Even more attention-getting for your novel or story are the thematic issues, the threads you pull from beginning to end of tale, and your platform or platforms if you wish to call them as such. To be honest, there is typically a major theme or platform *issue of some sort that is your chief thread, but more often than not in a novel, you will have sub-categories of theme. Some novels can have manay threads being pulled at once.
Each such thematic issue, be it as simple as a love interest for your lead character or as complex as the human condtion...what the flesh is heir to, is of interest to readers. When we set out to describe our books on to synopsize the action, we typically concentrate on WHAT happens rather than the deeper questons. In most descripts we get the WHEN, that crucial bit about the time period. One way or another it is made clear. We're always treated to the WHO of the story--whose story is it anyway. This is elemental for a book description that goes forth to entice readers into the setting, that other elemental: WHERE. So yes, all of these are crucial when discussing your book for the purpose of gaining readership. Let's recap: Who, Where, When, What happens (plot in brief). But there remains the other two journalistic questions: Why? and yes, How?
The why and the how of your story is going to deal with these threads, these themes your characters wrestle with. Why should we care about the story? Why should fictional characers care? Why is it important? Beyond why lies the How? How could it be? How could it happen? How could we sit idlely by and allow it to happen? How is it in our control, and how is it out of our control?
If karma plays a part in your story, can you use the term and the concept to entice people into reading? Fate? The inevitabilty of human interaction that leads to tragedy? Tragedy and tragic failure and tragic characters - these bigger picture issues? Perhaps we can't hope to cram them into the single paragraph or two required of a back flap on a book cover, but are there ways to utilize them in talking about our books to maximize reader curiosity that might lead to more purchases and thus more readers?
I have certainly not restrained myself from talking about the How and the Why in discussing my novels online whenever I find the opportunity to do so. I believe most readers are fascinated by the larger issues underpinning the dramatic and episodic elements of your novel.
It is for this reason that in discussing my Childen of Salem, for instance, on Twitter, Facebook, even Youtube, I am often asking the reader about their interest in a layered tale of human triumph as well as tragedy. In my Titanic 2012, I speak of the curse on the ship, the plague, the tragic end which was planned at some point and no accident when men have their backs to the wall. I have no qualms about calling my Inpsector Alastair Ransom a tragic hero as he is precisely that, and his own powerful, strong character traits for which we ambivalently love him and hate him will be his undoing.
Of human bondage - loved it as a title but what about as a theme or platform? Heir to flesh, heir to failure and ultimately death. When is death not with us? The heroic facing death heroically, stoically, or less than firmly? Loss of a loved one? Reactions of characters to tragic loss... all part and parcel of the bundled package
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When I was a younger man during those BK days (Before Kindle) I could seldom find a bookstore, be it a major giant brick and mortar place like B&N or a cozy independent bookstore that I truly felt a partnership with; I was never truly ever made to feel like anything other than a BOTHER in 99 percent of the bookstores I did signings in or dropped in on for a driveby signing. Now during these days of AK (After Kindle), I am in a true, strong partnership with a bookstore--the Kindle store which has expanded now beyond the UK and into Germany.The great thing about this partnership is that Amazon is a silent partner and yet they provide such excellent services. Reporting of sales top-notch, book returns no sweat--hardly know they exists, no one boxing up your book while you are still in the store signing! Distribution is worldwide. I can't enumerate all the wonderful pluses working with the Kindle Store. So I won't . Instead, I will draw your attention to the Kindle Community Forums, one of which I began called: What Mioves Kindle books off the shelf? (misspell and all - think iMoves). Here is a recent post I placed on the forum which you will likely find of interest if you are at all interested in ebooks sales or as an eReader, eReviewer, eFan, eAuthor, or ePublisher. The thread here has grown to 18,333 views, 550 posts, 38 pages.
Posted: Apr 20, 2011 3:22 PM:
. . . I can't tell you how many new readers, people who have never read any of my books before have discovered me--my sense of humor, my political rants, my self on facebook and twitter and have become readers of R.W. Walker's books due to getting t'know me through my tweets and remarks on facebook. In Bayou Wulf, for example, I have placed maybe ten or eleven facebook friends' names in the book after posting that I needed some extras on the "set" and to expect to be killed in a gruesome manner. I got all kinds of takers and all of them have family and friends, and all are anxious to see themselves in the book, and they will share their demise with friends and family. Hopefully, this translates into purchasing of more books, gifting to others, etc.
I belong to like ten chat groups, and many of the people on these groups, due to what I had to say, decided to check out my books. In other words, it is not entirely a "crap shoot" but more a good faith effort to convince eReaders that one's work--one's book--is worth anyone's time and money.
As to tagging book titles - what the hey -- it certainly can affiliate you with another author. First time I noticed this all of a sudden William Miekle and I were being treated like blood brothers. Checked out his work and sure enough...and Miekle is on fire, so I am associated with him, great. Associated with JA Konrath, what can it hurt? I've known Joe for years; he was best man at my wedding. But when his book pops up on my book page, and mine on his, I have to figure that does have an affect--my readers find him, his readers find me. We have also exchanged opening chapters of our books at the end of one another's kindle titles. (Now Kindle is po
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But then how do you get people to review your book on Amazon? I recently put up new books for sale from the Kindle shelf, and to entice eReaders to review my books, I announced on Facebook and Twitter that I would gift a copy of a book to anyone interested in then reviewing -- FREE copy of Childen of Salem or Titanic 2012 and the eReader need only review it in some venue, preferably Amazon.com.
I recently recieved on April 14, 2011 -- the 99th year of Titanic's launch and demise -- another review of my T2012. The reviewer, a Chris Gibson, eReader, Joe Q. Public, remarked on how chills went through him when he realized he had placed up the review on April 14th--the exact night 99 years ago when Titanic sank. Next year at this time it will be the 100th year of Titanic. One of the reasons I tackled the manuscript which posed huge challenges.
The reviews I have recieved from this process have been terrific and detailed for the most part. in which I said I would prefer an ugly, nasty, bad or tepid review to NO review but that I would take my chances as I believed strongly in the novel. They also inform me that I was on the right track with these two titles and offer some strong vindication as both books were repeatedly shunned by brick and mortar publishers, but in the case of querying myself as Independent Publisher for Instinct InK, I sorta knew I was not going to get a rejection slip or a pleasant 'no thank you'--HA!
It is rather nice to know your book is accepted by the publisher even before you have completed the thing. Independent authorship/publising with Amazon.com/Kindle. Nice to know you will be all-in on the cover art, the script/lettering, and no one to fight you on your title. All copy writing in my hands, so the description is precisely as I want it to be. Marketing director, PR person, responsible for it all, and oddly enough it frees me up from a myriad of problems faced when dealing with brick and mortar publishers, includinng no confusion on earnings and no delays on earnings. No more waiting six months or a year to learn of the progress or lack thereof of the book. Instead of royalty statements, I have unit sales reports. Instead of an agent and a publisher, I have a partner in crime who allows me to take 70% off the top to his 30%.
It is all so remarkable that even after placing up 46 booklength works on the Kindle shelf, I am still flabergasted that I am realizing a childhood dream--to be able to afford to publish myself so I don't have to cow-tow to anyone or wait on others I consider far, far too slow as I write too fast for brick and mortar stores but never too fast for the Kindle Store.
People looking for advice on practical methods for selling ebooks/kindle titles, find me on Kindle Community Forums. Hope to see you there.
Robert W. Walker
Killer Instinct, Cutting Edge, and Thrice Told Tales
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When first I placed my work onto Kindle, I was lucky to make 60 bucks a month. 
I had an amazing spike in numbers since taking these steps. Of course promoting online is of great import but so to is professional cover art and editing. When I am working on a novel, I put it out there what I am working on, and I invite early readers, and it is amazing how much readers will catch. One does not have to pay huge prices for good editing as I have found my best editors – amazing editors – who love to read a book BEFORE anyone else help me create the best book I possibly can. Most people believe they had to pay out big bucks for excellent editing but truth be told many people pay out big bucks and get punk editing for their money. I’d rather have a passionate edit with no exchange of money than a so-so one that cost me a couple thousand bucks, wouldn’t you? I edit myself heavily and do many rewrites, but I know I need more sets of eyes on the project, so as I am doing a work in progres
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This blog today is an open letter response to a question I often get other than "Do you eat raw meat?" How hard is it to put an ebook up on the Kindle platform? - That is the Question these days. This seems a question on a lot of people's minds, so here goes:
First off, really it is no bother to offer advice in any way, and I enjoy helping others out; part and parcel of my teacher-nature. Let me also say that not every title you place on Kindle is automatically going to sell a bundle; I have been up a year now on Kindle July to July. I did not start making good money until around January but last month my earnings doubled. It is also true that your favorite of your books may not be the big seller, and each book has its spikes and dips. My most schlockiest little
horror novel pubbed in the early 80s has sold this month alone 112 copies and counting. My but this is heady! Such figures! Never had such happen from sales in a box store.
Here is the thing - #1 if you have your rights free and clear, you do not want to pay someone wishing to take fifteen percent of the life of the book to place it up and do all the "work" for you. There are a number of people (Ithink Tony Burton being one, Hitch being another, Peggy J. Henderson being a third I know, along with my son and others who charge a one-time only fee for this EASY task. A computer wiz kid of ten or eleven can do this.
You have the option on your PC to save AS....you can take your doc file and save it as a htiml file yourself and pay no one....do it all yourself. It does take some learnng curve time, and it can get a bit frustrating but it is well worth your time. Others you know who are more proficient with converting a
doc file to html file - people you know may be willing to have you send them the doc file and convert it to html for you. You are going to upload the html file once you go through the three step process of successfully putting your book up on the amazon digital platform or dtp. Simple go to http://www.dtp.amazon.com/ -- this is where it is all done. Step one - filling in title, author, book description (must be flawless and exciting at once)...after which you will be asked to upload the doc/htiml file. Actually if you upload it as a doc file, Amazon converts it for you -- with a caveat -- as glitches occur in just about any conversion.
The directions will ask you to proofread your book once it is put up. If you see a lot of horrible problems, you need to resubmit it a second time. You do this by just uploading it again.
Cover art is the other larger problem you face. You can't use the art from the original publisher but you can upload a cover you have had designed or you can use a template that Amazon provides to create your own cover. Again a talented young person you know who has grown up with computers can do this in an hour. My son does all my cover art. Once he has something we agree on, he uploads it for me. It is as easy as uploading a photo.
ebook covers are front covers only. you may want to look at mine on Kindle Store pull-down on Amazon.com who have made it as simple and easy as they could. A quick scan/look over of what you see at www.dtp.amazon.com can allay any fears. www.Createspace.com is for PODs with Amazon. I have as yet to get those done.
Then once the book or books are up, the real work begins - you are the PR person, you are the Marketing team, and you must find ways to drive those voracious e-Readers to your e-Title. But that's another blog.
Hope this helps, dear friends,
Rob
> WWW.RobertWalkerbooks.com
http://makeminemystery.com/
Find me too on facebook; twitter
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If you are interested in increasing your sales of an ebook title such as a Kindle or a Smashwords title or titles, or if you are just putting one up for sale, there are some important steps you must take. This is hard-won truths via experience as I am dealing with some 44 titles on Kindle and many on Fictionwise, and one on Smashwords. First off....if you want to begin selling a kindle title or to catch attention of ebook readers for Smashwords or FictionWise, it has to be priced lower than you can imagine!
This may sound crazy but you can make more on a 2.99 book than on a 25 dollar one, so do not balk as pricing it LOW. Kindle owners believe they have a right to cheap, cheap, and cheaper ebooks; in fact, they so want free books. However, if their curiosity over a title can be piqued, they're willing to go .99 cents, 1.99 or 2.99. Getting much above this is flirting with turning your ebook into a stone as it will just sit there.
It is the way of Kindlers in particular. The entitlement has a history begun at the inception so roll with that. All my titles are 2.99 now. I had some cheaper at one time but bumped them all up by a buck as of July 1st. I am selling just over a thousand books a month from the Kindle Store.
Kindlers also go by cover art, title, and description. These may sound like simple steps, too simple (it can't be this simple, Prof. Walker), but this is me paying atteniton to those who have sold in the thousands on Kindle BEFORE ME.
The description must be flawless, not a letter out of place. Rewrite it as many times as needed, and it must excite the imagination. Fire it up; make it the most exciting story you ever wrote--the story of your story. The character name(s) need be there, the main thrust or "platform" along with the setting and some idea of the time period. The basic five W's of journalism.
Next if you intend to follow it up with a sequel, this sells more books ONLY IF the ebook readers KNOW this fact. My series titles do ten times the number of my stand-a-lones. Book length is important to kindle readers. I have a three-volume in one title, and I make that clear, and they love it. I play up the fact it is a FAT book at 160,000 words rather than the typical 80-90 thousand words. Kindlers love this as with the idea of a series.
I hang out at [email protected] and they have embraced their kindle writers on board there and in fact highlight kindle titles each month from KK authors ala the moderator, Bob.
I put up notices about the books on facebook, twitter, elswhere but I try to relay "facts" from my research or on the platform of the book to chat groups to lead into the book title, pulling back on htting folks over the head with buy my books statements.
There are also Amazon discussion boards where I drop in and do what I do on Kindle but they are not as embracing of author BSP there.
I am seeking other venues all the time. Finding review sites for kindle books and not kindle devices is hard to find. There are some e-magazines out there, and I am sure I am overlooking some possibilites.
Finally anyone interested in ebook salesmanship should follow Joe Konrath's blog and in his footsteps. Every step I have taken, Joe put me onto (or up to)save kindlekorner which I discovered. You have no idea how important it is to set the price right and get the descript down perfectly. Great. Now you know all the steps I took but of all of these steps price, descript, professional cover art, and sending the message of series or multiple volumes are the most powerful steps to take.
Rob Walker
Titanic 2012 - sneak peek opening chapters FREE for asking
http://www.robertwalkerbooks.com/
http://www.makeminemyster.blogspot.com/
"Dead On takes the reader's capacity for the imagination of horror to stomach turning depths, and then gives it more twists than
Thanks Rob. Like many writers I tend to write a description for the back cover and use it over and over again. However, this article has given me a bit to chew on. It makes sense to discuss different aspects of each book in order to broaden the interest. The idea had just never occurred to me. It looks like I'll be spending a bit of time reviewing my books to develop different perspectives to describe each one.
All important points, as ususual. I too have used the same synopsis far to many times for my latest novel "Sebastian Cross." I have a nd do share different passages that I feel are strong and might entice a would be reader. But I have lost a little interest in self promoting it over the months, just want to move on, get tired of revisiting it, and that's bad when I'm the only one promoting it-lol, And a few interested parties I guess.
I like to hear others interpretations of my themes, characters actions, quialities, and motivations, even if they're light years away from mine. That's where a writer can take a fresh look at something he's done and learn, and say, "yeah, I never thought of it that way, but sure, I suppose, why not."
I wanted to say something about the first paragraph of Robs Blog. not brand promotion but, all my books have a couple of re-occurring items. Someone is always wearing a Navy pea coat, a pair of Dan Post,cowboy boots, no matter where they live, and somebody is always using a Zippo lighter. Not always all three or in relation to one character, But they show up somewhere. I noticed it a long time ago and realized first: these are my personal accessories, and second, I used that before, I should take it out, and third, no, so what, I'll use it again, because I can and I want to.
I like to take some of my favorite things around me and kinda sneak them in.
Yeah, I have noticed Stephen King jusgt likes the sound of Redman Tobacco...I have overused the word Tarmac...not that I carry any around with me. HA!
Glad you guys could take something away from the article. It was inspired by my KDP thread on the kindle community forum "What Moves Kindle Bks. off the Shelf?" now nearing 30,000 views and has now 90 comments over 61 pgs. WowsAaaa!
Rob
I got more out of it than that Rob. I like to use real places, towns settings, certain landmarks. Even if I've never been there, I research the area, streets, busnesss, common names. I write slice of life literature, or ty to, and people are connected with where they are from, maybe conflicted-eithier love it or hate it. Still.
Clovis Point was set in Fallon NV. I have never been there, but I found out all I could about it, or at least all I needed. One scene takes place in a flea bag Hotel down town, once a grand jewel in better day's boasting that Mark Twain had slept there. I completely made it up, didn't excist as far as I knew. I did a radio interview for KHWG, (in Fallon NV) and the station manager/dj/interviewer, brought it up, and told me that it was there, that when he read it and thought I must have been there before. That I had described this place perfectly right down to the broken, black and white tile foyer to the creaking wood staircase, even the desk clerk. I assured him that it was just a coincidence,"That's cool, but I have never been there," I said. he didn't buy it, I don't think. kept going on about it for a while.
It's things like that, that really get me. I love it. Connecting with people through a small scene of fiction to the point they'll almost argue with you about it. And what of this place? This old hotel I'd never been to? or had I?
These are the little pay offs for the reader but also big pay offs for the writer.
After I write a book sometimes I'm surprised to find out what is hidden beneath the surface of my words and compelled me to write what I did.
Morgan Mandel
Morgan-yeah, things creep in. things going on in your life or peoples lives around you. Things from childhood. sub-conscience. I think we're way off Robs subject but it's fun to discuss and contemplate where those hidden things come from.
During the final draft of "Sebastian Cross" I bought a book at a flea market by Robert(I think) Shattuck, "Forbiden Knowledge." It's about the effects literature and science througout history. Facinating. I was barely into it when I discovered, this is what I wrote about, this is what Sebastian Cross is about, under the surface. I knew this as I was writing it, but to read about it, in a non fiction format, an analitcal way, was pretty cool. I thought I was being clever and original. Ha-vanity I guess.
Spinoff conversations are what this ACME place is all about, Kevin. No problem. Glad to hear these details.
rob
I had always been interested in this. The John Lennon/Catcher in The Rye, senerio is probably the most infamous, But it goes way back...before Dante, before Homer, One drops in, in the right time and the right place in every centry and changes everything.
But I'm not qaulified to write a book on human psychology or cultural behavior. Plus... it wouldn't have been near as much fun.
I first read about it in High School. in the author's notes in the back "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." Of course Lennon was shot about the same time, and I was like, what the hells going on? What's the big deal with Catcher? Well...nothing really, if your of a sound mind, but if your not, well...