The "M" Word

A lot of people have this funny notion that when your book gets published the author gets to sit around and watch the money roll in. That's a good one! In fact, nothing could be further from the truth!

Let me give you the real scenario: A publisher decides your novel is good enough to publish. You sign contracts and end up on their publishing schedule (typically two years after the date of the contract). During those two years, you have plenty of time to come up with another great novel or two (more on that some other time) and prepare for your book's publication. Once the time comes, your publisher will probably have your book put into a catalog if possible and on their website. If you're really marketable, they'll spend the extra dollars to have your book put on the end of the bookshelves at the bookstores (the display near the aisle). After that, the ball's in your court.

Remember, a publisher will have dozens of books coming out each year. They'll spend a certain amount for the cover art and packaging, but the biggest marketing push will have to come from the authors themselves. And if you do it right, you don't even have to be that great of an author to be a best-seller! I know one author who uses a marketing company that also works with rock stars and bands. He spent thousands of dollars setting himself up with a big marketing push from them (including a great website...more on that later too) and now is one of the top sellers in the industry. The problem? He's written maybe two good books out of all the ones published. If he hadn't invested the time and money in the marketing push he has, he'd have faded into obscurity long ago. That just goes to show how important it is for you to prepare ahead of time for marketing your book!

You have to have something that will stand out from the crowd. Your book will be among hundreds of others just like it on the shelves. What can you do to make it stand out? Well, you don't have any control over the title or cover after you sell it to the publisher (yes, that clever title you spent weeks on is kaput when you sell the book), but you can control the marketing. Usual routes are book-signings, newspaper articles in local papers (remember, the average Christian fiction novel is expected to sell about 5000 copies in its lifetime, so a push from your local area can help put you over that number), and library visits. Remember those author tours you dreamed of with the all-expense paid trips to New York and L.A. to sign your book as hundreds of people waited anxiously in line for a glimpse of you? Keep dreaming. Unless you are a major moneymaker for the publisher, you'll be footing the bill and doing all the scheduling for any book tour you do. But don't get me wrong: the publisher loves this and they'll respect you if you go the extra mile and do one. Anything to help you stand out from among the rest at the publisher.

A few unconventional routes come to mind too though: a movie trailer for your book (mine's at: http://home.hiwaay.net/~mannaent/brian/Avenger1.html ). If you have the time and creativity--and if you've written a novel you've shown you can be creative--you can go a long way with this. It helps spur your readers to consider the book as more than just words on a page. Also, t-shirts or any kind of giveaway with your book cover on it is a big plus and worth the money spent. A person wearing your book cover on their shirt is a walking billboard for you!

Just keep these thoughts in mind as you sell your book. You'll have to make it memorable for your readers, and marketing is the key. Use the time wisely to prepare, and the day your book comes out you'll be ready to really show them what you can do!

Killing Off Those Favorite Characters

        I've fallen in love. While that may not sound too earth-shattering, what I have to say next probably will.

        I have to kill her.
        
        Now before you run screaming from me, let me explain. I'm hard at work on my next novel. I'm actually behind where I need to be, so it's more "I'm frantically writing my next novel" than anything else, but you understand. One of the characters in my novel is a sweet woman. She's beautiful, she's funny, she's humble, loyal, has a wonderful sense of humor and a great body yet never spends any time working out. All in all, she's perfect. She's also a walking dead woman...she just doesn't know it yet. You see, I created her with the sole purpose of driving my story forward with her tragic death. My hero chooses to ride the fence in the story right now, choosing to re-act rather than take the initiative in anything. With a simple sentence, however, his entire life will change as this budding love interest bites the big one and goes into that word processor in the sky. This will be the catalyst that turns my reluctant hero into a true warrior, ready to seek vengeance. The only problem I have is that I've invested so much time into this character I can't stand the thought of killing her.

        Then I put myself in my reader's place. If I'm this crazy about her, hopefully my reader will be too. Hopefully my reader will have visions of her future with the hero. Maybe they even think they see where I'm going with it, and think they can outguess me. As a matter of fact, I'm really hoping they say, "Oh, I see what he's going to do with this. I've seen this all before." Then, when they think they have it all figured out, they turn the page and find themselves staring at a corpse. If I've done my job right, they'll be as in love with this character as I am, so the shock of her sudden demise will come out of nowhere. Anger will boil (hopefully toward the villain of the story and not toward me) and they'll furiously turn pages as they stalk the murderer with my hero, seeking their own revenge. If I've done my job properly, they've invested so much into the story they won't be able to put it down until the last page is turned.

        Creating memorable characters is what it's all about. A good writer can make you so in love with a character they feel like part of your family. A great writer can make you so in love with a character they cry during said character's death scene. But a fabulous writer takes it one step further: he lets you fall in love with a character, see a future and a "happily ever after" for them...and then proceeds to kill them right before you eyes to take the story in a whole new direction or kick it into overdrive just when you thought you knew where it was going.

        Take Stephen King for example. No character is ever safe in his books. You'll learn to care about them and feel for them. Then he'll whack them and you're stunned. How could he kill such a valuable character? Why waste time creating someone so great just to kill them off? The reason is simple: to make you feel the story. You have no idea where it's going next, and you have no idea who stands a chance of getting out of it alive.

        But just as important, remember that just killing a character isn't going to do it alone. They have to be someone the reader cares about. An unnamed pedestrian crossing the street and becoming roadkill doesn't really move the reader. An old man who's been living in that neighborhood for years taking care of orphans on the street while delivering food to a shut-in old lady who never trusted anyone before but has finally opened herself up to love with this man just as he gets hit by a Hummer doing seventy through a stop sign...that's tragic.

        And that's the kind of moment your reader remembers.