Mars Needs Writers
  • Blog-O-Rama
  • The Store Thing
  • That Thing We Did
  • The Contact Thing

A tale of two betas...

5/27/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
...and who is to say whether one is "more" right than the other? (Hint: We are. We wrote the damned manuscript, we get to say which reader is correct on this one.)
 
A couple of years ago, we wrote a young adult mystery novel incorporating horror elements and a bit of romance. Something Wicked was strong enough to find us an agent, not quite strong enough to find us a publisher. (Penguin Books said nice things about the story but they failed to say the nicest thing of all: "Contract enclosed.")
 
Later, the story found us an e-publisher (who was kind enough to say, "contract enclosed"), but our relationship splintered right around our fourth editor...the editors kept quitting the company, not us specifically...so we took a giant step and became our own publisher. We enjoyed the process so much that we turned down a contract for The Atheist's Daughter and published it ourselves, too.  We just kept doing this and, today, we've published several titles, including a few we don't talk about here.
 
Mostly, we've loved the process. The one part we haven't loved? Something Wicked never found an audience. It just keeps dropping further and further down the sales chart. No one has offered an Amazon review for two years. The last e-book download was three months ago. Unlike the fish in the photo above, our poor novel is dead in the water.
 
It happens to writers all the time. Yesterday, Harrell wanted to find a novel by Ron Goulart. R.G. was a prolific novelist in his day but his fiction has disappeared from our local library shelves. It's also missing from the shelves of the last bookstore we visited.  If a good writer like Goulart can vanish, what hope have we?
 
Since we're our own boss, we decided to do a SW rewrite. The changes are subtle -- tying SW into the world of Atheist's Daughter -- but significant. Then we edited, then we rewrote, then...we were confused. Was the book any better, really? Did it still flow? Would it grab an older audience? After reading and re-reading the pages, we no longer knew. We cried out for beta readers and, to our joy, a pair of them appeared.
 
It took a few weeks but the results are in. The book is great. The book is boring. The opening sets the tone perfectly. The opening should be dropped. People can relate to our heroine. People will think our heroine is whiny and self-obsessed.
 
So, yeah, two different readers, two different viewpoints. We actually -- this is so stupid -- checked to see that we'd sent each of them the same manuscript. One of our betas loved the book, highlighted the sections she really liked, and offered to share her feelings on Facebook and Twitter. We declined...see last week's post about promotions...but we were flattered. The other beta hated the book, highlighted the pieces he really hated, and offered some suggestions to try to save the story. He was sincere and did this out of the kindness of his heart.
 
We're grateful to both of them. But, all things considered, we think we'll go with the lady that thought the book was terrific. In a week or so, the new version will be released into the wild. When that happens, we'll let you know (and we may make it free for a few days. We're still discussing it. We'll let you know about that, too).
 
Currently watching: Storage 24 on Netflix. This is how you do low-budget horror....
 
What the hell?: The complete and unabridged audio edition of Aly's Luck is available here for $1.99. If one of our wonderful readers hadn't dropped us a line, we'd have had no idea. Last time we checked, Amazon wanted $19.95 for thing -- and now it suddenly cost less than the price of a Starbuck's coffee? Well, that explains our latest royalty statement....
 
Currently drinking: Lagunitas Sucks, BrownShugga Substitute Ale. Not wine, we know, but how can you not try a drink with "sucks" in the title?
 
Quote o' the day: “A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.” -- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

0 Comments

Some people struggle with the 'book promotion' thing...

5/20/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
...and we like those people. We don't read their novels -- after all, we haven't heard of them or their creations, so why would we be interested in their writing? -- but that's one of the downsides of avoiding book promotion. If people don't know about your work, they're unlikely to buy it. (Well, duh.)

We’re terrible at promoting our work and that’s why our own sales figures are so dismal. (Yes, that IS what we tell ourselves on a regular basis.) We mention this today because we recently picked up a free Kindle book, courtesy of eReaderIQ, that promised to help us correct that problem. In this ebook bestseller, the author shares her secret behind tens of thousands of paid downloads.

What specifically does she do? She promotes her work endlessly. Specifically, she tweets. On the hour, every hour, and sometimes twice an hour. Every tweet includes a pitch to buy one of her books.

Her tweets go something like this: You know what's great? My book  GUN-JITSU: ENTER THE FIST! Also, powdered milk! It's so handy!

I bought my mother a copy of my book GUN-JITSU: ENTER THE FIST! She says it's the best thing since powdered milk!

My kitty is named GUN-JITSU: ENTER THE FIST! Just like my book! Uh-oh, I think I'm allergic to powdered milk!

Personally, we hate the hard sell but not everyone agrees with us. Twitter is so happy with the idea, they’ve developed an auto-tweet, allowing the Twitter-pated to queue up their messages and send them night and day. If you’d like to use the auto-tweet, you’ll need to find it yourself. We think it’s the devil’s work and we refuse to help.

We complained to a writing buddy but he told us that all of the shouting is worthwhile. He admits he’s been a little obnoxious, pushing his first novel on Facebook, and we’d agree. His self-promotion has resulted in a low two digit sale number (as in, less than 20 buys) but he counts it as a win. We count it as a reason to avoid his Facebook page.

It was right about then that we wandered over to Absolute White and found a voice of calm restraint. Specifically, we discovered Jane Wallace-Knight. In a forum devoted to book promotion, she wrote, "I have my first book coming out next week and as I'm British I hate bigging myself up and am full of self-deprecation."
 
We liked her immediately. We also liked the phrase "bigging myself up" and, since we're the best in the world at self-deprecation, we felt we could relate to her feelings. Also, on alternate Thursdays, Renee proclaims that she’s British, too. We immediately went over to Jane's blog site, only to discover that her posts were as modest and polite as she is. She's joined Twitter but we aren't following her. Without even meeting the woman, we suspect she hates being in the Twittersphere and her tweets will reflect those emotions.

Jane will blog, because she must, and she'll tweet, because she should, but she'd much rather be writing. We've been in her shoes so we know she feels obligated to do some kind of promotion. Since her novel -- The Holy Trinity (The Wolves of Gardwich) -- is about to be released into the world, we thought we'd lend a promotional hand. A sister-to-sister (and one brother) kind of thing.

Picture
We thought it best to approach things gently so we knocked softly on her electronic door but only asked three questions:

How did a nice lady like you decide to start writing m/m erotica?

Jane: I started reading fanfiction when I was about nineteen and I found that there was so much more m/m fiction than there was m/f. I also found the quality of writing to be better and less self-indulgent. At first I would skip over the sex scenes, just wanting to immerse myself in the written world, but eventually the love stories written there would pull me in. I decided to start writing some myself and by then m/m just seemed to come more naturally to me, which is perhaps a little strange in hindsight as I am a straight female.

Does your mother know?

Jane: No. She knows that I write and that I have a book series coming out, but she doesn't know what it's about, much to her frustration. The sex scenes in the book are pretty explicit and the thought of my mother ever getting hold of it and reading it is enough to give me nightmares.

What's the storyline to your story and, since we're on the subject, why is it the best novel ever written by anyone anywhere ever? If you deny it's the best novel ever written, we'll just know you're being modest.

Jane: It is by no means the best novel ever written. I didn't set out to write a life-changing book that tops best seller lists. My book is a love story that will only appeal to a select group of people. However, if you are the sort of person who likes the idea of a werewolf, a vampire, and an angel falling in love then you might want to give it a read.
 
Jane's novel comes out in June from Siren Publishing. Tell 'em "Renée Harrell sent me" and they'll look at you oddly.

Reading: Bill Fitzhugh's Pest Control. Such fun.
 
Quote of the day: “The less you have to sell, the harder you sell it” – Tim Minchin, Matilda the Musical
0 Comments

For weeks, nothing happens...

5/13/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
...and, then, on the same weekend, our small town decides it's time for a little fun. To that end, they arrange for the Highlands Games out by the lake and a combo art show/wine tasting in the downtown district. Decisions, decisions.
 
In case you haven't gone to a Highlands Games event, the festivities exist to celebrate all things Celtic. There are bagpipers and dancers, herding dog exhibitions and athletic events (people toss heavy things as far as they can be thrown). There are booths selling food, drink, and t-shirts. This time, there was even a whiskey tasting.
 
We decided to skip the Highlands Games for three reasons. One, both of us would prefer to be there as participants instead of observers (but we don't get to play. Damn our lack of Celtic heritage); it just seems like it would be a lot more fun. Secondly, neither of us really, truly enjoys whiskey. Even the good stuff.
 
And, far from last, we would have had to buy tickets. It cost $16 a person to walk through the gate. For $16 a person, we reasoned, we could buy a pretty decent bottle of wine.
 
So we went to the town's other celebration of life. We did this because, one, we like art; two, we like wine; three, and far from last, the show was free for anyone who came downtown. In case you haven't gone to an art show/wine tasting, the festivities exist to celebrate good art and delicious wine. There are no bagpipers or dancers, no herding dogs and the only athletic event is pretending to be sober when you've spent too long sipping at the tiny little cups that contain the grape squeezings.
 
When we arrived, we found booths lining the streets and vendors selling food, drink, art and wine. We also discovered there were people selling jewelry and pottery, cowboy hats and bumper stickers. Wind chimes were available, meat seasonings merited their own booth, and there was a pasta company selling...well, pasta. We walked past every booth and all of the random musicians strumming on their random instruments. When we were done, we found very little actual art available for sale and most of those pieces were pleasant and a little, uh, boring. Why?
 
"People who come to a street fair could care less about artistic merit," one vendor/artist told us. He said this without bitterness but, then, his flower-filled booth was directly next to the kettle corn vendor. He was eating kettle corn as he talked. "They're looking for something sweet to eat and something fun to drink. If it's cheap enough, maybe they'll get some watercolor lilies. People want 'pretty'. They want 'pleasant'. These days, they don't want to be challenged."
 
Well, now we know. Freshly enlightened (and intrigued by the homemade fudge at the corner booth), Renee has decided to put away her latest canvas (the layout currently features an early-1960s Ken doll and emphasizes castration). Let this be a warning to you, too. If your artistic project is dark, gritty or unnerving, set it aside. Let the Chicken Soup for the Soul series be your guide. Somebody somewhere has sold over 100 million copies of those things.
 
Meanwhile, our most popular Kindle title (sadly, dark and gritty) has barely crossed into the four digits.
 
Currently drinking: Pillsbury Wine Company's WildChild Red. If you can find it, you should try it.
 
Currently enjoying: Better Off Ted. Why didn't we know about this show when it was on the air? (We're watching on Netflix.)
 
Quote of the day (just because): "Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'" -- Mary Anne Radmacher
 
Kettle corn recipe: Thanks to the good folks at AllRecipes.com -- here

0 Comments

Well, pardner, here we are again...

5/6/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
...and we've got the saddle sores to prove it. We mean this literally. Once again, a life experience has made us a little wiser in the ways of the world and just a tad bit disillusioned.
 
While you slept in this weekend, we got up early, drove for many miles, and joined over a dozen other greenhorns on a trail ride. Half of the team was eager to ride a horse again -- "You know, in case we ever write a Western" -- and the other half was too distracted by the televised NFL draft to realize that this was a bad idea.
 
Why was it a bad idea? Neither one of us had been on a horse since we were children. You know, back in the days when our bones tended to bend instead of break. But TravelZoo was offering a half-price coupon so how we could lose? We made our reservations, showed up on time...and discovered that the world had changed since either of us had climbed aboard a pony.
 
In the days of our youth, if someone had a horse, they'd throw a blanket on its back, toss an eager if unsuspecting child on the blanket, and see if the kid survived. For both of us, this had been a plan that worked. No longer. Apparently, there were no lawyers in the olden days because the 21st century ranch requires a few more rules and regs before they'll let you on their well-worn nags. Everyone is encouraged to wear a bicycle helmet (no one over the age of eight wore the bicycle helmet); no one is allowed to wear a hat that doesn't have a chin strap (several people wore hats without chin straps); and everyone is required to sign and initial three pages of legalese that indemnifies the ranch in case anything happens, up to and including the Apocalypse.
 
There were three categories of riders: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert. A "beginner" was anyone who'd ridden 50 times or less. With this stipulation, our particular collection of riders were all beginners. (One cowboy confessed they almost always have all beginners.) Then it was time to giddy-up.
 
If our experience is typical...and we both suspect it is...then our forthcoming Western will not be an exciting novel. It will go something like this: Twenty minutes into the trail ride, Tex Branigan began to pray something would happen to break the monotony. Even this early in the morning, he thought, it’s so damned hot. I should have worn my hat, chin strap or no. Oh, God, we’ve still got over an hour to go. Unless…could my watch be broken? Oh, please, let my watch be broken.

Just ahead of him, the beautiful Annie D’Orville straddled her steed with an easy confidence. She thought to herself, why does the horse in front of me keep pooping? I don’t care what anyone says, it really stinks. Oh, there it goes again. That’s like twenty pounds of product, green and chunky and awful. I should ask Tex how long we've been out here. The ride should be over soon. Right? Right?
 
On the plus side, it was a safe ride. There was a brief 30-second interval when the lead cowboy mistakenly had his horse move faster than a slow and terrible walk. The moment this happened, his supervising cowboy called out for him to slow down. "It's all fun and games," he cried, "until we have to fill out an incident report." 

*sigh*
 
When we got back into town, we ran into an old cowhand. We mentioned that, as brief as our experience had been, we'd actually come up with a saddle sore or two. "Next time, wear pantyhose," he told us. "All the cowboys do. Cut 'em off above the knee, they really cut down on the friction."
 
Cowboys, incident reports and pantyhose. We're telling you, the fantasy is gone.
 


0 Comments

    Come on in! This

    is the electronic home of Renée Harrell. Did you bring any wine?

    Picture

                       Renée         &       Harrell


    It's about time you got here.

    We aren't kidding about the wine.
     
    This is where we talk about writing...
    ...our writing, mostly. We also discuss kiva.org, Hunting Monsters Press, the magic bakery, self-publishing, pseudonyms, life itself -- a bunch of things.
     
    Thanks for stopping by. It wouldn't be the same without you.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011

    Categories

    All
    101 Things To Avoid Doing Before You Die
    101 Things To Do Before You Die
    2012 Zinfandel Les Enfants Terribles
    50 Faust Dates
    50 Shades Of Grey
    5 Star Reviews
    Abigail Breslin
    Acting Classes Melbourne
    Acx
    Age Of Dinosaurs
    A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius
    Alex Adventure
    Alex Cross And The Big Bag Of Gold
    All Saints' Day
    Aly's Luck
    Amazon
    Amazon Eu
    Amazon Prime
    A. Meredith Walters
    American Horror Story
    Amy C. Cosper
    Angelfall
    Animasher
    Annual Income In Tajikistan
    Aphrodite Hunt
    April Fools
    Arizona
    Arizona Museum Of Natural History
    Ashes & Ink
    A Tale Of Two Cities
    Atlanta Nights
    At The Mountains Of Madness
    Audiobook
    Audiobook Narration
    A Very Scary Solstice
    Azatamut
    Azerbaijan
    Babelcube
    Bad Book Covers
    Bad Monkey
    Bag Of Bones
    Baking
    Beautiful Disaster
    Bestessays.org
    Best Fat Burner Pills
    Best-seller
    Best Sellers In Kindle
    Better Off Ted
    Betty Willis
    Bibliomancy
    Bigstock
    Bigstockphoto.com
    Bill Fitzhugh
    Black Adder
    Black Eyed Peas
    Blake M. Petit
    Blast Vegas
    Blog
    Blog-O-Rama
    Bobcat Goldthwait
    Bob's Burgers
    Book Reviews
    Bookrix
    Book Trailers
    Breathless
    Brown Recluse Spiders
    Bucket List
    Buffy The Vampire Slayer
    Business Insider
    Buzz Bernard
    Cambodia
    Can
    Candace
    Cara Nelson
    Carl Hiaasen
    Cassandra Parkin
    Cassysailermoon
    Cast A Deadly Spell
    Castle
    Casual Gourmet Chicken Sausage
    Celtic Cross
    Ceromancy
    Chanel
    Chicken Soup For The Soul
    Choluteca
    Chris Pine
    Christopher Marlowe
    Chuck Palahniuk
    Clams
    Climb Mount Everest
    Cobblestone Press
    Cockneys Vs Zombies
    Cold
    Cooking With Pooh
    Corante.com
    Cover Design
    Crank: High Voltage
    Createspace
    Cynthia Vespia
    Damned
    Dancing Days
    Dark Shadows
    David Danger
    Dead Sparrow
    Dean Koontz
    Deanna Lee
    Dean Wesley Smith
    Deep Thoughts
    Demon Hunter: Saga
    Depois Que Tudo Ficou Ruim
    Destined
    Detective Novels
    Digital Science Fiction
    Directorio
    D.I.Y. Or Die
    Doctor Sleep: A Novel
    Donald E Westlake
    Donuts
    Dusk Till Dawn The Series
    Easy Peasy
    Ebook Booster
    Ebook Pricing
    Edge Of Tomorrow
    Eerie
    Ellery Queen
    Emf Meter
    Enter The Fist
    Ereaderiq
    Ereader Iq
    Eric Shanower
    Escudo
    Eyewall
    Fake
    Fan Letters
    Faust
    Fawlty Towers
    Felicia Day
    Fergie
    Fifty
    Fiverr.com
    Fl
    Flu
    Fortune-telling
    Fotolia
    Fox In Socks
    Frankenstein
    Free
    Free Kindle Books
    Fried Cockroaches
    Fugu
    Futurama
    Gabbiano Chianti 2010
    Gale Haut
    Geoffrey Chaucer
    George C. Scott
    Germentrude Boggmonstro
    Get-rich-quick
    Ghost In The Invisible Bikini
    Giles
    Girl Detective
    Glee
    Go!Animate
    God Is Dead And I Don
    Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake
    Golgotha
    Golgotha Ar
    Gonxha
    Good Ereader
    Good Show Sir
    Gotham
    Grandma
    Grandmas Denturesc1be08622e
    Griffin Hayes
    Guardians Of The Galaxy
    Gun-jitsu
    Halloween
    Harry Potter And The Big Bag Of Gold
    Haunter
    Head-in-a-jar Creator
    Hellboy
    Honduras
    Hotel Connor
    How To Write A Best-Seller
    How To Write Faster
    H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society
    Huffington Post
    Ilibrarian
    Itunes
    Jack Ryan
    James Joyce
    James Patterson
    Janet Evanovich
    Jane Wallace-knight
    J.D. Robb
    Jebediah Buzzard
    Jerome
    Jessie Harrell
    Jim Patterson
    Joe Konrath
    Joel Kinnaman
    John Brunner
    John Carter Of Mars
    John Dies At The End
    John D. MacDonald
    Jonathan Pinnock
    Jo Ramsey
    Julie Kaewert
    Jurassic Park
    Kakamega North District
    Kate Hawkins
    Katy Mattress
    Kdp Select
    Ken Follett
    Kenya
    Kettle Corn Recipe
    Kevin Yarbrough
    Kindle
    Kindle Daily Deal
    Kingdom Hospital
    Kit Foster
    Kobo
    Krispy Kreme
    Kristine Kathryn Rusch
    Las Vegas
    Lawrence Block
    LC Kane
    Leanne Salter
    Led Lighting
    Lee Goldberg
    L. Frank Baum
    Liam Neeson
    Lou Ferrigno
    Louis Armstrong
    Luke Forney
    Luke Reviews
    Luxor
    Magic Promotion Genie
    Malice
    Mangos Mexican Cafe
    Manybooks
    Marian Keyes
    Mars Needs Writers
    Martin Salvador
    Mary Shelley
    Matilda The Musical
    Maybe You Should Write A Book
    Media Bistro
    Meira Pentermann
    Merri Hiatt
    Method Coffee
    Michael Agger
    Michele Lee
    Mike Mignola
    Moby Dick
    Modern Library
    Mojo Jojo
    Mongolia
    Monk
    Morgan Kearns
    Mother Teresa
    Mrs. Darcy Versus The Aliens
    Murder She Wrote
    Myfreeindie
    Name Withheld
    Neil Gaiman
    New Arrival
    Newman's Own Old Fashioned Lemonade
    New World Fairy Tales
    Niceville
    Nick Hornby
    Nipple Piercing
    Non-Stop
    Norman Spinrad
    Nudiustertian
    Nwf Daily News
    Omidyar Network
    One Republic
    On The Writing Of Speculative Fiction
    Open Your Legs
    Other People
    Out Of Print
    Ozma Of Oz
    Paolo Di Giovanni Fei
    Paul Cosca
    Peanut
    Pee Funnel
    Peeps
    Penelope Trunk
    Penguin Books
    Pen Name
    Penn And Teller
    Penn & Teller
    Pest Control
    Peter Cannon
    Phucket List
    P.I.
    Picton Bay South Lisand Pinot Noir
    Pillar Box Red
    Pillsbury Bake-Off
    Pillsbury Wine Company
    Pinyourbook.clom
    Portuguese
    Powdered Milk
    Private Lessons
    Project Gutenberg
    Proxima Books
    Pseudonym
    Psych
    Psychic
    Public Library
    Publishamerica
    Purse
    Quick Rise And Shine Breakfasts
    Rachel Ruiz
    Ralph Daigh
    Rasputina
    Reklamproduktion
    Relentless
    Replica
    Rio
    Ripper Street
    Romance Novel
    Romance Writer
    Ron Goulart
    Ron Perlman
    Rss Feed
    Rune Reading
    Sable Grey
    Salem's Lot
    Scream For Jeeves
    Self-publishing
    Sensualreads.com
    Sequels
    Sexy People
    Shortlist
    Shutterstock
    Sift Reviews
    Six Women Of Salem
    Skottie Young
    Slate Magazine
    Slow Burn
    Snopes.com
    Something Evil
    Something Wicked
    Sometimes You Catch The Shark
    Spanish
    Sparkle271
    Spellbound By Books
    Spodomancy
    Stephen King
    Stephen King's Revival
    Steve Haynes
    Steve King
    Storage 24
    Superblog
    Superfriends
    Supermoon
    Susan Ee
    Taco Barn
    Taiko Pumps
    Take Me To Your Leader
    Tarot Reading
    Tattoo
    Tavush
    Team Imon
    Team Inom
    Tears For Fears
    Thanks For The Ether
    The Atheist's Daughter
    The Black Bridge
    The Death Zone
    The Faust And The Furious
    The Guild
    The Holy Trinity
    The Key To Rebecca
    The Land Of Painted Caves
    The Lego Movie
    The List Cafe
    The Lovecraft Chronicles
    The Ocean At The End Of The Lane
    Theodor Seuss Geisel
    The Old Man And The Sea
    The Powerpuff Girls
    The Shining
    The Slut In The Hut
    The Sphinx Project
    The Stand
    The Summer We All Ran Away
    The Ten Word Game
    The World Swappers
    Thighs Wide Apart
    Tim Minchin
    Tom Clancy
    Tom Cruise
    Torchwood
    Train Diorama
    T.v. Show
    Twilight
    Ulysses
    Unicorns
    Vj Chambers
    Walt Disney
    WeatherBug
    Werewolf Sex
    Wicked Games
    Woody Allen
    Worst Self-marketing
    Writing A Successful Romance
    Writing Careers
    Xtranormal
    Yay!
    Young Adult
    Your Stripper Name
    Zarrowski
    Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance


All of the words and images on this website are © or TM or ® or whatever by the folks that made 'em. But, c'mon, you knew that.