Have you ever become so deeply fascinated with the setting of a book that it lingers on, invading your mind long after reading is done? We all know good world building is essential to any story. But occasionally an author takes that art one step further, creating an environment that enthralls, breathes, lives.

I was very pleased that Mary asked me to contribute, because I’m a huge fan of well-realised places in fiction. Locations are definitely characters in my stories.

You can find my guest post on the subject at Mary’s site here.

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Tis here; go read.

You can find all the previous posts in the series here.

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Piracy and Free Content
by Foz Meadows

Neil Gaiman tried the free giveaway experiment a little while back – the readers of his blog voted which novel of his they most wanted to recommend to friends (it ended up being American Gods), and then he made it freely downloadable for a month, after and during which time his publishers monitored his sales to see what happened. Similar to Cory Doctorow’s experience, sales of ALL his books (and not just American Gods) went way, way up, which I think Gaiman compared to something of a library/lending effect, i.e.: most people discover new authors because someone, be it a friend or a library, loans them a copy of the book, thereby encouraging them to buy that author’s works in the future but without the initial risk of paying money for a product they might not like.

What I took away from the whole endeavour (apart from the fact that, when it comes to any experimental sort of book sale process, it is very helpful to already be a megastar) is that it seems to work best for writers who already have a published back-catalog. Putting up one book for free, for a limited time, draws attention to all your works together; and if people like the free product, then they’re more inclined to pay for your other stuff, because you are now one of Their Authors. Which could work as a promotion for a second book if done right, I think – but the call is yours.

Regarding people who download, I do think there’s something to the argument that the majority (or at least, a significant proportion) of DLs don’t actually constitute a lost sale, per se, so much as a parallel form of consumption. Allowing for the 10% of assholes who will always rather steal than pay even when they can afford it, I know there have been myriad reported instances where people who already own physical copies of books have sought out illegal digital versions because of region control issues in the legal versions, such as someone from Australia not being able to buy an ebook version of a novel they already own because it’s only published in America.

There’s a whole argument about poverty, too: that some people who would love to get books from libraries, but have no access to a decent catalog or even to reliable library services, use pirate copies because otherwise they couldn’t afford to read such stories at all. And then, as per the Gaiman instance, there’s people who are being judicious: who want to try something new, but don’t want to risk losing 17 bucks on a book they might hate. For my money, the only time a sale is properly ‘stolen’ by an illegal DL is when someone with money was willing to spend it on a readily-accessible product right up until they realised they could have it for free- what we might call the Asshole’s Choice. People who never had the money, the willingness and/or the access in the first place, though, are something a bit different.

There’s two related points I think are relevant here. One is the webcomic economy, where a large number of webcomic artists – despite putting their entire product archive online, for free, forever – still make enough money to exist doing just that. Admittedly, there’s the additional site traffic/advertising revenues to bolster them in that instance, along with sales of related merchandise like t-shirts and bags (point of inquiry: do any authors go down a similar line?), but many nonetheless sell their comics in physical form, too – and successfully.

Glancing at my own bookshelves, I count 9 volumes of webcomics purchased either online or physically in comic stores. But the point of mentioning this is less that they’ve made money doing something that started out free and more that people were willing to subsidise the creation of a free product either by buying merchandise or, in many instances, donating straight to the author, just because they liked what they saw – which I think is a worthwhile case study of human nature re free content in the DL debate.

The second point is second-hand bookstores, which for years were the only way I could afford to acquire new books. As a teenager, I might not have had the $15 necessary to pony up for a new release YA, but I always had five or so to spend on a second-hand paperback, and in almost every instance, buying books secondhand eventually lead to me buying that author’s later works firsthand, either as a treat, through parental channels, or because now, as an adult, it would be unthinkable not to.

Recently, a girl left a question on my blog asking what I thought about second hand books – whether I was for or against them as a concept, seeing as how authors don’t get any money from the process. Until she asked, I honestly hadn’t considered that any writer would object to them: the books have already been bought once, after all, and even if the publishers and authors get no more revenue beyond that point, dozens of other people might end up reading the story through the beneficence of a parallel economy who otherwise would never have been able to afford it. Seanan McGuire had a fantastic post about the value of second-hand books re poverty and the digital divide recently (http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/390067.html), but the point is this: in instances where people have been re-selling copies of legitimately-purchased ebooks online for cheap (for instance), are we better off condemning it as piracy or asking ourselves if secondhanding can translate to the digital realm, too?

I’d like to thank Foz for this great post. Weigh in with your thoughts. Is Foz right? And should authors consider the secondary income stream of related merchandise? I know I’ve often thought about it, but have yet to do anything. Also, Asshole’s Choice is now firmly in the lexicon of the modern age. Go forth and spread the concept.

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Writing With No Regrets
by Lorna Suzuki

In my short fiction-writing career, I’ve been blessed and more fortunate than most writers, especially being that I am an indie author.

I know many authors seek validation by being published through traditional means, even if it’s not one of the big six. They believe traditional publishing means they are now credible writers, even though some question the quality of some of these books being published. Once, an aspiring author seeking traditional publication mentioned that writers like me are ‘jumping the queue’, thereby making it harder for serious writers like him to compete in this business. I’ve even been to writers conferences and have overheard authors seeking traditional publication speak of how they’d ‘never stoop so low as to resort to self-publishing’ as they, with their noses turned up, rushed by workshops covering this very topic.

For me, I’m proudly indie and deliberately so. I never started writing fantasy with the intention of becoming rich, receiving a huge advance from a large publishing company or to have my name on the cover of a book. Maybe I’m naïve to be happy knowing my fantasy series is slowly but steadily gathering a following and making its way into libraries in Canada and the U.S., but writing fiction for a living was something I never truly considered.

I wrote my fantasy series as a lasting gift to my daughter. I created an imaginary realm filled with characters whose stories I felt were worth sharing with the world.

Now, for those who say I was never published traditionally because my work is mediocre and I just couldn’t land an agent: I’ve had two literary agents in the past, the last had an excellent track record with multi-book deals with the big publishing houses in New York. The whole experience was not exactly soul-crushing, more disheartening than anything else.

I released my last agent, and used Kim Roberts, one of Hollywood North’s most talented, knowledgeable entertainment attorneys (and producer of Sepia Films) to negotiate a wonderful option agreement with a fantastic production company.

Even with agent representation, it’s been either the editors or president of publishing companies I’ve met on my own, than via any agent introduction.

In the case of one successful, growing Canadian publishing company, the president of Libros Libertad had been following my writing career via the local newspapers and on TV. He contacted me when I was in the midst of meetings with a film producer seeking rights to option my adult fantasy series. The president of this company was pleasant, professional and as a writer, he understood the challenges many authors face, and that many worthy novels never get out there because the competition is fierce.

We did have couple of great meetings, and I did go as far as reviewing a publishing contract, but the burden of negotiating film rights had far greater precedence at the time, so I had to decline his offer of a multi-book deal to focus on this.

The next person interested in publishing rights for the adult fantasy came from the editor of Raincoast Publishing (their claim to fame was being the publisher of the Harry Potter series in Canada). I met Raincoast editor Jessie Finkelstein at the Surrey International Writers Conference. When we were discussing the Imago fantasy series, Ms. Finkelstein loved the concept of a strong female protagonist that had NO supernatural powers to take on much larger opponents. She found it refreshing that I featured a petite female warrior, one that used her intuition, years of training and smarts to overcome challenges to survive in a world that was not tolerant of her type, the only half human/half elf being in her realm.

Ms. Finkelstein loved that the female protagonist had fighting skills grounded in reality (based on my style of martial arts), blended in with a high level of action as well as a poignant story that touched on real world issues like overcoming racial and religious intolerance, male chauvinism, abuse and the will to survive against incredible odds.

She loved the concept so much, but Raincoast specializes in YA fiction, not adult fantasy. Because Ms. Finkelstein was aware of the level of violence and the sexual content, she had to ask: “Are you willing to rewrite your series for a YA audience?”

Now, some writers struggling to be picked up by a traditional publishing house denounced me as being crazy for giving the answer I did, but I already had a growing fan base of very loyal Imago fans, the ones who drop everything to attend my annual book launches to get their next fantasy fix. At the risk of being accused of selling out or disappointing the fans that loved the series written with an adult audience in mind, I had no choice but to say no to Ms. Finkelstein.

Do I regret saying no to her? Do I ever wonder what would have happened if I did rewrite to fit Raincoast’s catalogue? The answer is no.

Just last month, the executive producer who had optioned rights for the first three novels in the Imago series for a major motion picture trilogy contacted me. A publisher in Asia who knew of my series and the impending movie project asked the executive producer to contact me to see if I’d be interested in negotiating rights for the release of the Imago series in Asia.

I was flattered they wanted this, but for me, I didn’t even bother asking the executive producer who they were and what were they willing to offer.

Crazy, right?

Maybe… but for me, I’m a firm believer that things will happen when they are supposed to happen and whom they are supposed to happen with. And like my female protagonist, I tend to follow my intuition. I’ve spent much of my life multi-tasking on so many levels. Somewhere along the line, this means something can suffer in the process. I felt it was better for me to focus on one project at a time. As the creative consultant of the upcoming motion picture trilogy, it’s better to give the proper care and attention to the movie project now, than to regret it later.

Now, don’t get me wrong. When the time is right, under the proper terms and conditions with the most suitable traditional publishing company, I might consider an offer. It will have to be right on many levels for me to give up self-publishing, especially in light of the fact J.K. Rowling, with her Pottermore.com website, has almost single-handedly made self-publishing respectable now.

In the meantime, I’m quite happy being indie. For now, the executive producer wants me to continue building the fan base as we march toward full production! So, off I go, trying to win readers over one book at a time. And thank you, Alan, for inviting me to do this guest blog.

You can find Lorna on twitter: @LornaSuzuki
Or at her website: http://web.me.com/imagobooks.ca

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Creating the Illusion of Flesh and Blood on the Page

At the center of my debut novel, Inside the Outside, is a 15-year-old cannibal named Timber Marlow. Aside from being a cannibal, Timber is also something of a killer. But despite her penchant for eating flesh and occasionally taking lives, she is the hero of my story, which means I need for the reader to both like her and sympathize with her. So, how do you get the reader to care about a character who has done terrible, gruesome things? It’s not quite as complicated as you might think.

Any story worth telling has a character worth caring about. If you create a dramatic scene without properly developing your character(s), then your reader won’t care. It doesn’t matter how big the explosion or how bloody the body count, if you’ve not properly developed your character(s), then there is nothing at stake. Nothing to be lost or gained.

Consider any news broadcast you’ve ever seen. Invariably, there’ll be some tragic event being reported—a murder, a bus crash, etc. If the news broadcast simply says, “Something bad happened today and two people died,” you may very well think it’s a terrible thing, but you don’t really care (not if you’re being honest with yourself) because you don’t know who died. You’re not invested, yet. Suppose, then, you learn that the two people who died were a mother and her child. Then suppose you learned that the mother was in her mid-twenties and the child had recently learned to walk. Now, before you’ve even learned their names, you care a lot more about their deaths. You know things about them, you’re invested in their stories.

Of course, when you write fiction, you’re not dealing with real people, which means you must create the illusion of flesh and blood. While it’s important to have an engaging plot, your reader will have a difficult—if not impossible—time engaging in it if it’s not inhabited by a character (or characters) they care about. But, if you can successfully create the illusion of flesh and blood, your reader will read every page—every word!—of your story, because they’ll need to know what’s going to happen next, they need to know how your character’s journey ends.

How do you develop a character?

First of all, the physical description of your character generally doesn’t bare any consequence with regards to how real they are. Now, this doesn’t mean the physical description isn’t important; you definitely want to give your reader at least some idea of what your character looks like. However, don’t overestimate its importance. Unless the physical nature of your character carries some weight or influence on the overall story being told—such as a war veteran who’s lost a limb or a fantasy character with unique physical attributes, such as a Minotaur—it’s best to keep physical descriptions to a minimum.

More important than the physical descriptions is the nature of your character. The reader doesn’t care about your character based on how they look, but rather who they are. One of the best ways to illustrate your character’s nature is to show the reader what types of choices they make. And you want to dramatize your character’s choices so the reader can feel the weight of them.

Let’s say, for example, your character is walking down the street and they come across a bag filled with money. While there are many possible choices to make, the first and most immediate choice is this: Do they pick the money up or do they leave it on the street? The moment your character makes that choice, your reader has learned a lot about them.

Let’s say, then, that your character picks the money up. Now there is another choice to make: Do they spend the money or do they take it to the authorities? Again, this choice tells us even more about your character.

And, finally, let’s say, your character spends the money: Do they buy themselves frivolous gifts or do they use it to pay for something important, like a life-saving operation for their child? As you can see, the more choices your character makes, the more real they become. And the more real they become, the more the reader will care about them.

In the end, every character you will ever create will ultimately be some version of you. Even if you weave a character out of thin air, they must first be filtered through your imagination. You mold your characters as from clay and, in so doing, your fingerprints will be left all over them. Now, this doesn’t mean that your characters have to feel the way you do or make all the same choices you would make.

Even if your character is doing something that you would never do—like robbing a bank or running a marathon, for instance—the choices they make are filtered through your imagination. So while you may never have robbed a bank yourself, if this a choice your character makes, you must imagine how they would do it—which means that, really, you must imagine how you would do it.

Let me leave you with a simple writing exercise:

Think about someone you know very well (i.e. a parent, a best friend, a lover, etc.) and picture them in your mind. There are hundreds of details that make up that image in your mind, so imagine that, in order to describe them in prose, you were only allowed to select three details. What would they be?

Their height? The color of their hair? The size of their feet? The way their breath smells after a nap? The way their toes crack when they walk down the hall? Selecting only three forces you to focus on the most important traits. The same is true for your characters.

So, next time you begin to develop a character, try this:

• Select three physical traits—as in, three details that can be experienced by any one of the five senses.

• Select three abstract traits—as in three details that cannot be experienced by any one of the five senses.

• Select three things that make them happy.

• Select three things they are afraid of.

• Select three choices made that they are deeply ashamed of.

• Select three personal victories that changed their life.

And as you make notes of these traits, what you are essentially doing is building your character. So once you get back to your story—be it a novel or flash fiction or anything between—you can feel confident that your reader will care about your character, because you’ve taken the necessary steps towards making them real, creating the illusion of flesh and blood.

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MARTIN LASTRAPES grew up in the Inland Empire. He studied at Cal State San Bernardino, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English and a Master’s Degree in Composition. Inside the Outside is his first novel.

Inside Martin (Official Author Website): www.martinlastrapes.com
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Martin-Lastrapes/211321185585755
GoodReads Author Page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5041733.Martin_Lastrapes

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Go over and have a read.

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On romance… by Nicole Murphy

So here I am, a guest on Alan Baxter’s blog. A writer who deals in dark fantasy, horror, mystery and suspense. All the fabulously deep and dark and gritty stuff. And I write light urban fantasy romance. The Courier Mail described my work as “a lightweight but rollicking romp through the space where fantasy and romance collide”.

What does someone like me write about for the fabulous readers of Alan’s dark fantasy?

The answer – embrace the difference. Stand tall and proud and announce that I’m going to write to you all today about why I love romance.

A) Romance is about positivity and finishing on a high note. There are days when it’s really hard to find the positivity IN ANYTHING. So I can grab a romance and know that no matter how hard things get for the hero/heroine, it’s going to work out all right in the end. That’s a nice thing to be able to rely on.

B) Romance is about feminism and strengthening views of women’s sexuality. Now, I’ll admit it doesn’t always succeed at this – but then not every horror novel succeeds at being scary. But there are still huge tracts of the literary world out there where women are not seeing strong role models or being shown that they deserve happiness whether sexual or not. In the romance world, we get to see women taking on the men, beating them at their own game and getting the loving partner that can make their life better.

C) Romance is about acceptance. There’s such a range of relationships and sexuality in the romance genre. On the one hand there are the inspirational books – heavily based in religion (generally a Christian one) in which there’s no kissing or touching. On the other hand we’ve got erotica, featuring menages and S & M. At the moment, there’s a rise in gay romance (mostly being read by women, interestingly) and a massive call for romances dealing with different cultures and races.

D) Romance is about characterisation and world-building. Because of the restrictions on the plot (it HAS to end in a happily-ever-after or it’s not romance, it’s just romantic), you’ve got to work hard on the characters and world in order to create an interesting and exciting book that the readers will want to connect to. Some of the most memorable fictional characters I’ve come across have been in romance.

E) Romance is about escapism. People say this like it’s something bad but of course it isn’t. We all need to get away from the real world for a time – because we’re tired, because we’re stressed, because we’re worried, because we’re overwhelmed. A break from all this for just an hour or so can give us the push we need to move on and get through it. Most romances are written in a style that’s very easy to read and it means they’re easy to jump into, while away the time and then pop out of again.

F) Romance is about love, and love is one of the most powerful driving forces in human existence. Fiona McIntosh said it nicely on a panel at Worldcon last year – ‘if you’re not dealing with romance in your work, then you’re not dealing with the totality of the human condition because at the end of the day, we all want to be loved’.

I know romance isn’t for everyone. There’s things that I don’t like to read (and no, dark fantasy isn’t one of them ) so I can understand that you can give it a try and not find it your bag.

But I hope that if you’ve ever been inclined to bag romance, you’ll now think twice about it. Or at least go and read a few books (preferably mine!) before you put it down.

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Giveaway question – To win a copy of Rogue Gadda, tell me what you love about your favourite genre.

[Leave comments below and Nicole will pop back to see them. She'll pick a winner for the copy of the book - Alan]

Rogue Gadda

They came to the night that she and Hampton had made love. She hoped this was something the Firimir would skip through but no, she had to sit there in front of Hampton and relive those exquisite memories in the most humiliating fashion.

She wanted to squirm, both from embarrasment and arousal – Goddess, watching them together would set anyone on fire. Then she realised the Firimir could probably feel her arousal and embarrasment won.

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This is the first guest post from Kevin J Anderson – Seriously worth the read.

And this is my post.

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I’ve been watching his series with interest and today he has a post up that is an absolute must read. It’s from Elfwreck, “an avid (some would say fanatic) ebook reader with over 10 years professional experience with digital imaging and over 25 years with document conversion and editing.”

It’s a brilliant post, in three parts, covering loads of detail and I agree with every bloody word of it. Seriously – go now, and read.

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On Being An Indie Author: 5 Lessons Learned

Attitudes towards self-publishing or independent (indie) publishing are changing fast in today’s digital world. Print on demand technology is now mainstream and dramatic ebook sales have turned heads in the publishing industry, outselling hardback fiction last Christmas. More authors are now entering the indie publishing market because they realize it is within their control to see their book in the hands of readers. You don’t have to wait for the gatekeepers anymore and that’s exciting!

In the last three years, I’ve self-published four books and I would love for you to avoid the mistakes I’ve made! Here are some of the biggest lessons I’ve learned that will save you time, money and heartache in your journey towards becoming an indie author.

1) Know thyself. This ancient wisdom holds true in the internet age. To be successful as an indie author, you have to be willing to play around with new technology as well as take the risk of looking stupid or failing before you succeed. You need to be impatient enough with traditional publishing to want to embrace the DIY attitude. You have to consider multiple aspects of the process from writing, to building a platform, and then everything that goes into publishing (which is more than you think!) You have to be (kind of) a control freak and a perfectionist because you need to get everything right. Your personality definitely matters when it comes to indie publishing (although you can cultivate these personality traits!) Look at what you need to do and assess whether or not you are willing to jump in 100%.

2) Embrace technology. Print on demand changed my life as an indie author. It means you can load a digital file to a provider like LightningSource or CreateSpace and your book can be available for sale on Amazon.com. When a customer orders a copy, it is printed and sent direct to the customer. No holding stock. No upfront costs for printing. No shipping effort for you. That can save you thousands of dollars as you don’t have to order a small print run as old-style self-publishers had to. Please don’t print a garage full of books unless you have guaranteed distribution. Understand and use POD as well as ebooks and the cost of entry to publishing a quality product is much lower. Learning about publishing technologies and online tools like blogging and social networking are the linchpins of a successful indie author. You are doing yourself out of a lot of money if you don’t embrace the computer!

3) Treat indie publishing as a business. You are a small business-person which means you need to track costs and income. You are not just a writer when you go the indie route. I set up my own company when I started The Creative Penn, fully intending it to become a publisher as well as the vehicle for my speaking business and online book/product sales. It’s also good to remember that small businesses usually have a rough time for the first 3-5 years. I’m at the end of year two now and track all my sales as well as expenses. I still have a day job (like most writers) but the business pays for itself. This means I can budget for the inevitable costs of running a small business and also use the income to develop my business.

4) Use professionals for outsourcing. I have tried doing everything myself before i.e. book cover design, formatting of files for the Kindle, interior book layout etc but I have found that there are just some things I can’t do well enough to have a professional finished product that is indistinguishable from traditionally published books. In the name of all serious indie publishers, I implore you to use a professional copyeditor as well as a pro cover designer (unless you are highly skilled at either). Those two are critical for a quality output. I also recommend you use someone with technical ability for formatting ebooks and print output. It will save you time and a lot of frustration which is worth the money (see above for budget!)

5) Embrace marketing. When I self-published my first book, I didn’t know anything about marketing. I thought that people were just out there waiting for my book. After practically zero sales in the first month, I decided to learn about marketing. I read books, did online courses, listened to audios and played around with direct marketing. I made it onto Australian National TV with one press release, but I only sold one book so then I learned about internet marketing and blogging which has been the turning point for me. I had no marketing background but embracing marketing has changed my whole life. You need to learn to love it too as there are millions of books out there. How will anyone know about yours unless you start marketing?

Importantly, being an indie author is a great adventure where you can choose your own path. It’s empowering to spend your time writing and promoting your own books instead of chasing that elusive traditional publishing deal. There are also more success stories these days of indie authors getting print deals after self-publishing generated great sales, so whatever your goals as an author, independent publishing can be a great start. I wish you the best on your indie journey!

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Joanna Penn is the author of Pentecost, a thriller novel, out now on Amazon.com. Joanna is also a blogger at The Creative Penn: Adventures in Writing, Publishing and Book Marketing. Connect @thecreativepenn

Watch the book trailer for Pentecost here.

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