Chapter 33
At last the day has come!
February,1, 2011 is the official release date for my two Lady Justice mystery/comedy novels.
They are both now available on line and through every bookstore.
Tate Publishing is re-releasing a revised edition of my first self-published novel, Lady Justice Takes A C.R.A.P., and the first edition of the second installment, Lady Justice And The Lost Tapes.
It has been a long process.
It was exactly a year ago that I signed my contract with Tate Publishing.
So far, Tate has done everything they promised; a month of copy editing, a month of conceptual editing and the creation of beautiful covers for the books.
The finished products are everything I had hoped for.
Now that the books are available through all of the distribution channels, it's time for the next phase, marketing.
I have been assigned marketing, publicity and media representatives by Tate and have high expectations for the coming year.
They are preparing video trailers for the books that will be aired numerous times on commercial television.
For the past year, as a self-published author, my book signing events were limited to craft fairs and art shows, but this year I am looking forward to being featured in major book store chains and other media exposure.
The third installment in my Lady Justice series, Lady Justice Gets Lei'd, is scheduled for release by Tate on March 22nd, 2011.
I should be an exciting year!
http://booksbybob.com
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Attention Authors! You Show Me Yours And I'll Show You Mine
I am a new author and in the past year and a half I have written three mystery/comedy novels in the Lady Justice series.
I have discovered, as I'm sure most of you have, if you're not Sarah Palin or George Bush, people are not lined up at the bookstore to buy your book.
Before donning the author hat, I was a realtor for 32 years. Much like being an author with a new book, just because a guy has a new real estate license, people probably aren't going to be beating down his door.
I learned quickly back then that the key to success is self-promotion --- that's not bragging, it's just letting people know you're out there and have a valuable product or service to offer.
There were hundreds of realtors in my market, so why should someone pick me to represent them?
There are millions of books in print. How are people going to find mine in the vast sea of published titles?
For an author, there seems to be a formula that many follow. First, you hope you have a publisher that will represent you and promote you to the bookstores and the public. Second, you schedule personal appearances at as many book signing events as possible. Third, you begin networking on the social media sites. Fourth, you write material for a blog or e-news magazine, and fifth, you set up a website to promote your books.
It is no coincidence that the responsibility for four of these five things falls directly on the shoulders of the author.
What I have discovered is that actually writing the novels was the easiest part of this whole process!
What I would like to discuss in this article is the author website.
A website and a new book have much in common. You can have a brilliantly written book, but if nobody knows about it, it will never be read. You can have a magnificent website, but unless people can find it, no one will come.
For me, the website was like my novel; building the site was easy and fun, but getting it seen is a nightmare.
I am sixty-seven years old and, as a realtor, had to be computer savvy, but this website promotion stuff was a whole new world. I soon learned that this 'old dog' had better learn some new tricks!
Fortunately, my son is a geek. He introduced me to the previously unknown world of search engine optimization, site directories, and back links. WHEW!
This whole 'getting noticed' thing seems to be a vicious circle. If no one ever visits your website, you will have a low ranking on the search engines and your site will be buried on page fifty-seven. But as more people visit and link to your site, your page ranking gets higher. He explained that getting listed in the site directories was one way to increase traffic. Another way was to have links from other people's website to yours --- back links --- reciprocal links.
That means that you find someone willing to trade links. You put a link to my website on your website and vise-versa.
That sounded pretty cool but I just couldn't see links to Joe's Auto Parts or the Pizza Pantry on my author website.
But having a page with links to other authors would fit right in.
My goal is to build a page on my website titled "Author Links". On that page would be categories for the various writing genres, mystery, romance, non-fiction, occult, etc.
The visitor would click on his topic of choice and links to the websites of authors writing in that genre would be available.
In return, of course, each author would have my link on her or her website. These reciprocal links will be seen by the bots and spiders and raise the page ranking for both sites. A win-win situation.
If you are an author interested in participating in exchanging reciprocal links, you may contact me at booksbybob@hotmail.com.
Check out my website at http://www.booksbybob.com.
Lady Justice Mystery/Comedy Novel Series
booksbybob.com
Senior citizens fighting crime, a laugh-out-loud mystery series
I have discovered, as I'm sure most of you have, if you're not Sarah Palin or George Bush, people are not lined up at the bookstore to buy your book.
Before donning the author hat, I was a realtor for 32 years. Much like being an author with a new book, just because a guy has a new real estate license, people probably aren't going to be beating down his door.
I learned quickly back then that the key to success is self-promotion --- that's not bragging, it's just letting people know you're out there and have a valuable product or service to offer.
There were hundreds of realtors in my market, so why should someone pick me to represent them?
There are millions of books in print. How are people going to find mine in the vast sea of published titles?
For an author, there seems to be a formula that many follow. First, you hope you have a publisher that will represent you and promote you to the bookstores and the public. Second, you schedule personal appearances at as many book signing events as possible. Third, you begin networking on the social media sites. Fourth, you write material for a blog or e-news magazine, and fifth, you set up a website to promote your books.
It is no coincidence that the responsibility for four of these five things falls directly on the shoulders of the author.
What I have discovered is that actually writing the novels was the easiest part of this whole process!
What I would like to discuss in this article is the author website.
A website and a new book have much in common. You can have a brilliantly written book, but if nobody knows about it, it will never be read. You can have a magnificent website, but unless people can find it, no one will come.
For me, the website was like my novel; building the site was easy and fun, but getting it seen is a nightmare.
I am sixty-seven years old and, as a realtor, had to be computer savvy, but this website promotion stuff was a whole new world. I soon learned that this 'old dog' had better learn some new tricks!
Fortunately, my son is a geek. He introduced me to the previously unknown world of search engine optimization, site directories, and back links. WHEW!
This whole 'getting noticed' thing seems to be a vicious circle. If no one ever visits your website, you will have a low ranking on the search engines and your site will be buried on page fifty-seven. But as more people visit and link to your site, your page ranking gets higher. He explained that getting listed in the site directories was one way to increase traffic. Another way was to have links from other people's website to yours --- back links --- reciprocal links.
That means that you find someone willing to trade links. You put a link to my website on your website and vise-versa.
That sounded pretty cool but I just couldn't see links to Joe's Auto Parts or the Pizza Pantry on my author website.
But having a page with links to other authors would fit right in.
My goal is to build a page on my website titled "Author Links". On that page would be categories for the various writing genres, mystery, romance, non-fiction, occult, etc.
The visitor would click on his topic of choice and links to the websites of authors writing in that genre would be available.
In return, of course, each author would have my link on her or her website. These reciprocal links will be seen by the bots and spiders and raise the page ranking for both sites. A win-win situation.
If you are an author interested in participating in exchanging reciprocal links, you may contact me at booksbybob@hotmail.com.
Check out my website at http://www.booksbybob.com.
Lady Justice Mystery/Comedy Novel Series
booksbybob.com
Senior citizens fighting crime, a laugh-out-loud mystery series
What's Your Pick-up Line?
In the fourteen months since my first book was published, my wife and I have participated in twenty-eight book signing events.
Our experience at these events has made one thing abundantly clear --- nobody really cares!
Oh sure, if you send invitations to your close friends and family, they will come. But let's face it, they would come to see your dog being shaved if you ask them nice enough.
We have had book signings at libraries, bookstores, craft fairs, senior centers and shopping malls, and at each event, people pass within inches of us and it's like we're invisible.
We have a ten foot table with all twelve of my books and a huge sign saying "Meet The Author". How can you miss it?
Now I can understand folks shying away from a grizzled, grey-haired, sixty-seven year old guy, but my wife is eye candy!
Actually, I really do understand. When I put myself in their place, I do the same thing.
When I see one of those guys at the mall demonstrating those super chamois things that soak up gallons of water, I am curious, but I stay just far enough away so that the guy can't engage me in conversation.
Same thing.
We've learned one important lesson; if you don't talk to people, you won't sell books.
There's a really fine line between engaging people in conversation and being a pest. You can't just reach out and grab them.
The upside is that when people do stop to talk to us, we'll sell a book about 50% of the time.
I don't try to talk to people who ignore me completely or rush by like their pants are on fire, but when someone slows to see what's on the table, I know I have about 5 seconds to capture their interest.
"Are you a book reader?" works in craft fairs and senior centers, but is redundant in bookstores and libraries.
"What kind of books do you like?" sometimes works.
"Do you have any book readers on your Christmas list?" works around the holidays.
Sometimes I feel like the schmuck at the singles bar who sidles up beside the girl and says "Hi babe, what's your sign?" Not the greatest pick-up line.
If you have some successful lines that have worked for you, I'd love to hear them.
My email is booksbybob@hotmail.com and my website is http://booksbybob.com.
Lady Justice Mystery/Comedy Novel Series
booksbybob.com
Senior citizens fighting crime, a laugh-out-loud mystery series
Our experience at these events has made one thing abundantly clear --- nobody really cares!
Oh sure, if you send invitations to your close friends and family, they will come. But let's face it, they would come to see your dog being shaved if you ask them nice enough.
We have had book signings at libraries, bookstores, craft fairs, senior centers and shopping malls, and at each event, people pass within inches of us and it's like we're invisible.
We have a ten foot table with all twelve of my books and a huge sign saying "Meet The Author". How can you miss it?
Now I can understand folks shying away from a grizzled, grey-haired, sixty-seven year old guy, but my wife is eye candy!
Actually, I really do understand. When I put myself in their place, I do the same thing.
When I see one of those guys at the mall demonstrating those super chamois things that soak up gallons of water, I am curious, but I stay just far enough away so that the guy can't engage me in conversation.
Same thing.
We've learned one important lesson; if you don't talk to people, you won't sell books.
There's a really fine line between engaging people in conversation and being a pest. You can't just reach out and grab them.
The upside is that when people do stop to talk to us, we'll sell a book about 50% of the time.
I don't try to talk to people who ignore me completely or rush by like their pants are on fire, but when someone slows to see what's on the table, I know I have about 5 seconds to capture their interest.
"Are you a book reader?" works in craft fairs and senior centers, but is redundant in bookstores and libraries.
"What kind of books do you like?" sometimes works.
"Do you have any book readers on your Christmas list?" works around the holidays.
Sometimes I feel like the schmuck at the singles bar who sidles up beside the girl and says "Hi babe, what's your sign?" Not the greatest pick-up line.
If you have some successful lines that have worked for you, I'd love to hear them.
My email is booksbybob@hotmail.com and my website is http://booksbybob.com.
Lady Justice Mystery/Comedy Novel Series
booksbybob.com
Senior citizens fighting crime, a laugh-out-loud mystery series
Monday, November 15, 2010
The Tears And Triumphs Of A New Author Chapter 32
CHAPTER 32
There are so many things in life that one just can’t understand until they’ve lived it.
Writing a book and getting it published is one of those things.
A year and a half ago, I would have bet anything that getting the story out of my mind and onto paper would have been the biggest challenge.
Nothing could have been further from the truth.
I loved the writing process.
Once I got “into the zone”, it was like I had diarrhea of the brain. Once it got started, I just couldn’t shut it off. (Hmmm, I hope that metaphor doesn’t extend to include what actually came out!).
As any writer knows, the hardest part is getting the book published.
Like the vast majority of new writers, I was totally ignored by the big publishers and the successful literary agents, and chose the road of self-publishing.
It is not a decision I regret.
Everything happens for a reason.
So often, when things come too easily, we don’t appreciate them, and conversely, when we have to work hard, we more fully understand the value of what we have accomplished.
By traveling this road for the past year, I have learned a lot about the publishing business, but even more important, I have learned that I have so much more to learn.
Sometimes, things happen that we just don’t understand.
I submitted query letters to many large publishers and agents, but Tate was the last I had expected to hear from.
Tate is a Christian-oriented publisher and my Lady Justice novels just didn’t seem to fit into their traditional offerings, but I wasn’t about to argue with them.
If my experience getting my book in print with Authorhouse was Chapter 1 of my writing career, then marketing my book for a year as a self-published author was Chapter 2.
Chapter 3 began nine months ago when I signed my contract with Tate for Lady Justice Takes A C.R.A.P. and Lady Justice And The Lost Tapes.
Even though I had seen on every publisher’s website that producing a book takes one to two years, it’s still one of those things you can’t understand until you’ve lived it.
Hmmmm! Nine months --- I wonder if it’s just a coincidence that the gestation period for my first two novels was the same as for my two children?
Wait three months to get on the schedule; one month for copy editing; one month for conceptual editing; one month for cover creation; another month for layout design --- whew!
You know you’re about ready to give birth when you get the email that says, “The editing department has received and reviewed your final proof and we are nearing the printing phase!”
And finally, “I look forward to wrapping up production. A member of our marketing team will contact you by the end of next week.”
This was the message I wanted to hear.
If I may use a football metaphor, promoting my book as a self-published author was like being a running back and trying to move the football without the benefit of an offensive line or a blocking back. You’ll get caught behind the line of scrimmage every time.
I had read online about the marketing support for Tate authors:
In 2009, for the first time in history, more books were sold outside the walls of brick and mortar bookstores than inside. Certainly this reflects the strength of online retailers such as Amazon and bn.com, but it also reflects the truth that there are a variety of ways for an author to reach the intended, target audience. Bookstores are one element of success, but in bookstores, readers must find the book and author. Finding the target audience for a book involves taking the book to the reader, engaging the reader, and being proactive, not reactive, in the pursuit of success. No one attacks the niche market for their authors the way Tate Publishing does for our fine authors. This month alone we have scheduled over 500 niche events for Tate authors, helping our authors engage the community and create broad visibility in a variety of markets.
And remember, if you are a Tate Publishing author, you NEVER have to go it alone. You have a Marketing Representative at your right hand with a team that rep can mobilize to try something new. Our expertise (some of it formed through our own trial and error) should be a wealth of wisdom about what works and what doesn't, and we can help place you on the path to success as we work toward that end.
I now have two Lady Justice novels ready to go and the third will be ready in a few months.
I’m ready to carry the ball, only this time, Tate Publishing will be my offensive line of seasoned veterans and my marketing rep will be my blocking back, opening big holes into the brick and mortar stores and other venues that had been denied me up to this point.
Every ball carrier wants a touchdown, but after a year and a half of negative yardage, I would be thrilled to get a few first downs.
It has been a long and winding road from that day I said to my wife, “I think I can write a book,” and sat down at the computer, to the day my first two novels, printed by a major publisher, were delivered to my door.
I’m ready for Chapter 4 and can’t wait to see what lies around the next bend.
There are so many things in life that one just can’t understand until they’ve lived it.
Writing a book and getting it published is one of those things.
A year and a half ago, I would have bet anything that getting the story out of my mind and onto paper would have been the biggest challenge.
Nothing could have been further from the truth.
I loved the writing process.
Once I got “into the zone”, it was like I had diarrhea of the brain. Once it got started, I just couldn’t shut it off. (Hmmm, I hope that metaphor doesn’t extend to include what actually came out!).
As any writer knows, the hardest part is getting the book published.
Like the vast majority of new writers, I was totally ignored by the big publishers and the successful literary agents, and chose the road of self-publishing.
It is not a decision I regret.
Everything happens for a reason.
So often, when things come too easily, we don’t appreciate them, and conversely, when we have to work hard, we more fully understand the value of what we have accomplished.
By traveling this road for the past year, I have learned a lot about the publishing business, but even more important, I have learned that I have so much more to learn.
Sometimes, things happen that we just don’t understand.
I submitted query letters to many large publishers and agents, but Tate was the last I had expected to hear from.
Tate is a Christian-oriented publisher and my Lady Justice novels just didn’t seem to fit into their traditional offerings, but I wasn’t about to argue with them.
If my experience getting my book in print with Authorhouse was Chapter 1 of my writing career, then marketing my book for a year as a self-published author was Chapter 2.
Chapter 3 began nine months ago when I signed my contract with Tate for Lady Justice Takes A C.R.A.P. and Lady Justice And The Lost Tapes.
Even though I had seen on every publisher’s website that producing a book takes one to two years, it’s still one of those things you can’t understand until you’ve lived it.
Hmmmm! Nine months --- I wonder if it’s just a coincidence that the gestation period for my first two novels was the same as for my two children?
Wait three months to get on the schedule; one month for copy editing; one month for conceptual editing; one month for cover creation; another month for layout design --- whew!
You know you’re about ready to give birth when you get the email that says, “The editing department has received and reviewed your final proof and we are nearing the printing phase!”
And finally, “I look forward to wrapping up production. A member of our marketing team will contact you by the end of next week.”
This was the message I wanted to hear.
If I may use a football metaphor, promoting my book as a self-published author was like being a running back and trying to move the football without the benefit of an offensive line or a blocking back. You’ll get caught behind the line of scrimmage every time.
I had read online about the marketing support for Tate authors:
In 2009, for the first time in history, more books were sold outside the walls of brick and mortar bookstores than inside. Certainly this reflects the strength of online retailers such as Amazon and bn.com, but it also reflects the truth that there are a variety of ways for an author to reach the intended, target audience. Bookstores are one element of success, but in bookstores, readers must find the book and author. Finding the target audience for a book involves taking the book to the reader, engaging the reader, and being proactive, not reactive, in the pursuit of success. No one attacks the niche market for their authors the way Tate Publishing does for our fine authors. This month alone we have scheduled over 500 niche events for Tate authors, helping our authors engage the community and create broad visibility in a variety of markets.
And remember, if you are a Tate Publishing author, you NEVER have to go it alone. You have a Marketing Representative at your right hand with a team that rep can mobilize to try something new. Our expertise (some of it formed through our own trial and error) should be a wealth of wisdom about what works and what doesn't, and we can help place you on the path to success as we work toward that end.
I now have two Lady Justice novels ready to go and the third will be ready in a few months.
I’m ready to carry the ball, only this time, Tate Publishing will be my offensive line of seasoned veterans and my marketing rep will be my blocking back, opening big holes into the brick and mortar stores and other venues that had been denied me up to this point.
Every ball carrier wants a touchdown, but after a year and a half of negative yardage, I would be thrilled to get a few first downs.
It has been a long and winding road from that day I said to my wife, “I think I can write a book,” and sat down at the computer, to the day my first two novels, printed by a major publisher, were delivered to my door.
I’m ready for Chapter 4 and can’t wait to see what lies around the next bend.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
The Tears And Triumphs Of A New Author Chapter 31
Chapter 31
My eight-year old grandson had been playing baseball all summer and Grandma and I had attended most of the games.
It was the next to last game of the season and Blake's team was playing for the championship.
During the warm-up drills, Blake lost a high fly ball in the sun and wound up catching it with his forehead.
As he lay on the ground stunned and bleeding, one of his teammates quipped, "Wow! Cool! You're grandpa is an author. Maybe he can write a story about this."
I hadn't planned on writing any more Rainbow Road stories for awhile, but this kid had thrown down the gauntlet and my creative juices began to flow.
The next day, I started the fifth volume in the series, Sports Heroes of Rainbow Road.
One of the things about my writing that is so special, is that I get to share the process with my wife.
I let her read each chapter after it's finished and often she has conceptual suggestions that make the story even better, and she creates the covers for all the books.
After my work is finished, she spends hours editing for all the missed commas and misplaced quotation marks. It's quite a job.
As the series developed, we added more and more illustrations. After all, "a picture is worth a thousand words".
We spent hours on dreamstime.com together, purchasing the rights to dozens of illustrations and even went back to the original four volumes of the series, added more pictures and republished. The process is so simple with Createspace.
Sports Heroes Of Rainbow Road turned out to be my favorite of the series and after it was finished, I couldn't shut down the old imagination.
Soon, with fall approaching, volume number six, Ghosts And Goblins Of Rainbow Road, began to form in my mind.
By this time the kids had three super powers each, and the opportunities to use them were endless.
So far in the series, Rainbow Road had transported them to different cities in the U.S. and even to Maui, Hawaii, so in Ghosts And Goblins, Rainbow Road took them back in time to the year 1692, and with their super powers, they were able to change the course of history. How cool is that?
I thought that maybe after Ghosts And Goblins, I would be finished, but how can you have a Halloween story and not have a Christmas story?
In Christmas Crooks Of Rainbow Road, evil thieves steal Blake's gold coin that bestows the super power of Shape-Shifting, kidnap Santa, assume his identity and threaten to destroy Christmas for the entire world.
Blake and Breonna are, of course, up to the task and in this North Pole adventure, save Santa and Christmas.
There are now seven volumes in the Rainbow Road series.
Done! Finished! No more Rainbow Road stories for awhile.
I'll have a couple of months to market the new children's chapter book series before the new Lady Justice Takes A C.R.A.P. and Lady Justice And The Lost Tapes are released by Tate Publishing.
School has started and my grandson has been taking the chapter books to school and selling them to his classmates. I give him a dollar for every book he sells.
Who says I don't have a distribution network?
When I started writing the first Lady Justice novel, I had no idea where it was going to take me, and here I am now with three mystery/comedy novels and seven children's chapter books.
Who wudda thunk?
My eight-year old grandson had been playing baseball all summer and Grandma and I had attended most of the games.
It was the next to last game of the season and Blake's team was playing for the championship.
During the warm-up drills, Blake lost a high fly ball in the sun and wound up catching it with his forehead.
As he lay on the ground stunned and bleeding, one of his teammates quipped, "Wow! Cool! You're grandpa is an author. Maybe he can write a story about this."
I hadn't planned on writing any more Rainbow Road stories for awhile, but this kid had thrown down the gauntlet and my creative juices began to flow.
The next day, I started the fifth volume in the series, Sports Heroes of Rainbow Road.
One of the things about my writing that is so special, is that I get to share the process with my wife.
I let her read each chapter after it's finished and often she has conceptual suggestions that make the story even better, and she creates the covers for all the books.
After my work is finished, she spends hours editing for all the missed commas and misplaced quotation marks. It's quite a job.
As the series developed, we added more and more illustrations. After all, "a picture is worth a thousand words".
We spent hours on dreamstime.com together, purchasing the rights to dozens of illustrations and even went back to the original four volumes of the series, added more pictures and republished. The process is so simple with Createspace.
Sports Heroes Of Rainbow Road turned out to be my favorite of the series and after it was finished, I couldn't shut down the old imagination.
Soon, with fall approaching, volume number six, Ghosts And Goblins Of Rainbow Road, began to form in my mind.
By this time the kids had three super powers each, and the opportunities to use them were endless.
So far in the series, Rainbow Road had transported them to different cities in the U.S. and even to Maui, Hawaii, so in Ghosts And Goblins, Rainbow Road took them back in time to the year 1692, and with their super powers, they were able to change the course of history. How cool is that?
I thought that maybe after Ghosts And Goblins, I would be finished, but how can you have a Halloween story and not have a Christmas story?
In Christmas Crooks Of Rainbow Road, evil thieves steal Blake's gold coin that bestows the super power of Shape-Shifting, kidnap Santa, assume his identity and threaten to destroy Christmas for the entire world.
Blake and Breonna are, of course, up to the task and in this North Pole adventure, save Santa and Christmas.
There are now seven volumes in the Rainbow Road series.
Done! Finished! No more Rainbow Road stories for awhile.
I'll have a couple of months to market the new children's chapter book series before the new Lady Justice Takes A C.R.A.P. and Lady Justice And The Lost Tapes are released by Tate Publishing.
School has started and my grandson has been taking the chapter books to school and selling them to his classmates. I give him a dollar for every book he sells.
Who says I don't have a distribution network?
When I started writing the first Lady Justice novel, I had no idea where it was going to take me, and here I am now with three mystery/comedy novels and seven children's chapter books.
Who wudda thunk?
Monday, October 4, 2010
The Tears And Triumphs Of A New Author Chapter 30
Chapter 30
The third book in the Rainbow Road series of children's chapter books was Hawaiian Rainbows.
I had been looking forward to writing this one. Peg and I had lived on Maui, Hawaii for five years and we loved it.
My third mystery/comedy novel in the Lady Justice series, Lady Justice Gets Leid, was also set on that beautiful island.
In Hawaiian Rainbows, Blake receives the gold coin for Super Strength.
After receiving another nod of approval from the grandson, Peg created another cover and we sent it off to Createspace.
Three down --- and how many more to go?
As with the Lady Justice books, once my mind was fixated on Rainbow Road, it wouldn't shut off. I found myself again laying awake in the middle of the night conjuring up the kids next adventure.
The Fourth of July holiday was approaching and I thought that an adventure based on a patriotic theme seemed appropriate, so the fourth installment of the Rainbow Road series, Patriotic Rainbows, began to form in my mind.
In this adventure, little Breonna receives the gold coin of Truth. In each story, the previously bestowed super powers are passed on to the next story, so in this book, each kid now has two super powers. With these new-found abilities, they are able to save the Liberty Bell from being destroyed by terrorists.
Even though the Lady Justice series was fiction, these were adult novels and the plots had to be believable.
I felt no such constraints with the Rainbow Road books. Having played with my grandson, I was quite aware of the dazzling stories that are constantly being conjured up in the fertile imagination of a kid, and I let my own imagination run free, pretending I was an eight-year old.
It was actually kind of scary when I realized just how easy that was to do. They say that grandpas are just really old kids, and I began to think that maybe there was some truth there.
"If I were a kid, and could have a super power, what would I do?" It was just like going back sixty years and being Roy Rogers again.
Blake loved Patriotic Rainbows, so off it went to Createspace and Rainbow Road now had four volumes.
Our next event was the Bingham-Waggoner Festival and we had Rainbow Road ready to sell along with Lady Justice.
The new books had the affect we had hoped for. We now had kids dragging their parents to our table and grandmas who didn't really want to buy a mystery for themselves, would buy a book for their grandchild.
Bingo!
After receiving great reviews from our new Rainbow Road readers, I began to wonder if maybe there could be some commercial value to our new series.
On a whim, I sent the manuscripts of the four Rainbow Road books to the acquisitions lady at Tate Publishing. Since I already had three novels under contract with them, I thought they might at least take the time to look at them.
I have to admit that I was surprised by her response.
"I have had an opportunity to review your juvenile reader books (The Rainbow Road Series.) I liked the books. The dialog between Blake and Breonna is perfect for young readers. You have really captured their personalities in your writing. One part that stood out was when Breonna called Blake a “smarty pants.” You are right on with the age range of readers you are trying to reach. You have written their adventures to be fun and exciting. There is fine line between trying to put too much into a story and just the right amount of adventure. With too much you lose the reader and they become confused with what the ultimate goal of the writer is. Often when this happens it is difficult for a writer to find the proper ending to their story. If there is not enough adventure and personality to the writing the reader gets easily bored and we all know what happens then… the book is put back on the shelf. I think you have a good balance with your story. I am not surprised that parents and grandparents were purchasing the book. It can be difficult to find a book for this age range. Juvenile reader books are highly successful in the industry at the moment."
I was offered a contract for the Rainbow Road series.
While this was certainly a boost for my ego, and a validation for the series, Peg and I decided that with three Lady Justice novels being published, we would hold off until we were certain that Tate would come through as promised.
At that point we were absolutely happy with our experience with Tate, but we wanted to see if the marketing and promotion would develop as we had hoped.
I had decided to stop writing more Rainbow Road books and get back to Lady Justice #4.
In the meantime, my grandson was sharing his little books with some of his friends, and soon, fate would intervene once again.
The third book in the Rainbow Road series of children's chapter books was Hawaiian Rainbows.
I had been looking forward to writing this one. Peg and I had lived on Maui, Hawaii for five years and we loved it.
My third mystery/comedy novel in the Lady Justice series, Lady Justice Gets Leid, was also set on that beautiful island.
In Hawaiian Rainbows, Blake receives the gold coin for Super Strength.
After receiving another nod of approval from the grandson, Peg created another cover and we sent it off to Createspace.
Three down --- and how many more to go?
As with the Lady Justice books, once my mind was fixated on Rainbow Road, it wouldn't shut off. I found myself again laying awake in the middle of the night conjuring up the kids next adventure.
The Fourth of July holiday was approaching and I thought that an adventure based on a patriotic theme seemed appropriate, so the fourth installment of the Rainbow Road series, Patriotic Rainbows, began to form in my mind.
In this adventure, little Breonna receives the gold coin of Truth. In each story, the previously bestowed super powers are passed on to the next story, so in this book, each kid now has two super powers. With these new-found abilities, they are able to save the Liberty Bell from being destroyed by terrorists.
Even though the Lady Justice series was fiction, these were adult novels and the plots had to be believable.
I felt no such constraints with the Rainbow Road books. Having played with my grandson, I was quite aware of the dazzling stories that are constantly being conjured up in the fertile imagination of a kid, and I let my own imagination run free, pretending I was an eight-year old.
It was actually kind of scary when I realized just how easy that was to do. They say that grandpas are just really old kids, and I began to think that maybe there was some truth there.
"If I were a kid, and could have a super power, what would I do?" It was just like going back sixty years and being Roy Rogers again.
Blake loved Patriotic Rainbows, so off it went to Createspace and Rainbow Road now had four volumes.
Our next event was the Bingham-Waggoner Festival and we had Rainbow Road ready to sell along with Lady Justice.
The new books had the affect we had hoped for. We now had kids dragging their parents to our table and grandmas who didn't really want to buy a mystery for themselves, would buy a book for their grandchild.
Bingo!
After receiving great reviews from our new Rainbow Road readers, I began to wonder if maybe there could be some commercial value to our new series.
On a whim, I sent the manuscripts of the four Rainbow Road books to the acquisitions lady at Tate Publishing. Since I already had three novels under contract with them, I thought they might at least take the time to look at them.
I have to admit that I was surprised by her response.
"I have had an opportunity to review your juvenile reader books (The Rainbow Road Series.) I liked the books. The dialog between Blake and Breonna is perfect for young readers. You have really captured their personalities in your writing. One part that stood out was when Breonna called Blake a “smarty pants.” You are right on with the age range of readers you are trying to reach. You have written their adventures to be fun and exciting. There is fine line between trying to put too much into a story and just the right amount of adventure. With too much you lose the reader and they become confused with what the ultimate goal of the writer is. Often when this happens it is difficult for a writer to find the proper ending to their story. If there is not enough adventure and personality to the writing the reader gets easily bored and we all know what happens then… the book is put back on the shelf. I think you have a good balance with your story. I am not surprised that parents and grandparents were purchasing the book. It can be difficult to find a book for this age range. Juvenile reader books are highly successful in the industry at the moment."
I was offered a contract for the Rainbow Road series.
While this was certainly a boost for my ego, and a validation for the series, Peg and I decided that with three Lady Justice novels being published, we would hold off until we were certain that Tate would come through as promised.
At that point we were absolutely happy with our experience with Tate, but we wanted to see if the marketing and promotion would develop as we had hoped.
I had decided to stop writing more Rainbow Road books and get back to Lady Justice #4.
In the meantime, my grandson was sharing his little books with some of his friends, and soon, fate would intervene once again.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
The Tears And Triumphs Of A New Author Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29
In the first installment of the Rainbow Road series, Blake, the eight-year old boy was given the super power of X-Ray Vision.
Not wanting to be perceived as sexist, I decided that in the second book, Super Powers Of Rainbow Road, little six-year old Breonna would get Super Hearing.
While I banged away, one finger at a time, on the computer, Peg busied herself creating another beautiful cover for the book.
When both were finished and bound at OfficeMax, we presented the second installment to my grandson for his critique. Kids his age, after all, are my target audience.
He loved the second book as much as the first and encouraged me to keep pumping them out. I hoped he wasn't just saying that to make his poor old grandpa happy. How old do you have to be to learn to lie to people so that they feel good?
Then a thought occurred to us. We had been involved in craft fairs, art expos and book signings for almost a year with Lady Justice Takes A C.R.A.P.
Not everyone is interested in mysteries and we had just the one book on our big eight-foot table.
Maybe if we had a couple of kids books, it would attract more readers to our table.
The OfficeMax version was OK for the grandson critique, but we needed something better to sell.
We decided that since this was a kid's book, we needed some illustrations, so we went back to Dreamstime.com and purchased some really cute images that fit into the story line.
We were quite happy with the book that Authorhouse had produced, but there was no way we were going down that road with the little kids books.
We had met a young lady at the Lowry City, Mo. Library Author's Fair.
We love going to those events. We love meeting other authors and comparing notes.
This lady had written a novel and published it with an on-line service called Createspace which we discovered was a company affiliated with Amazon.
We logged on to the website and were amazed to see how easy it was to upload a PDF file and a front and back cover, and the cost, compared to all the other ways we had found to publish, was insignificant.
We realized, of course, that what we were doing was the bottom of the publishing barrel. Besides having a book to hold in your hand, all you got was the title available on Amazon.com., but we didn't care. All we were interested in was having the kids books on our table to attract a wider range of readers.
We submitted the two volumes of the Rainbow Road series, followed their on-line directions and within a week the books were in our hands.
Frankly, we were not expecting much for the price we paid, but when we opened the box, our little books looked every bit as good as the Random House and Penguin chapter books on the Barnes & Noble bookshelf.
I have to admit that I was excited about these little books and with my grandson's encouragement, I couldn't stop writing the darned things!
In the first installment of the Rainbow Road series, Blake, the eight-year old boy was given the super power of X-Ray Vision.
Not wanting to be perceived as sexist, I decided that in the second book, Super Powers Of Rainbow Road, little six-year old Breonna would get Super Hearing.
While I banged away, one finger at a time, on the computer, Peg busied herself creating another beautiful cover for the book.
When both were finished and bound at OfficeMax, we presented the second installment to my grandson for his critique. Kids his age, after all, are my target audience.
He loved the second book as much as the first and encouraged me to keep pumping them out. I hoped he wasn't just saying that to make his poor old grandpa happy. How old do you have to be to learn to lie to people so that they feel good?
Then a thought occurred to us. We had been involved in craft fairs, art expos and book signings for almost a year with Lady Justice Takes A C.R.A.P.
Not everyone is interested in mysteries and we had just the one book on our big eight-foot table.
Maybe if we had a couple of kids books, it would attract more readers to our table.
The OfficeMax version was OK for the grandson critique, but we needed something better to sell.
We decided that since this was a kid's book, we needed some illustrations, so we went back to Dreamstime.com and purchased some really cute images that fit into the story line.
We were quite happy with the book that Authorhouse had produced, but there was no way we were going down that road with the little kids books.
We had met a young lady at the Lowry City, Mo. Library Author's Fair.
We love going to those events. We love meeting other authors and comparing notes.
This lady had written a novel and published it with an on-line service called Createspace which we discovered was a company affiliated with Amazon.
We logged on to the website and were amazed to see how easy it was to upload a PDF file and a front and back cover, and the cost, compared to all the other ways we had found to publish, was insignificant.
We realized, of course, that what we were doing was the bottom of the publishing barrel. Besides having a book to hold in your hand, all you got was the title available on Amazon.com., but we didn't care. All we were interested in was having the kids books on our table to attract a wider range of readers.
We submitted the two volumes of the Rainbow Road series, followed their on-line directions and within a week the books were in our hands.
Frankly, we were not expecting much for the price we paid, but when we opened the box, our little books looked every bit as good as the Random House and Penguin chapter books on the Barnes & Noble bookshelf.
I have to admit that I was excited about these little books and with my grandson's encouragement, I couldn't stop writing the darned things!
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