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Advertising and Promotions
One of the things I tell people when they ask me about writing is how challenging it can be not to have a tangible product. You see all my books are electronic. This limits how you do things like a launch party or book signing.
I’ve been searching for fun and creative ways to promote and market my book from things like blog tours to fun give away items like personalized screen cleaners.
They say you have to spend money to make money. Do you think this is true? What would you want to see in the way of promoting an e-book?
Do you have experience with these types of promotions?
I’ve found the e-reader vs paper copy debate is alive and well. There still seems to be a stigma when it comes to e-books.
What have you found in your experience?
Leave me a comment!
Death of a Character
Should I kill my character? I’ve seen this question a lot lately and even a writing prompt about killing a character. We all know authors who do it. Some are even our favourite authors. Some authors do it A LOT. (I’m looking at you George R. R. Martin)
Should only the bad guys die? Should your beloved protagonist die to motivate the other characters? I’ve given this considerable thought, here’s my take.
No not only the bad guy should die and yes sometimes the protagonist should die to motivate the other characters to action. Some of you are screaming as you read this, but wait there’s a catch.
Every death no matter how big or how small should provide a pay off for your reader. After all they are the voyeur in your characters lives. As an author everything we do we do for them.
So don’t just kill your character for the sake of it. Think not only what it does to the other characters in the story, but also the pay off for your reader. Every death should be satisfying in some way.
Cliffhangers Plot Device or Annoyance?
You’re reading a new novel whether it’s an e-book or paperback novel and you come to a point in the book where it dawns on you that there is too much story left to tell and too few pages left to tell it in.
Your book is going to end in a cliffhanger. How do you feel? What do you do? Well if you’re anything like me on this particular evening I threw my e-reader aside and gave up on the book. After two cliffhanger endings I found that not only did the book not end here with a happy ending but went on for another three books. It was also made worse by the fact that the characters were changing between the books ending up with different personality traits than they’d acquired in the last book and reverting in progress and character growth that they had made.
It got me thinking though that in recent years this has been a trend among publisher especially in romance. So much so that submission calls now say must have HAE or HAE for now ending.
I suppose from an author stand point this makes sense financially. Find success with your first book and readers are compelled to read your second, and although I understand the reasoning behind it let me tell you I hate it.
I hate it both as an author and a reader. I would much rather see an element of the story that can carry into an new book. Something that propels the story forward naturally rather than something that can feel artificial.
Now that’s not to say that all cliffhanger endings are done poorly there can be success but is it really necessary?
Instead could the next book pick up where the last left off? Or baring that at some point down the road?
Do people enjoy this style of reading or has it just become a normality in the writing world?
What do you prefer as a writer or reader?
Character POV
I’ve been toying with the idea of writing something in a different point of view (POV). However when I try I find that 3rd person is so ingrained it’s what comes naturally. I’ve found a number of books I’ve read recently have been 1st person.
I think this can be done well but find that I miss the POV of the male character since most romance novels are written from a female perspective.
There have been times when a book has been re-released in the male voice but I find this feels a bit contrived. Sort of a sure thing for a pay cheque.
Generally when I write I’ll shift point of view between my main characters. This has it’s own set of unique challenges it’s hard to avoid head hopping and at times I find it difficult to write the voice of the opposite sex.
I find myself thinking of the line in As Good As It Gets where the fan asks the writer how he writes women so well and he responds by saying he thinks of a man and takes away all reason. Obviously that’s not true but it gives me a laugh when I’m trying to capture the voice of my male characters.
Do you have a preference when reading or writing? Do you tend to choose 1st or 3rd person?
