Genre: Where Do I fit?

I have never been big on labels. I, however, cringe at the thought of walking into a supermarket and being faced with blank boxes, cans, bags, etc. Sometimes we need to know what category things sit in. I am not sure where all the books I have written will fit.

As I try to figure this out, I think about some things.

The Books I Read: When I looked at the books I read they fit in General Fiction category. I stay away from crime, thrillers, detective, and romance.
 
Look at a list of Genre Book Genres article. For a more extensive list look on Wikipedia.

Fiction Genre List

• Action and Adventure
• Chick Lit
• Children’s
• Commercial Fiction
• Contemporary
• Crime
• Erotica
• Family Saga
• Fantasy
• Dark Fantasy
• Gay and Lesbian
• General Fiction
• Graphic Novels
• Historical Fiction
• Horror
• Humour
• Literary Fiction
• Military and Espionage
• Multicultural
• Mystery
• Offbeat or Quirky
• Picture Books
• Post-Apocalyptic
• Religious and Inspirational
• Romance
• Science Fiction
• Short Story Collections
• Thrillers and Suspense
• Western
• Women’s Fiction
• Young Adult

Depending on the book, I can mark it as Action & Adventure, Romance, Young Adult, Humor, or   Post-Apocalyptic. Still that does not seem to satisfy me as a writer. I think a lot of us don't want to be labeled. My mind goes to the t-shirt people wore in the 90's reading, "Don't Label Me."
I will keep looking.

Do I need a genre? Will it boost sales? Do I try to stay from some genres and try to bust into others?

Do I fit in many genres?

What are your thoughts on genres? Do you think if you put your book in a certain genre over another that your book will sell more? Do you Genre Hop?

36 Themes for Author Interviews

Sometimes the straight-forward questions are okay. Sometimes, however, interviews need to be spiced-up, made interesting, and/or have a different twist to them. This will make it more interesting for the reader, the interviewee, and the interviewer.
Putting more effort and creativity into your questions is appreciated by interviewees.

Here are some ideas of different themes or things to focus on during an author interview.

1. The Author. (Family, life, other job, hobbies, etc.)

"What do you think about her writing?"
"I think she writes too much."

2. A New or Recent Book.
3. Many of his/her books.
4. His/her writing style.
5. The setting of the book. (Time & Place)
6. His/her inspiration(s). (Not the Chicago song)
7. Interview a character from their book.
8. Do the interview inside his/her book.
9. His/her readers or fans.
10. Marketing of books.
11. Ebook revolution opinions.
12. His/her favorite writer(s).
13. His/her favorite books.
14. Future goals and/or writing.
15. From point of view of his/her pets.
16. "If a movie was made" questions.
17. Alphabet questions. Go through the alphabet focusing questions  A-Z. Example, When were you characters most Angry? Who is most Believable? 26 questions might be a lot though.
18. Do an Acrostic with the authors last name or book name.
19. Inspiration for the cover of his/her book.
20. Is he/she a successful writer?
21. Resources he/she uses as a writer and in marketing his/her book.
22. Current event or trends in writing.
23. His/her writing team. Editor, publisher, marketer, etc.
24. A class or workshop he/she is teaching/hosting.
25. Organizational style.
26. Genre jumping.
27. Predictions for writing trends.
28. His/her blog.
29. His/her best kept writing secret.
30. Interview his/her spouse or partner.
31. Interview his/her kid.
32. Interview his/her best friend.
33. Try to convince them to change something in their book. "I think we should have Bobby win the big prize at the Science Fair." "No, that would not work." "Why? Is it because you like the other characters better?" This could generate some good conversations.
34. Have a party with the author and all his/her characters. Who will spill the chips? Who will be late? Who will hit on all the guys in the room? Who will steal the television?
35. Author gives you # reasons why you should read the book.
36. Decide where he should send the book's characters on vacation.

What themes have you used in interviews? Other ideas on themes? Thought on my ideas for themes?

15 1/2 Ways Readers Can Support Indie Authors

Lonely Indie Author

Several people have caught onto BUY LOCAL slogans, and supporting Ma & Pop Shops. How much has supporting Indie Authors caught on? How can we expedite and support that? I tend to try to find an Indie Book over other books. I have vowed to buy one Indie Book a month. I just bought two Indie Books this month.

There are several sites to connect Indie Authors, but I wonder if the word is getting out to readers. Do readers even care? As an Indie Author, of course, I do think they should care. Just one blog, Twitter, post at a time we can encourage people to help an author out!

Encourage your friends, families, and fans to not only follow you but another Indie author. I will write another post on Indie Authors Supporting Indie Authors.

Here are some easy ways that readers can support Indie Authors:

1. Buy their Books. Most of the time ebooks are have the right price $.99 to $3.99. You spend more on breakfast. When I was first marketing my ebook I had family members, and so-called good friends say, "I don't have an ereader" or "I only read real books." Then another friend pointed out to me, "Umm it is only $2.99. They can buy it to support you, and not even read it." I would do that for a friends, family or acquaintance. Wouldn't you? I challenge you. Set a goal to buy a certain amount of Indie Authored Books a year.

2. Read their book.

3. Leave a review on the site from which you bought it and cut & paste to put on all of these sites that apply: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobi, Diesel, etc.

4. Leave feadback on GoodReads. Put the book on your book shelf.

5. Comment on Facebook, Twitter, StumpbleUpon, and/or your blog about the book before, during, and after the book.   You might draw other readers into the book.
5.5 Write about the progress on your book on #FridayReads.

6. Write a review in a newspaper, newsletter, magazine, or other periodical. This takes some more time and effort, but would help-out the author.

7. Highlight a quote or passage on your Kindle and let it go public.

8. Read the book in public. If is a hard copy of the book, the cover will speak for itself. If it is an ebook, people might ask you what you are reading. Tell them the book and the author. Laugh out loud and say things like, "Wow, I did not see that coming!" "This is brilliant." "When is her next book coming out." Okay, you don't have to be THAT dramatic . . . just reading it should be enough.

9. Contact the writer and give feedback. Was there a mistake in the book, do you have a suggestion, and/or are you a fan for life?

10. Offer to help with marketing. This could be in the form of helping on a book tour, handing out flyers, handing out book marks, putting a bumper sticker on your car, etc.

11. Do an interview or feature about the author on your blog.

12. Reserve the book at your library. Recruit friends and strangers to do so. If there are many people requesting the book, this could prompt the library to buy more.

13. Buy the book and give it away as gifts. You know you get stuck on what to buy people. Just have it be your signature gift. You know otherwise you will end up buying another mug, scarf, sweatshirt, picture frame, or  ENTER ANY OTHER TOKEN GIFT. If you contact the author he/she might even sign them and personalize them for your family, friends, Secret Santa at work, etc.

14. Talk about it with everyone.

• Friends- "If you were a good friend you would buy this book."
• Family- "This reminds me of the summer we spent by the lake and I punched you in the face."
• Co-Workers- "How was your weekend? Mine was spent in the year 1872 . . ."
• Doctor- "I would feel better if I could just find out a way that Clyde would fix that time machine before the Zombies take over the planet."
• Partner- "I am not mowing the lawn until you read up to Chapter 22."
• Cashier- "You haven't read this book? You have to. . . "

15. EVERY TIME you go into a bookstore ask an employee to help you find it. Chuck Sambachino had this great idea in a Writer Unboxed article HERE. This is a great idea. This way the employees get to know where the book is, you can talk to them about the book and why it is so great as he/she is helping you find it, and he/she might promote the books to others.

Here are other great posts on the subject.
20 Easy Ways Readers Can Help Promote Authors
Writer Unboxed: Helping Authors
How to Help Your Favorite Authors
10 Ways Readers Can Help Authors

Coming soon! Stay tuned for my post on Indie Authors Supporting Indie Authors.

How else do you recommend supporting Indie Authors?

52 Interview Questions to Ask a Writer/Author

Here is a list of questions to ask authors. I will add to this over time. I keep an archive of questions to ask. Some of these question I have used before, some have not been used, and others are questions I have been asked during interviews. Feel free to use any of these, and please comment if you have any other good questions to ask.

Do not ask the author/writer all these questions. They do have other writing to do after all.

1. Tell us a little about yourself? Perhaps something not many people know?

2.What made you want to become a writer?

3.  Million dollar question, are you working on another book?
4. Have you written any other books that are not published?
5. What do you think about the ebook revolution?
6.  What is your advice to Indie Authors? On writing? Marketing?
7.  Do you still write? If so, what does your typical day look like?
8. What is your writing style?
9. Pen or type writer or computer?
10. Do you write Alone or in public?
11. Music or silence
12. Goals of certain # of words a week or when inspiration strikes
13.  What tactics do you have when writing? (For example: outline or just write)
14. What has your experience been like as an new Indie Author? Bruises, Highlights, and lessons?
15. What have you put most of your effort into regarding writing?
16. How did you get connected with so many authors for your interviews?
 17. What is/are  your book(s) about?
18. Does your book have a lesson? Moral?

19. What is your favorite part of the book?

20. If you were running the 100 yard dash with a new writer. What writing, publishing wisdom would you bestow upon him/her before you reached the 100 yards?
21.  Do your characters seem to hijack the story or do you feel like you have the reigns of the story?
22.  If you could spend time a character from your book whom would it be? And what would you do during that day? (PG-13 please :) ONE OF MY FAVORITE QUESTIONS TO ASK.
23. What is the toughest criticism given to you as an author?
24. What has been the best compliment?
25.  What is something memorable you have heard from your readers/fans?
26.  What book that you have read has most influenced your life?
27. Who is your favorite author?
28.  What is the most amusing thing that has ever happened to you?
29.  Anything you would like to say to your readers and fans?
30. Do you have any hidden or uncommon talents?
31. What gives you inspiration for your book(s)?
32. Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
33. Could you tell us a bit about your most recent book and why it is a must-read?
34. What do you love most about the writing process?
35. Of all the characters you have created, which is your favorite and why?
36. What is the biggest surprise that you experienced after becoming a writer?
37. Do you have a day job in addition to being a writer? If so, what do you do during the day?
38. Tell us a little about your plans for the future. Where do you see yourself as a writer in five years?
39. Favorite book?
40. Where can we find you online?
41. Any website or resources that have been helpful to you as a writer?
42. Have you thought about joining with another author to write a book?
43. If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose?
44. Do consider yourself to be a successful writer? If so, why? If not, what would make you successful?
45. What genre do you consider your books? Have you considered writing in another genre?
46. What do your friends and family think of your writing?
47. Do you do book tours?
48. What character in your book are you least likely to get along with?
49. What would the main character in your book have to say about you?
50. Who is the most famous person you have ever met?
51. If you could write about anyone fiction/nonfiction who would you write about?
52. How did you get to be so witty, funny, and good looking? (This obviously was a question that I was asked.)

What questions have you been asked? What questions have you asked?

Steps in Conducting a Great Interview (Series): Research & Information

 

Part of marketing and improving your writing is connecting with other writers. One way to do that is through interviewing authors, writers, bloggers, agents, etc.

 

First, you have to get someone to agree to be interviewed. See my brief post in a series of posts on How to Get a Guest Blogger.

Second, you need to do your research and gather information. Hopefully, some of this was done prior to asking someone to be interviewed. Sometimes interviews come to you as a blogger or writer, and you have little information about the potential interviewee. There are steps to take prior to the interview.

• Know your Audience & Interest. Does this interviewee fit your blog? What is your focus? Does the person want to talk about fitness, and your blog is mostly about Horror & Thriller books? If so, is there a way of working this into your blog? "How to Stay Just Fit Enough to Get Run for Your Life" If the person does not fit your focus that is okay. Nicely decline the interview.
• Learn about the Interviewee. The internet does wonders for this. What did we ever do before the internet? It is hard to remember. Find out where he/she is from? What he/she does for a living? What things he/she has written, edited, marketed, or published? Has he/she been interviewed before? If so, what was asked and answered? There are several good places to get this information:
• Amazon/Barnes & Nobles/ Smashwords/ etc- Author Biographies, books, reviews of the author.
• His/her Blog. Read a bunch of posts, read the About  section.
• Look at his/her Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, other social media.
• Google his or her name and see what comes up.
• Read their Book. If you have time, then you can ask specific question about the book.
• Find someone who has read the book.
• Ask them some information to prepare for the interview. "What is your goal for this interview?" If he/she has a book coming out, then they might like the interview to focus or highlight on that book.
• Formulate Some Topics for Questions:
• Have a theme in mind.
• Ask questions on personnel life, pets, hobbies, work life, writing life, and future life.
• Bring current events into the interview if seems fitting.
• Mutually Decide on the Mode of the Interview. How will the interview take place? This needs to be something mutually decided on. Most of the interviews I have done have been through email. I send questions and they email back the answers and pictures and/or book covers. This is the most convenient for everyone. If you use a chat form, you get more of a conversational feeling.
• Face to Face.
• Over the phone.
• Email.
• Chat.
• Text.
• Skype.
• Podcast.
• Snail Mail.
• Carrier Pigeon.
• Telegraph. (I would love is someone proposed this to me. Where is my 6th grade project?)
• Do the interview at agreed upon time/day.
• Post interview, inform the interviewee that it is posted, and thank them.
• Market the post- Twitter, Facebook, etc.

The more you do interviews the more comfortable you will be with creating questions. Just do it already!

What ideas do you have for conducting a successful interview? Any favorite inteview tactics or questions? If you would like to interview me, I am currently doing interviews!

On Writing, Publishing, and Book Marketing: Writer Stuck

You ever put in a role or position that you are not equipped. One summer at basketball camp I was put into the position of a forward instead of a two guard. That was interesting. I have had jobs that I had no business having. My worst was when I was a receptionist at a Dr.'s office when I was in highschool. I was leaving people on hold for 45 minutes and triple booking appointments. I was awful.

What this has to do with writing is I want to write. I do not want to be spending my time dealing with marketing and publishing. I, however, as an Indie Author am forced into this role. I am drowning in all the information and blogs out there. I find myself reading book after book, article after blog, and chatting with authors. This is all time taking away from writing.

Then I came across this article by Joanna Penn on her blog the Creative Penn. Go to the article
On Marketing Your Book. Joanna is an author, internet entrepreneur and international speaker who lives in England. She is author of the Arkane thriller series, and has published the books Pentecost, Prophecy, and Exodus. This article is overflowing with links to classes, websites, tutorials, and information.
Joanna Penn covers the following topics in this ONE article:

• Marketing Basics
• Writer's Platform
• Launching your book on-line
• Blogging
• Social Networking
• Podcasting
• Video
• Speaking
• Other Marketing Strategies

I know all in ONE article. She also has easily 50 links in this article that lead to 50 other links. This article could keep you busy all day. She covers anything from why your book isn't selling to how to make it sell to do's and don't.

Publishing Ebooks

I, like many other writers, are in a very exciting time. I could compare it to some very historic times like when the slaves were freed, women were able to vote, or every teen who ever got his/her license. I don't know if this time for writers is as BIG as those. So I will stop being dramatic.
I, however, am published. Self-published. I am published. I did not have to spend one dime to get published. I just needed a computer, a story, and the knowledge to do so. I have published ebooks.
A few weeks ago, I read a comment regarding one of my books that was from a stranger. I knew it was a stranger and not a family member, because it was a harsh comment. Although I am no stranger of hearing harsh remarks from family and friends, I am pretty sure it was a stranger's review.
Although it was a 2.5 out of 5 star review, I was estatic. Why, because a stranger read my book. Scratch that he or she read half of my book because he did not read the whole thing and he/she made the point to say that.
Another reason why I was happy, was because the reviewers stated he/she was not satisfied with the book because of his/her expectations. I went back to the description of the book, and realized it seemed to be his/her assumptions that led to those expectations.
Anyway, publishing ebooks has consumed my days and nights with writing. My thought in between appointments, in the lunchroom, in the bathroom, walking down the hall, are stolen by my character's thoughts. No, I do not think I am delusional or experiencing psychosis, but if it makes me writer better, why not.
I am a published author. Self-published, but aren't I my worst critic?

Characters holding me hostage!

People talk about writing what  you know. They talk about finding something you know about and write. I think it is about writing what you are interested in or have no idea about. Researching about things can be part of the writer's journey. Writing about pirates learn nautical terms, writing about a carpenter pick up a hammer, writing about a murder mystery. . . be mysterious.

Walk into a room and just say, "I am mysterious." If you are writing a nonfiction book, I think this all can be taken differently. If you are writing a fiction book, just go with it. Let you characters guide the story.

The first time I had this happen writing, I could not believe it. I had created this amazing character that I would even want to date, and she only lasted a chapter. I was sad to see her go, but hey, writing happens. My characters went another direction, and it all worked out in the end.

Planning my Grand Entrance

I am awaiting the time to say "I have arrived!" There are times I have had grand entrances in my life. Running out before a crowd at my high school & college basketball games, my wedding, my graduations, my birth, and surprise parties.
Now I am trying for my grand entrance as an author. How intimidating is it surfing the net looking for the magic recipe of "how in the hell do I make a lot of money writing ebooks?" Here is another good article to read on that How to Make Money on Ebooks by JA Konrath. But otherwise there is a lot of information out there on the internet, but a lot of it seems pretty useless. I think I need a mentor or a fairy godmother. I will take either or both.
In my searching I had found some things out that I am instituting:
-Write a blog.
-Set-up a fan facebook page.
-Write, write, write.
- Read, read, read, read.
-Join forums, author sites.
- Learn from others.
All trying to point to building a "platform".

I have stumbled upon a writer I have not read his books yet, but he seems to be very succesful. I watched a video of him on a BOOKRIX interview. He seems very witty, and someont I woud love to have a beer with. Check out his blog, JA Konrath Blog. He is very involved in the ebook movement.
Still, I have this pull of "building a platform" or writing, writing, reading, writing, reading. There are only so many hours in a day. . . not to mention I have a more than fulltime job, kids, and a wife.
ALERT ALERT. . . NOW LEAVING THE WHINING ZONE.

So, I am going to find a way to fit all this in to my life. I will surf through my favorite intro music to make a grand entrance, and try on my fanciest capes (I dont have any, but maybe I should start collecting).