kiwi writers – a stand often in the middle of the store where few people go. It’s the dead zone.  I’m guilty of it too. I walk into a book store and skirt the dullness in the dead zone as I head straight to the thriller or alphabetical section. The pretty covers and bold lettering catch my eye.

Kiwis read genre fiction, international thrillers are huge here. (Lee Child etc, devoured) But, see here’s the catch… to be published in this country you must have a certain amount of NZ content. (But no one reads NZ set books, well not enough people anyway) Should you vary away from that strictly adhered to ‘guideline’ then you’re screwed.

That was about when I began to notice I had a large rebellious streak running through me. There was no way I was going to be told what kiwis wanted to read. I am one. I know people. I know what people read. I know what I want to read. More importantly I know what I want to write.

After being advised by Penguin NZ to go off-shore and look to eBooks because eBooks are the future for genre writers. I headed to Backspace and got some advice from trusted writers who get that New Zealand in not America. We do not have conferences where a writer can meet agents (unless you write romance), sending a full submission from NZ to anywhere else is a financially crippling past time and not one that most kiwis can keep doing (especially anyone with kids to feed). Too many agents still wanted snail mailed subs. Did I need an agent? Did I want someone else having input into my work? What were my alternatives? Was Penguin right?

It didn’t take me long to answer my own questions.

I took my rebellious self off-shore and discovered Rebel E Publishers in South Africa. What’s more I found a home with Rebel, and now have two books out in both e-formats and paperback and a third out late this year or early next.

Sadly it doesn’t change the kiwi thing at all. I’m careful to say, “I write INTERNATIONAL thrillers.”

It’s sad that this country demands something no one seems to want and that bad NZ fiction is still a form of torture in our schools. 

It’s sad when being a kiwi is detrimental to your efforts to be read in your own country.

Will that stop me? Hell no.

*****

Cat Connor lives in Upper Hutt, New Zealand (slightly north of Wellington), with her husband and children.

In the last few years her short stories have appeared in ThrillerUK, Mystericale, Bewildering stories, T-zero, The Writers Post Journal and Conceit Magazine. At the moment Cat is working through the edits for Exacerbyte,(the 3rd Conway novel) due out later this year, while finishing writing Flashbyte, (the 4th Conway novel). 

You can meet Cat's main character, Ellie Conway, on Myspace and Twitter. Cat is a member of Backspace. You can find her on Redroom, Myspace, Twitter, and Facebook. 

She writes amidst a chaotic life full of children! And is constantly wondering why she's always running out of duct tape. Cat's crime thriller novels, killerbyte and terrorbyte are available in paperback and eFormats from a bookstore or online store near you! (Including MightyApe and Fishpond here in New Zealand.) Links available at Rebel E Publishers And on her website.

Writing the Right Novel

by LJ Sellers


Have you set aside a novel in progress because it was just too hard to write at that point in time? I just did. The futuristic thriller is on hold and I’m back to working on the fifth book in my Detective Jackson series. I feel so relieved.  I still plan to write THE ARRANGER (set in 2023), but I’m not in the right space to do it now.

It’s hard for me to admit something is too challenging, but that’s the truth of this situation. Because I’m still a full-time freelance editor, as well as a novelist and book marketer, I have a lot going on. I feel overwhelmed most days and my writing time is limited to mornings only. Being creative moments after waking up is challenging enough without trying to write a novel that is outside my comfort zone. That’s part of the reason I wanted to do it, but I’m making such slow progress that it feels like not writing at all.

So I’m setting aside the futuristic thriller  for next year when I hope to have more time and focus to write. My priority right now is to get to a point where I’m actually making money from my novels and can give up some of the freelance work.

Which is why I’ve been in revision/edit mode all year, another reason the novel wasn’t moving forward. First I had to write and submit the second draft of PASSIONS OF THE DEAD (Jackson #4). Then I worked through line edits from my publisher for THRILLED TO DEATH (Jackson #3), which launches in print soon. I also worked through line edits of THE BABY THIEF, a standalone thriller that will publish next year and possibly sooner as an e-book.

If that weren’t enough, I decided to dig out a thriller I wrote years ago and revise it. That took time and focus. The plan is to publish the story, FATAL FLAW, on Kindle as early as next week. Now that Amazon is paying a 70% royalty, the income from this book will take me a step closer to my goal of making a living as a novelist. It’s possible my publisher will release it as a print book someday. It’s also quite likely that print books will become less and less of a consideration when I think about my future as a novelist.

I feel relieved and excited about my new direction, but also a little guilty.

Writers: Have you faced this situation? Have you put aside a novel because you just didn’t feel able to write it at the time?

Readers: When series authors take time off to write standalones, do you get frustrated waiting for the next series book? Do you try their standalones?

*****

LJ Sellers is an award-winning journalist, editor, and novelist based in Eugene, Oregon. She writes the highly praised Detective Jackson series: The Sex Club, Secrets to Die For, Thrilled to Death, and Passions of the Dead. She also has two standalone thrillers, The Baby Thief and The Suicide Effect. All her books are available in print and on Kindle and other e-readers for $2.99.

When not plotting murders, she enjoys performing stand-up comedy, cycling, gardening, reading crime stories, social networking, attending writers/readers conferences, hanging out with her family, and editing fiction manuscripts.

What It's All About by Author EJ Knapp

Ally Carter had a post on her blog a couple of days back where she talked about The Crazies. She summed up The Crazies this way:

“The Crazies are a hard thing to define, but most of us have had them—the what if this book sucks, what if this book tanks, what if my career is over, what if my career never really starts anxiety that comes with this business.”

Having just released my first novel, Stealing The Marbles, I can certainly relate to those feelings. The temptation to know where your book stands, how many have sold, whether it’s flying high or sinking like a stone is a strong one. 

I find a lot of this post-release time very frustrating. How do you get interviews? Reviews? Who do you ask to do a guest post on their blog? How do you get the word out to the Independent Bookstores? Where the hell do you find the time to work on your next book? 

On the one hand, you’re proud of your book and want to shout its name from the rooftops. On the other, you certainly don’t want to annoy people on Facebook, Twitter, total strangers who have book review blogs, shoppers at the local grocery store, strangers you run into on the street, by keeping up a constant barrage of ‘I wrote a book, please buy it’. 

I keep pushing the best I can, not really sure if the push is doing anything, but feeling like I should do something to promote the book. What I find really frustrating is, after figuring out a way to make a contact for a review or an interview or trying to get some information on how to go about doing this or that, I don’t get so much as a ‘f**k you’ in reply. How hard is it to hit reply and type ‘Thanks but no thanks’? You could even set it up as an auto reply if you’re that damn busy or uninterested. 

The one thing I haven’t been doing is checking to see how well the book is selling. Not that I’m not interested, mind you. It’s just that I haven’t a clue what any of the numbers you can find out there mean. I heard this morning that Stealing The Marbles is number 15 on Mobipocket’s best seller list. That sounds pretty impressive but what exactly does it mean in terms of sales? I haven’t a clue.

A quick check of Amazon shows the Tree Book version of Stealing The Marbles has a ranking of 180,564 while the Kindle version has a ranking of 78,883. Does anyone reading this have a clue what that means? I sure as hell don’t.

I had a feeling from the start that this whole post-launch time was going to be a time of elation and frustration and my intuition has, thus far, been spot on.

So, I will leave you with this: Hey, I wrote a book, it’s a really good book, please buy it.

*****

EJ was born during a thunderstorm in Detroit, Michigan, several years before the Motor City discovered fins.

Raised in a working-class, blue-collar neighbourhood, he morphed into the stereotypical hoodlum a teenager, growing up on the west side of Detroit, was expected to be. Dropping out of high school at sixteen, he hit the road in his 1960 Chevy and has, in one way or another, been rolling down that road ever since.

He has published numerous short stories in various on-line magazines. He is also the author of a nonfiction work, The Great Golden Gate Bridge Trivia Book published by Chronicle Books in 1987 and republished on Smashwords as Secrets of the Golden Gate Bridge.

He and his friend are temporarily nestled in the armpit of Florida, in the flood zone of the Suwannee River, hunkered down with his six cats and the inevitable strays that seem to gather wherever he settles.

He is currently working on his next novel, Meter Maids Eat Their Young, and dreaming of the day he can get back to his beloved San Francisco.

You can buy his tree book on Amazon.

 

An Author's Joys and Frustrations by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

In case you don’t know, The Sisters 8 is a nine-volume series of books for young readers ages 6-10 that I created with my husband Greg Logsted and our 10-year-old daughter Jackie. The series is about octuplets whose parents go missing, leaving the girls to solve the mystery of their parents’ disappearance while running the household themselves. There’s mystery, adventure and occasionally magic involved. Reviewers have compared the books to Roald Dahl, Lemony Snicket and Edward Gorey, and the sixth volume, Petal’s Problems, was released on October 4.

GREATEST JOY: 

Outside of the actual writing – how cool is it that I get to create something with my kid? – is the fan mail we receive. One kid wrote, “I would love to meet you, but I think if I did I would FAINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Or the letters from kids, their parents, even grandparents sometimes, saying a particular kid didn’t enjoy reading until the kid discovered The Sisters 8. Probably one of the greatest letters we received was from a New York City schoolteacher saying she attributed a special needs student’s increased confidence in general and in her schoolwork in particular to her discovery of The Sisters 8. It’s amazing to think that something my family originally conceived as something just to amuse ourselves has had such a positive impact on a child’s life.

GREATEST FRUSTRATION: 

That more people don’t know  The Sisters 8! Petal’s Problems is my 19^th published book. Thirteen of my books have been either for adults or teens and, for the most part, I’ve never had trouble getting the word out about those books. But I’ve discovered with The Sisters 8 that it’s very hard to get the word out about a series for young readers. Maybe it’s because most 6- to 10-year-olds aren’t blogging? So if you have small kids or know anyone who does or know anyone who works with kids, like teachers and librarians, then please help spread the word. You can start by directing them to the official Sisters 8 website where there are all kinds of cool features, like crafts and instructions on how kids can start their own book clubs, and even excerpts from the first five books: http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/sisters8/.

Thanks for listening!   


*****

Lauren Baratz-Logsted is the author of 19 published books for adults, teens, tweens and young children. Her most recent book is the YA Victorian suspense novel The Twin's Daughter. You can read more about her life and work at www.laurenbaratzlogsted.com.

Writers' Blok by Ja¢kson Pearce

In honor of three-day weekends, new world discoveries and mattress sales, enjoy another Jackson Pearce vlog.  STET! will be back Wednesday with a brand new post by a Backspace author.

Finding The Time To Write by Author Jackson Pearce

Words, Glorious Words

by Amy Nathan

I admit it.  I’m a logophile. 

I have to admit something else.  I looked up that word before I wrote this post.

You know, I went to my search bar and typed in “someone who loves words.”  And LOGOPHILE is what appeared. 

And that I am.

But just because I love words and finding the right word to say the right thing gives me a buzz, and just because I would wear words strung together around my neck in lieu of pearls, doesn’t mean I can always tap the one I want when I want it.

So where do I get the good stuff when it’s lodged way deeper than the tip of my tongue or its no where near the pads of my fingers? 

I love my Flip Dictionary.  Whew, just mentioning it makes me tingle.

Then there’s the internet.  I’m big on verbosity when it comes to a search engine, so I’d likely type in “Word that means very hungry but not exactly.”  Amazing what comes up. 

I also love the handy-dandy thesaurus that’s built into Word, and how when that doozie of a program doesn’t recognize a word, it gives you the option to look in other references.  Right there while you’re typing.  Heaven on earth. 

I also use a very special technique employing state-the-art technology and a nudge from a game show.  I phone a friend, or more likely, I instant message or Tweet a friend.  “What’s another word for being really annoying?”  And friend types back “Pester?”  I type “No, that’s not it.”  Friend types back “Bothering?”  I type back nothing because I’ve thought of the word I wanted and forgot to tell the friend.  Yes, I’m a favorite of those on my Buddy List.

Once in a while I pilfer. I hesitate to say plageurize because that’s something I’d never do.  But if someone I know is just, you know, talking…and says something in a way that sounds smooth to my ear, be it a word or a phrase, I hurry up and write it down and by gosh, I use it.  Sometimes I tell them and sometimes I don’t.  Sometimes it’s used in context and sometimes out of context, something I think non-writers have trouble understanding.  Say a friend was talking about a beautiful dress and I used the same phrase to describe a beautiful landscape or even a piece of artwork in a story — it’s my interpretation and re-use that is working for me.  And sometimes, I ask.  “Can I use that?”  It is free after all, so no one has ever said no.

I’m never content to walk away.  When I’m writing and that perfect word doesn’t come to me, the friends fail me and the reference books are not at arm’s reach, I write an adequate word or phrase in parentheses, so I know it’s just okay, but I’m not really feeling the (not love exactly but something like it).  That way when I don’t get held up, and come back to rewrite or edit, I know that there is work to be done and and a kick-ass synonym to be found.

Just the thought of it gives me goosebumps (or chills, or shivers, you know)!

And have you ever made a Wordle? Here's mine:

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Amy Nathan is the editor of STET! and the Backspace monthly newsletter.  She is also the owner of a new laptop which is why this post may look (find a great word that means unusual, yet funky).