Festival Of Books – Basic Marketing

Authors present for this class was Ann Boland, Sherry Monahan, Lynn Wiese Sneyd.

These tips should apply to self-publishing or to traditional publishing.

Ann talked about your website that should have a voice and information about you and how to buy your books. You can use your blog and connect it to your social media. Social media has now become one of the best cost effective avenues to sell you books and blogs.

Sherry talked about utilizing trade tables, join writering websites for name association with your book, and give away freebies of your business cards, bookmarks, or samples of your writing.

Lynn recommended editing services by publishing companies. Be persistant, try different things to attract your books attention, do book signings presentations. Reach out to organizations and events. Have a slide show, give food away. Always post on social media with a picture or a scene from of your book. Have a FB page for each book emphasis your genre when targeting your audience.

From another class on Reviews:  Don’t be shy.

 

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FOB – True Crime stories

Authors attending this class was Jane Eppings, Shanna Hogan, M. William Phelps and Gary Stuart. These authors write about actual cases and crimes. If this is your genre, expect to do a lot of research to accurately portray the real events that led up to the crimes. Jane wrote about people disappearing, Shanna tackled crimes that no one could prove, M.Williams chose cold cases and emphasised the victims over the perpetrators. Gary, formally a lawyer, researches crimes through the legal process found on file.

These authors feel there is a lack of closure to what had happened to the victims and use this medium to explain what had happened. They interviewed and pulled court records to tell the final story.

FOB – Tough Guys of SF & Fantasy

Authors in this class were Jonathan Maberry, Weston Ochse, Jon Proudstar, and Sam Sykes.

To start, it’s not the body count in these types of stories it’s the courage to face up to life’s obstacles. The heroes, the protagonists don’t give up the long fight. A tough guy is always there for you regardless with conviction. He or she doesn’t have to be a super hero. He could be the average person that defends his principles.

These special men and women have a quality of character. They are not afraid of talking about embarrassing situations with others. They have a vulnerability that we all can relate to. The MC did not ask to be in the situation they found themselves in, but they do what is right. They are responsible but not cruel to complete their goal. They are not cocky and violence changes them emotionally without changing their core beliefs.

They are the ones who break the taboos of society to do the right thing. They fight for a cause.

FOB – Two classes

Scenery of the Crime  and  Writing with another Voice

The first class discussed whether your story location is familiar to you and does it create tension and conflict. The authors, Christine Carbo who lives near Glacier National Park, centers her stories in the local. The other two authors, Lisa Unger and Carol Goodman who are from New York, create their books from what is familiar to them.

Authors Jeffery Deaver, J.A. Jance, and T. Jefferson Parker discusses Writing with another voice. Are you using first person or third was addressed. Deaver has two to three plots going at the same time using twists and turns and misinformation. J.A. Jance steps in the character’s shoes and soon you know what his history is and what he is capable of. Parker paints a room where his stories live.

Festival of Books Notes

Class name: Crime in the Family

This is the first class I took that is free at the Festival. Authors T.Jefferson, William Ken Kruegar, and C. J. Box.

Family is the subject that most writers address in their books. These authors write about mystery and murder. Family gives their story depth. When you write, you should express the age and growth of the protagonist, his/her home town, and who are the family menbers and what roles do they protray to move the story along. What is going on in their lives. How will you as the writer bring out where your main character is from, where is he going, and his belief system.

Write what you know. Sex is not important, it’s the story that creates interest.