Release date! Mystery of the Masked Marauder

I am excited to announce that we have settled on a release date for the Mystery of the Masked Marauder! You can get your very own copy on April 11, which happens to be National Pet Day.

Where will it be sold?

The Mystery of the Masked Marauder will be for sale on Amazon.com, in both print and Kindle editions. We are also in talks with Jeff Kinney’s “An Unlikely Story” bookstore in Plainville to sell there. If you know any bookstore owners, librarians, or published authors please let us know!

What are you doing to celebrate?

We’re planning a book launch party of some type, so stayed tuned for updates on that. We’re also working to schedule author signings and readings.

What can I do to help?

If you haven’t yet, please like us on Facebook, and invite your friends to do the same. And as already noted, if you know anyone who works for a bookstore or in publishing, let us know. We are so excited to share this book with the world!

Is Kindle Scout worth it?

I spent the past month and a half promoting my new book on Kindle Scout, and in the process I learned a lot about the program and its strengths and weaknesses. If you’re considering Kindle Scout, or are just curious about how the Amazon program works, read on.

My book was not chosen for publication, but there are some positive lessons I can take away from the experience.

What is Kindle Scout?

Obviously, the first question people asked me was “what in the world is Kindle Scout?”

Kindle Scout started less than a year ago, replacing the popular, ambitious Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. In the original contest – which started in 2008 – novels were judged by a group of top industry experts, like publishers, agents, and professional critics. The prize? $50,000 and a traditional publishing contract.

Kindle Scout aims to be more “reader driven.” Authors upload their unpublished books, and then – after Kindle approves the submission – anyone with an Amazon account can “nominate” the book. The more nominations you receive, the more likely it is that a “Kindle Scout” will see your book and recommend it for publication. The prize? A $1,500 advance and publication through “Kindle Publishing.”

Is Kindle Scout worth it? The positives.

Exposure: On the Kindle Scout website, potential readers can easily find your new book, and from there can be directed to your author website, Facebook page, etc.

Learning promotion: It is up to you to promote your campaign, so Kindle Scout can be a good learning experience as you fine-tune your publicity skills.

Validation: If you have even an ounce of vanity (and let’s be honest, what author doesn’t?) then it will be quite a thrill when you see your book on the “Hot and Trending” list.

Is Kindle Scout worth it? The negatives.

Unfortunately, Kindle Scout has a lot of problems. From a small audience to low-quality books clogging up the site, overall it’s not a great experience. Let’s look at these one by one:

Low quality: Kindle tells you that they review every submission to make sure it meets their high standards. This turned out to not be quite… true. My book was approved in about an hour, which is barely enough time to approve the cover. But even worse, take a glance at the site on any given day and you’ll see some books that simply make you scratch your head.

This is not to be snobby or prideful. I’m certain some people took a look at my book and said “eh, not for me,” or even “this looks terrible.” Quality can often be a matter of opinion. But there’s a difference between “quality” and “what in the world is this supposed to be?” When my book was on the “Hot and Trending” list, it was surrounded by books that were nothing short of unintelligible. Taglines like “He could never the love not to be her for it is a thing of heart” or “Where r u, he is the top” were all over the place. 

I have no problems with an unpublished author trying his or her hand at a werewolf romance, even if that’s not my cup of tea, but Kindle Scout is littered with books that don’t have grammar problems, because they don’t seem to be written in any particular language of human origin.

Corruption: This is a serious issue. On my first day on the site, I was surprised to see some of these unintelligible books on the “Hot and Trending” list. My confusion was short-lived. I got an email promising me hundreds of nominations if I paid for them. Amazon has strict rules about paid reviews, but they don’t seem to have figured out paid nominations yet.

Confusion: Some people have asked me how many nominations I received. I have no idea. Kindle Scout doesn’t tell you how many nominations you get, or if your book was reviewed by one of their “scouts,” or even what process your book went through. Don’t expect any feedback. Don’t even expect to understand how it works. “So if I get the most nominations, I get a contract? No? Okay, so if I get a lot of nominations, then I’m guaranteed that a professional ‘scout’ will see my book? No?”

Low readership: Imagine my excitement when I saw myself on the “Hot and Trending” list. All that hard work on social media paid off! The world is finally looking at my book! I ran over to see my book’s stats (okay, you don’t run on the internet, but my mouse hand sure did move quickly), and saw that my page had 84 views.

In other words, you can make the “Hot and Trending” list with less than 100 page views. For one of the largest companies in the world, Amazon can’t drive traffic to their exciting new publishing house?

In the end, the process was disheartening. Either Amazon doesn’t believe in their new program (and simply rolled it out to keep people from complaining about the death of the Breakthrough Novel Awards), or readers got so fed up with the confusion, corruption, and poor quality of the approved submissions that they stopped showing up.

I am incredibly grateful for everyone who nominated my book. It shows me that people are excited to see it, to read it, to watch it get out into the world. I certainly thank them. But Kindle Scout has some serious issues it needs to address if it wants to be taken seriously by the book reading – or book writing – public.   

Mystery of the Masked Marauder cover update

Alright everyone, we need your help!

We are so thrilled to show you some of the artwork our talented illustrator Jon Winchell has come up with for our front cover!

He has given us two final cover options to choose from. Which do YOU like better? Post here or on our Facebook page to let us know!

Mystery of the Masked Marauder: Almost there

Here's a quick update on where we are in the publishing process:

Our illustrator is putting the finishing touches on the cover, and everyone who has seen it loves how it's coming along. We'll hopefully have a cover reveal soon!

We're also almost done with the last round of edits, so once we have the cover we should be all set to go to the presses.

Here's where we need your help. There are a few things you can do:

1. Spread the word! Share our Facebook page and tell your friends about the upcoming book. Help us create buzz in anticipation of our release.

2. Give us some advice. Christmas is only 11 days away (and counting), and it's highly unlikely we'll have the book available for sale before the end of the week (at the very, very soonest). So what's your opinion? Should we rush and publish before Christmas, hoping for last-minute gift shoppers? Or should we take more time to generate buzz? Will our book get lost in the post-holiday shuffle? Comment here or on Facebook!

NaNoWriMo tips, tricks, and advice

Last week, I outlined the reasons you should try the “National Novel Writing Month” (NaNoWriMo) if you’re interested in practicing your writing, and this week I’ll give you some tips to succeed during the NaNoWriMo challenge.

These tips aren’t just for NaNoWriMo hopefuls, however. I believe there are some good lessons here for any time you’re trying to write a long-form piece.

What makes me an expert? Nothing, actually. I won't claim to be a master. But I have completed NaNoWriMo before, and I liked the finished product enough that I’m sharing it with the whole world. 

More than that, the NaNoWriMo process has actually worked so well for me that it’s now the only way I write. I finished the first draft of my latest book (86,000 words) in 29 days, all thanks to the lessons I learned in NaNoWriMo.

So what is that process? What did I learn from NaNoWriMo? What a coincidence you should ask. It just so happens that I wrote a blog post about that very subject:

1. Write something

I said this in my last post, but it can’t be overstated. How do you fight writer’s block? You write through it.

Yes, sometimes you get stuck and you aren’t sure where to go. Sometimes you need a mental health day (or two). But I argue that the best cure for writer’s block is to keep writing.

Here’s my theory: writer’s block is really the fear that our writing won’t be very good. If you know how to spell, you can write something. Writer’s block just means you don’t think it will be something worth writing.

So that’s my advice: write. Worry about whether it’s good or not after you're finished, after you let the finished product rest and you can look at it as a whole package with fresh eyes. Not now.

Some tips: take a step back. Try to figure out where you want to go. What is your goal with this story? What is your goal in this particular scene? Look at the story as a whole. If you know where you’re going, go there. If you’re not sure where you’re going... well, you can actually still begin the journey. Let the story figure itself out.

Now is the time to write. Don’t let yourself doubt, don’t let yourself stop, and don’t ever, ever tell yourself your idea isn’t good enough. Writer’s block is just another way of saying you don’t think your writing will be good enough.

Don't believe that. Just write.

2. Your NaNoWriMo novel won’t be finished

A related point, and the single most important thing to remember when setting off on this challenge: your novel won’t be done by the deadline. Yes, your goal is to have a complete story, so in a sense it will be "done." You should have a beginning, middle, and end. That’s how you “win” NaNoWriMo, after all.

But you won’t be finished. You will still have to edit your novel. That’s no reason to dread the challenge, it’s actually a reason to celebrate. As I’ve said more than once, relaxing and learning not to edit while you write are keys to writing well. So don’t worry about making the novel perfect by the end of November. Just get something down. 

It's much easier to fix something that's on paper than it is to perfect it while it's still in your head.

So let it out.

3. Keep track of your work, but don’t put yourself in a box

It’s important not to fall behind when tackling a challenge like NaNoWriMo (and it is a challenge). You can’t write 500 words per day for the first 20 days and then try to pack the last 40,000 words into 10 days. But if you get on a roll, you don’t have to stop at 1,666 words. And if you’re too busy or too tired or your creativity just won’t flow, you can take some time off.

Here’s the key: always adjust your goals. If you write 3,000 words your first day, divide the remaining 47,000 words by 29 days to find out how many more words you need to write per day. If you skip a day, make sure to recalculate. You need to know what you have to do in order to finish. Falling too far behind can convince you to give up.

It’s so exciting to see your goal getting closer and closer, getting a sense of accomplishment at how far you’ve come. Use that word count as a motivator.

So those are my three top tips whenever I write something lengthy: 1. When writer’s block strikes, write through it, 2. Remember that my novel won’t be perfect when I finish the first draft, and 3. Keep track of my progress.

What are some other tips you find useful?

Is NaNoWriMo a good idea?

Is NaNoWriMo a good idea?

For those of you who don’t know, “NaNoWriMo” is shorthand for the “National Novel Writing Month,” in which aspiring novelists attempt to write a novel of at least 50,000 words during the month of November. That’s 30 days, or 1,666.66 words per day (pro tip #1: don’t try to write exactly 1,666.66 words per day. That 0.66^th of a word is rather tricky).

So is the National Novel Writing Month a good idea? Is it worth the challenge?

First, a little more about the challenge. The website (nanowrimo.org) provides lots of tools to help writers along, including tips, workshops, and tracking and planning software. If you complete the challenge, you get discounts and deals on more workshops, printing services, and editing services. There’s also a forum for writers to chat about their progress and their goals, and some writers even set up times to meet up at a coffee shop and writer together.

So why take on this crazy challenge of writing an entire novel in one month?

1. NaNoWriMo is motivating

 

The biggest challenge for writers is setting goals and then sticking to them. How many times have you put writing a novel on your bucket list, and then said “I’m too busy right now. Maybe next year”? How many times have you started a novel, gotten frustrated, and put it aside for “later,” knowing in the back of your mind that later may never happen?

If you promise yourself you’ll finish a novel by the end of November, you finally have a deadline that you have to meet. Even if you’re accountable only to yourself, that is a huge motivator.

2. NaNoWriMo helps you relax

 

As I’ve noted in this space before, one of the first steps in learning to write is learning to relax. You need to let the words flow on their own, without worrying about the finished product during the first draft.

If you’ve committed to finishing a novel in 30 days, you don’t have time to nitpick. You don’t have time to worry. You’re only goal is chasing that elusive 1,666.66^th word of the day.

I’ll let you in on a little secret. “The Mystery of the Masked Marauder” (my upcoming debut novel) was written as part of NaNoWriMo. I started late, and had only 21 days to finish the whole thing (that’s 2,381 words per day). Instead of letting myself get stressed over this new goal, I decided I would relax. It’s no coincidence that the first time I learned to relax was the first time I produced a novel that I was actually proud of.

A lot of people ask me “How do you not get writer’s block?” My response? “I do. But then I keep on writing.”

When you’re on a tight deadline like this, you have to get something on the page. Can’t think of anything good? That’s okay. Right now, you’re trying to put something down, not something perfect.

My goal this time wasn’t to craft a perfect novel on the first try. That’s an insane amount of pressure. My goal was simply to finish something by the 30 day deadline.

And that is truly freeing.

3. NaNoWriMo is fun

NaNoWriMo isn’t just a way for you to relax about your writing. If you let it, NaNoWriMo can be a lot of fun. Instead of writing to please others, it’s a chance to write for yourself. It’s a chance to explore your own imagination, a chance to see what you’re capable of.

It's also a rush. Challenging yourself like this can be intense, but that's a big part of the fun.

Again, it’s no coincidence that my NaNoWriMo novel became the first novel I chose to publish. I had so much fun writing it that I felt other people would have fun reading it. I highly recommend you give it a shot yourself. Even if you don’t make it to the end, you will have learned a lot about yourself and your writing. It’s a chance to practice. And if you do finish, you may end up with something you’re really proud of.

So how do you do it? How do you manage to write an entire novel in under a month? In the next post, I’ll give you some pointers I’ve learned through the experience to help you tackle NaNoWriMo yourself.