Rolynn Anderson's Blog, page 8

How is it that I can crank out twelve 80,000 word novels, but writing a blurb for the back cover of any one of my books brings me to my knees?

I spend DAYS on blurbs when I could be writing thousands of words on my next novel; I agonize over wording those back-of-the-book three paragraphs  in ways I never do on my novels.

The challenge of a blurb is more than summarizing a whole novel in 150 words.  I can manage that task easily.  Instead the problem lies in my lack of understanding of what words compel a buyer to want to read my book.  Readers are smart.  They prefer books that are complex and accessible  but with unique and intriguing plots, spiced with interesting and believable characters.  But how do I convey the intricacies of my plot and the convoluted relationships of my heroine and hero in 150 words without either 1)confusing the reader, or 2) oversimplifying both plot and character?

Heavy sigh goes here.

I’m desperate for the reader to pick up my book and enjoy my story, but grabbing that reader’s interest in twenty seconds with a few words seems an impossible task, no matter how many blurb-writing courses I’ve taken to learn the craft.  So forgive me as I oversimplify plot, character relationships, and themes.  Trust me, the complexity, uniqueness and excitement is in the book despite the spare, banal nature of my blurb.

I had no idea how important a cover was until I needed one.  Now, with my second published novel blessed with a cover, I’ll tell you what I’ve learned.

Cover artists are powerful because great book covers contribute to sales!

Meeting with Lisa Dawn, my Wild Rose Press marketing director, at the Romantic Times Conference in Chicago, was the single most important event for me in four days of amazing workshops, lunches and networking experiences.  She knows the power of a book cover.  On one brain-picking occasion (that is, my brain picking hers), Lisa said that because we advertise our books on line, the thumbnail art of our cover is the single most important aspect in promoting book sales.  Think about it.  My cover, a mere inch and 1/2 by half and inch, has to ‘sell’ my book (along with the blurb, the reviews, etc.)

Did I know that fonts come at a price, along with artwork and spine work and back-of-the book work?  Heck, no.  Did I realize that color (or lack of it) and ‘framing’ of the art on the cover, are key concepts?  Definitely not.  In fact, we writers convey to our cover artists what the story is about and how they might present our plot lines, themes and characters on a cover, but once we’ve articulated the information and the vision, we leave the interpretation and the marketing skill in their hands.

The amazing Kim Mendoza created this masterpiece for my Funeral Planner Suspense series that comes out in October.  I hope you enjoy her art enough to take a peek at what FADEOUT has to offer!  Rolynn

I’ve been desperate to find cool new promo idea to share with my amazing author friends.  Got it!  QR codes.

They are simple and they are so cool.  Yup, Toyota wasn’t happy with the limit of the linear 20 character bar code, so they invented an information-rich QR code.  A recent RWA magazine article (“QR Codes: Start Scannin’ the News,” by Alyssa Goodnight, in the January 2012 issue) gave me the prompt and I’ve been QR’ing ever since.

Easy peasy (if you have a droid phone or similar).  Get your QR code on line.  Free.  What I did was insert my website and the QR codemaker interpreted it into a QR code.  I downloaded and resized the image.  Now it’s time to get the QR reader on your droid APP.  Check the reviews on different APPs before you download one.  You’ll want to test all the following promo QR images beforehand, with your scanner, to make sure they work.

Here’s what I’ve done with my QR code so far:

1.  Put it on a tee shirt

2.  Bought business cards and postcards with it

3.  Made a promo item with a QR label printed on it

4.  Bought a stamp of my QR code to use on fabric promo items (not sure if this will be too fuzzy to scan…I’ll let you know later if it works on media other than paper)

5.  Bought a BIG banner with my QR code on it…so customers can scan it from way across a room!

If you’ve played around with QR codes, I’d love to learn what you’ve found useful as well as fun.

Cautions:

The code clarity, size and a light background are all important.  Black against white is best.  I’ve read that the three distinct squares of the code must be clear to the scan-reader.

From what I understand, you can “buy” more information to add to your code beyond a simple website address, blog URL or buy URL.  I’m going enjoy using the simple version of QRing until I see a reason to buy such a service.

Another caution:  not everyone has a scanner on their phone.  It’s always best to display your website URL along with the QR code, so no one gets lost on the information highway!

Have fun QRing!  Rolynn

LAST RESORT – on sale now, print and download

The Wild Rose Press: http://tinyurl.com/682vwgv

Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/3cq6d7b

Web:  http://www.rolynnanderson.com

Blog:  http://blog.rolynnanderson.com/

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/63vsnmt

I am new to the business of marketing a novel.  LAST RESORT, a thriller/romance, released in the summer of 2011, is my first book to be published, so I have a lot to learn about how to punch up my sales.  I’m conversing in loops, blogging, tweeting and face-booking, but not as much as I should, largely because the big question of how to find my readers has me in ‘stand-by’ mode.  I want to focus my energy on writing my next book, but I’m willing to devote a calculated measure of time and gusto to reach my so-called target audience.

You see, I’m beginning to wonder if my book has a specific target audience.  Men seem to enjoy my story, as do women.  I had the odd experience of watching a 16 year old boy dive into my novel on a day when my husband and I moored our boat at his family dock.  Conservatives get a kick out of my fun fiction as do liberals.  A 93 year old friend (who rarely reads at all any more), zipped through my book in two days and pronounced it wonderful (even though it had ‘curse’ words).

So I ask you, how much time should I spend searching for my audience?  What methods have you used to identify your reader?  How are you reaching him/her?  Those of you with a broader-than-normal readership, like mine…what have you learned about how and where to sell your books?

As always, thanks ahead of time to all my author friends for sharing their wealth of knowledge.  I am where I am today because of your encouragement and your expertise!

SUSPENSE SPIKED WITH ROMANCE

LAST RESORT on sale now, print & download

Wild Rose Press: http://tinyurl.com/682vwgv

Web: http://www.rolynnanderson.com

Blog: http://blog.rolynnanderson.com/

FB: http://tinyurl.com/63vsnmt

You know the term ‘gobsmacked,’ don’t you?  Gob=mouth.  Smacked=hit  The whole thing about chicken feet has me gobsmacked.  Did you know that without the ongoing and grand scale sale of chicken feet to China, U.S. farmers would have a hard time making a living?  I’m not kidding you.  Chicken feet are a delicacy in some cultures, and our chicken farmers are banking on the fact.  Literally.

What I’ve learned about readerships across the world has some parallels to the chicken feet story.  Now, my target audience for light suspense, sparked with romance, is out there.  I know it.  You know it.  My problem is how to find them.  I depend on those readers to buy my books, much like those chicken farmers pray every night for a new culinary concept for yumming up chicken feet.

As I’ve learned about fiction genres, I’ve become aware that each group is on the hunt for readers of their particular story line.  I’ve heard about a Regency author who has enormous sales numbers in Indonesia and she’s invested in figuring out why that is true.  All of us know that readers across the world line up behind specific category romances:  Paranormal, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical, Western, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Suspense, Mystery, etc.  Readers divide themselves further by choosing unique romantic premises: M/F, M/M, M/M/F and so on.

Back to the chicken feet.  It behooves the U.S. chicken farmer and me, to find out everything we can about our customers.  If not, we’ll never sell our stories (or our lip-smacking chicken feet).

I write, I golf, I garden, and I boat.  Okay, that last verb didn’t quite work, even though it’s parallel, but you get the drift.  Consider for a moment the verbs that define you…your dedicated efforts, endeavors that pull you deeply into “them” and challenge you immensely.

Have you got one or two?  Good.  Keep them in your head.

I just finished reading GOLFING WITH GOD: A NOVEL ABOUT HEAVEN AND EARTH, by Roland Merullo.   I’m not sure I would have read the book if it hadn’t been my friend’s pick for book club.  Even when she told me the book was a quirky approach to spirituality, I viewed the first few pages skeptically.  Still, I love to golf, so the teacher/golfer main character and the faint hope that I might learn something to improve my game, moved me to read on.

A side-note about a fellow author (from his Amazon bio) “Roland Merullo’s best-selling novel, Breakfast with Buddha, recently went into its 11th printing. Like Golfing with God before it, and American Savior after it, Breakfast with Buddha treats questions of philosophy/spirituality from a multi-denominational viewpoint and with a healthy dose of humor.” http://www.amazon.com/Roland-Merullo/...

Turns out the book is a funny and instructive allegory about one multiply reincarnated human’s journey toward being a better person, and, you guessed it, becoming a better golfer.  In a good portion of the novel, God is an attractive woman with a case of the short-game (chipping and putting) yips, that our main character, Hank, is supposed to eradicate.  Typical of allegories, this isn’t about golf, it’s about character improvement.  Hank says: “When your soul is riddled with quirks and urges, old failures and fresh embarrassments, you need help.”  Turns out he not only learns how to be better person by instructing God, but he also sees how golf is a tool and a template for working out his internal issues.

Now it’s time for you to trot out the endeavors you chose, above.  Hank would say that if you pay attention to the elements of that endeavor (mountain-climbing, say), they will help you learn how to become the kind of person you want to be.  Is he (Merullo and Frank) right?  Take my writing.  Does the act of writing as well as the characters and stories I choose, teach me something about my own struggles and serve as a tool for managing them?

What do you think?  Cool or crazy idea?  My tentative take: I’m moved to think more about the concepts, because my golf game has improved since I read the book!