Riding the Series Train

When I first started writing, I only wrote stand-alone novels. I didn’t have anything against the series concept, I just didn’t write them. My novels had a beginning, middle and end that usually didn’t lend itself to another book. The conflict was resolved. What was the point of writing another novel for the same characters when I could move on to the next story with new characters?

A few years ago, when I started sharing my work online, I found that readers wanted more than one story. They connected with the characters and wanted to read more about them. As a result, I wrote a trilogy with a spin off and then a four book series. When one book in the series ended, readers seemed to eagerly anticipate the next.

Most writers are readers as well. It’s our love of reading that makes us want to write and can make us better writers. As a reader, I can relate to fans wanting more of their favorite characters. I too have a number of series in my library that I love to read. Each time a new book in the series comes out, I have to make sure I go back and read the others leading up to it so I’m really ready for that new book. And when the series is over, I often go back and read and relive the entire series again.

Taking into account my own love of books, especially when they come in a series, and my own readers wanting more, it made sense for me to start writing my own series beyond the ones I shared with the online group. When I started writing a spin off story of my young adult novel, Like You Mean It, I never intended to give the male lead a four book series. It was going to be a stand-alone novel, but once I started writing it, I realized there was too much to put into one book. Have you ever heard that phrase, trying to fit ten pounds of stuff in a five pound bag? That’s what I was trying to do with my spinoff novel. What started as one novel actually became four novels in a series.

And do you know what happened when the series ended and it was time to start a new book? Yep, you guessed it. The next book became a series. Now that I’ve started I can’t seem to stop and do you know what else? It’s not a bad thing. In fact, writing a series is what I call a win-win. The writer has fun writing for the characters they love and the readers get more of those characters they love just as much.

There are some people who would say that writing a series is just another way for writers to get more money out of their readers. The readers got hooked on the first book and will continue to buy the books until the series is exhausted. Each new purchase is more money for the writer. That’s true and it might be money motivating some writers, but I’d venture a guess that’s true for fewer writers than you think.

For me, there’s nothing more humbling and nothing that brings me greater joy than readers liking my characters and stories so much that they want more. I’m not one of those writers who finish a story, or even a series, and never want to hear about those characters again. To this day, I still think about those Locke twins and how much more I could do with their family.

I’m not saying every writer should make every book into a series. Some books are meant to be a stand-alone. That’s okay too, but fair warning if you read my books. Now that I’ve booked a ticket on the series train, you can expect a lot more of them from me!

How Cool is That?

So, I googled my name today, and before you judge me, you know you’ve done it too! This is something I’ve been doing since I became a writer. I’m not usually looking for anything in particular. I’m just looking to see what’s out there. It’s kind of fun and I’ve stumbled across some interesting things over the last few years.

Most of the time, I don’t find anything earth shaking. Usually, it’s online retailers of my books, my website, my social media pages and the like. Today was one of those days where I came across something that went beyond interesting. It was downright cool. It boosted both my spirit and my ego. 

Today, I found something entitled: Synopsis/Extraordinary Will by Trish Edmisten-You Tube. Naturally, I was intrigued, wondering what the heck that could be. When I clicked on the link I was taken to a one minute You Tube video promoting my book!  The video is actually just a picture of my book with the jacket summary and a link to where you can buy the book. This info appears onscreen with some nice background music.

I tried to get a little more info on who did this and why. It seems it was uploaded on March 20, 2015 by Maminha Books.  The about page for this channel is blank, but the tagline seems to be ‘the synopsis of your favorite book’.  Mine isn’t the only book they’ve done something like this for. There are a number of other books this channel has featured. 

I don’t know whose favorite book this is or anything else about Maminha Books, but I can’t say enough about what a great feeling this. Someone likes this book, likes it enough to take the time to create a You Tube video and upload it on their channel to be shared with the entire world. I’m humbled and awed and happy.

Writing is a tough business. It’s hard to put yourself out there and risk getting let down. Things like this are such a nice shot in the arm for my writing career. It’s one more thing I can remember every time I think I don’t have enough reviews or I haven’t sold enough books. Someone likes it. Someone cared. Someone took the time to share that with others.

The video has been up a few weeks and has very few views. If you want to change that, feel free to click the link and check out the video. Comment if you’d like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-xSZqJcuww

A video on You Tube proclaiming my book is someone’s favorite? How cool is that?

The Pitfalls of Being Married to a Writer

On 3/28/15, my husband and I celebrated our twenty-one year wedding anniversary. In honor of the occasion, we dressed up and went to a nice Italian dinner and followed that with watching a romantic movie. Our anniversary is one of the two days a year I can slide a chick flick past him. In case you’re curious, my birthday is the other.

Being married to an author isn’t easy. My husband has to put up with what I’m sure are annoying behaviors. Today, in honor of my husband, and his never ending support of my writing career, I thought it would be fun to reflect on these bad habits he suffers with a smile. So here we go…

“Honey, my computer isn’t working! Again!” I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve uttered this phrase or some variation thereof. It is my expectation that he will immediately drop everything he’s doing to race to my computer and both diagnose and fix the problem. Of course, he has to do this with me standing over him, either glaring or tapping my foot or pacing or all of the above. He should not expect me to have any idea why it’s not cooperating. Any question asked of me will likely be met with “I don’t know what happened. It just stopped working".  And heaven forbid it takes more than ten seconds for him to get it up and running again! We won’t even talk about what happens if he can’t fix it. Obviously, that is not an option.

“Oh my God! I just lost everything!” Having to revisit this is painful, but there have been times when I’ve toiled for hours, days, weeks or months only to have some snafu, usually computer related, result in the loss of my manuscript. Twice I’ve lost a whole novel, but it’s more common to lose the day’s work. As any reasonable author would do, I have a nervous breakdown. I shriek and scream and cry and beg my husband to work his magic to retrieve my lost work. And he’d better not dare ask me if I’ve been backing it up or saving throughout the day. I don’t need to hear that. I just need it fixed, damn it!

“I’ll be right there. I just want to finish this paragraph, chapter, section, etc.” Once I get in my writing zone, I don’t want to stop. I can’t stop. I need to get these last lines out or I’ll lose the brilliance that is me. And since you can’t rush greatness, “right there” does not always mean the same thing to me as it does to the rest of the world. As a result, my husband is stuck waiting until I finish before I’m willing to acknowledge his existence and grace him with my presence.

“You want to go where? When? Oh, um, okay, I guess.” This is something I say nearly every weekend. Being that I have a day job, weekends are prime writing time for me. My husband has a day job too. While I want to write on the weekends, he wants to go somewhere that often requires both our attendance. As much as I don’t want to go, I can’t ignore him forever so I have to give in. More often than not, my reluctance to leave my computer comes through loud and clear. Good guy that he is, he always promises to get me back home and back to work as soon as he can and never complains at my obvious irritation.

“Hey, I have a question.” This is never a good sign. My husband always cringes when I start a conversation this way. It usually means I want something. When it comes to my writing, I either want him to help me figure out how to do something I can’t be bothered to learn, like converting my word docs to e-books or editing PDF documents, or I want him to be my subject matter expert on a topic I want to include in my books. Think baseball or auto repair or computers here. Of course I expect him to know the answer to any question I ask and to be able to immediately do whatever I want.

“Hey, I need some money to…” This is another cringe worthy opener. Being an independent author isn’t cheap. Even with social media, there is still a cost associated with producing and promoting my books. Since I’ve designated it my husband’s job to balance our checkbook each month, it’s likewise his job to work my writing wishes into the budget. And nope, there’s no room for refusing what I want. We, (read he) better find a way to make it happen.

My husband, and the rest of my family for that matter, also has to be on guard with me. You never know when I’m going to put something they’ve said or done in one of my novels. If they’re lucky it was something good, but sometimes it’s not. Even though I never call out the person that inspired me, he knows, especially when it’s my husband.

I could probably go on and on with these. They are no way representative of everything I’ve subjected my husband to over the last ten years that I’ve been a writer.

My husband is my cheerleader, my computer support guy, my graphic artist, my accountant and bookkeeper, my web designer and anything else I need him to be. He’s also my biggest supporter and the reason I can be the kind of author I am.

I guess it’s safe to say being married makes me a better author, but it sure does have some pitfalls for him!

That's a Good Question

Last week, I was talking to a good friend who asked what made me want to be a writer. It’s been so long since someone asked me that question that I was stumped for a minute. I’ve been a professional writer for ten years, but I’ve been writing as far back as I can remember. No joke.

In the fifth grade, I remember being so proud because my teacher taught me to use quotation marks before she taught the other students. After reading a number of my stories with undefined dialogue, she saw the need for me to learn something new to improve my writing. That was a long time ago, but it stuck with me.

In the sixth grade, I won a school district wide writing contest. My essay took first place in the division. To celebrate the honor, the school district hosted a banquet for all of the winners and I got a $50.00 gift certificate to a now defunct toy store; a gift certificate my mother made me use to buy something for my brother as well as me by the way!

In the seventh grade, I wrote a chapter book about mermaids that my English teacher liked so much she used to read it aloud to the class every day. It was also the first year I wrote a fan fiction, a genre that didn’t have a name at the time. And, get ready for this, it was the first year I incorporated sex scenes in my novels. Yes, even back then!

I wrote all through high school. My psychology teacher saw some talent and shared it with his good friend and colleague who was an English teacher. That teacher, Mr. Capriola, spent a lot of time helping me to develop a story I’d written about a young police officer who accidentally shoots a civilian child and has to deal with the fallout.

As much as I loved to write, it never occurred to me to make a career of it. I should have and I wish I would have tried sooner, but I didn’t see it as an option. I was so afraid to try something new and move beyond what I thought was safe that I didn’t think I had any options.

In college I stopped writing. I got married, had a child, had a full time job and basically got busy. There was no time to write. I wasn’t even inspired to write. Sometimes I missed it, but most of the time I didn’t think about it.

Eleven or so years ago, that changed. I don’t remember what I was doing, but one day a sentence popped into my head. I grabbed a notebook and started writing what turned out to be a scene in the middle of a novel. That had never happened before. It was a challenge to go back to the beginning and develop the plot and characters, but it sparked something. It reminded me how much I liked to write and I felt somewhat encouraged to think I wasn’t that bad.

Once I started writing again, I’ve never stopped. I love to write and I love to share my work with the world. My sales are modest and my name isn’t recognizable to many, but I’m okay with that. Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to be a best-selling author and you all know that, but it’s not my primary motivation. I’d rather touch a few people with something genuine than reach the masses with something hollow. As long as I have one or two readers, I have a reason to keep going.

What made me want to be a writer? Nothing I guess. I think I was just born to write, but that’s a good question!

Let's Help Each Other Out

Anyone who knows me will tell you I am the absolute worst at promoting my books. It’s not that I’m ashamed of my writing. I just don’t know how to talk myself up. When someone asks what I write, I say romance. When someone asks what my latest book is about, I say it’s another contemporary romance. This is not going to sell books. Neither is relying on word of mouth.

As an independent author, my marketing budget is pretty small.  A few years ago, I couldn’t have even told you what a marketing plan is. I actually had to buy a book about marketing for authors to learn how to write a plausible marketing plan and that book is so old it predates social media!

Social media is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to promote anything. In fact, I can do promotion for free on my Twitter account or Face Book page, the drawback being I only reach those who have followed me or liked my page.

In an effort to expand the reach of my book marketing, I did a Face Book search to find groups for authors. Not surprisingly, I found several. I’m now a member of a book promotion group, a book marketing group, a romance and thriller writers group, a group that claims to be for any and everything about books and a group for book reviews.

I’ve recently started to notice something perplexing about these groups. Authors are posting their news but don’t seem to be truly supporting one another. They encourage people to like their page by offering to trade a like for a like. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want someone liking my page because we traded likes. So what if I show more likes and more people will see my posts? If they’re not interested in my work, they’re probably going to scroll past my posts.

So many authors are promoting their books that it doesn’t take long for a post to get buried so to speak. Authors log on to the group, post their news and just move on. They don’t seem to be taking the time to read or like other posts or discover new authors. Granted, it’s not an obligation, but nothing is free. If you want people to notice you then you have to notice them.

And do not get me started on the book review group. I’ve posted a number of requests asking for reviews of my work in exchange for a free copy only to hear nothing but chirping crickets in response. Since you’re probably wondering, yes I do respond to other authors’ requests for reviews of their work but only if I like the genre. If you’re a steampunk author, you don’t want me reading your work since I don’t like the genre, but that doesn’t mean someone else can’t meet your need.

Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like some authors are selfishly using social media for their own gain without giving anything in return. I do my level best to make sure I’m not one of them. Along with my own posts, I look for new authors and try to respond to review requests for genres that interest me. And when I find a new author I like, I not only like their Face Book author page and follow them on Twitter, but I use my own Twitter account to promote them to my followers.

As authors, independent authors in particular, I think we have a responsibility to support each other in this dream. So, what do you say? How about we step outside of our own world and help each other out?

My Problem with Book Pricing

I’m not just a writer. I’m a reader as well. Sounds like the beginning of a bad public service announcement, but stick with me.

For my recent birthday, I asked my family to buy me a gift card for my favorite e-reader. My nineteen year old daughter came through and that day I promptly went out and bought four books in a series I’d just started reading. I then spent the remainder of the day reading those books in between spending time with my family.

At dinnertime, my kids asked me if I’d bought any books and if I’d finished them. I told them I’d bought four and finished two and was reading the third. My kids were impressed, but they didn’t need to be. The books weren’t novel length, more like novellas. And here we come to the problem I’m having, one I’ve noticed more and more lately.

I used my e-reader gift card to buy several books, most of which were priced at $4.99. I don’t have a problem paying five dollars for a book. Before the days of e-readers, you could expect to pay that much for a comic book and not a full length novel. With the inception of the e-reader, that’s changed. One of the things readers find so attractive about their e-readers is the bargain books. In fact, I have a friend who won’t buy books unless she gets a gift card. Otherwise, she only downloads the fee books. As a writer, this bothers me. As a fellow reader, I completely understand.

I have to admit, I was a little incensed to spend five dollars a book on an eighty-five page novella when I’ve downloaded free books that were three times that size. If I’m going to spend five dollars then I expect to get a meaty story, not something I can skate through in a few hours. Who’s to blame for the overinflated prices depends on who releases the novel.

Independent authors have the luxury of choosing their own asking price. However, the higher the retail price, the bigger the royalties an author will make from the sale of her book.  It would be easy to say it was good old fashioned greed that made some authors drive up their prices, but I don’t think that’s fair. Writing is a business and like any other business, it comes with costs. There’s the cost of paying for your website and its upkeep, the cost of promoting your work, the cost of paying a cover artist or formatting and so on.  If the royalties aren’t high enough, the author won’t turn a profit so it’s easy to understand the higher prices.

Authors who have signed a contract with a publisher have no say over the sale price. That’s determined by the publisher who not only has business expenses to pay but has to pay royalties to the author. The reason for the publisher setting higher prices is virtually identical to that of the indie author, particularly for small publishers who struggle to stay afloat.

As a writer, I understand all of this. As a reader, I can’t help feeling cheated when I spend five dollars to read a novel no bigger than that of the average comic book. I want to get my money’s worth and I don’t always feel like I do.

I don’t know what the solution is and maybe I’m the only one who truly has a problem with this. I don’t know. All I can tell you is that I have a problem with pricing. As long as I continue to be an indie author releasing my novels on my own, the prices will always be reasonable enough that readers don’t feel cheated.

An Author's Birthday Wish

My birthday is almost here. In a few short days, I’ll be turning forty-one. I say that with pride because I’m enjoying my forties. Besides, they say forty is the new twenty so if you think about it, I’m only turning twenty-one!

Every year, the approach of my birthday follows a distinct pattern. It starts with my younger daughter reminding me about one month in advance that my birthday is coming up. She then proceeds to spend the next few weeks repeatedly asking me what I want. I drive her crazy with my typical mom answers: I don’t want anything, I want you and your sister to be happy, I want Daddy to take the money he plans to spend on my birthday and pay our taxes instead and so on.

One to two weeks before the big day, my husband starts asking what I want. And of course he has to remind me to ask for something for me and not for the kids. He also asks if I want to go out to eat or have him cook me a meal. I usually respond by either giving him ideas far too extravagant to make a reality or I throw out a bunch of little gift ideas of things I could honestly get for myself anytime.

This year, there is only one thing I want. My husband and my kids can’t give it to me, but my awesome readers can. The best part of all is that it would cost less than three dollars and it’s the one gift that would make me happiest to receive. Any guesses?

If you said, I want to be on either the NY Times or USA Today bestseller list then you know me well. That’s all I want, all I’ve ever wanted. I would love to see my name on one or both of those lists alongside some of my favorite authors. I’d love to get that kind of validation for my years of effort. And I would sure love to be able to put NY Times or USA Today bestselling author on the cover of all of my subsequent books.

So, if you were looking for a birthday gift for me, look no further. You don’t need to buy me anything. Spend 99 cents on any of my Time for Love books and help me make my bestseller dreams a reality. If you’re feeling especially generous, you can buy all three of the Time for Love books. Each book is only 99 cents, so you’re still spending less than three dollars.  Just in case you’re actually interested in taking me up on this offer, here’s a link to purchase any or all of my books: https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=trish+edmisten 

Thanks again and I’ll let you know how this turns out!