Submission Tips - Create Demand

Agents and publishers want to know that you have the ability to sell and market your work. If they are going to take a chance on you and your book they want to see it is minimal risk and that you are going to do your fair share. One of the best ways to get the attention of those making decisions is to create demand for your book before it even comes out.

Contact different literary magazines or local newspapers that can run excerpts from your upcoming work as well as share parts online through social media to build up anticipation. As you interact with your beta readers you can get ideas of what parts they found most intriguing Once you know what parts would be best to share you can create teasers and begin to slowly spread them around on different social media platforms and in different groups.

For newspapers and magazines you will need to contact them directly to find out what they would be looking for and how exactly they want you to submit since each publication is different. You don't want to share too much and give away the story but making sure to find enough outlets that it sparks people's interest can be very helpful. Any details you are able to keep track of is also great for when you submit officially to agents or publishers.

Track where you send your teasers and excerpts making sure to note any feedback you receive or how many views your posts have gotten. All of the positive information that you can include (if you can back up the numbers) can be persuasive to an agent that not only are you able to show your marketing genius but also the fact that there is a fan base for your story. Knowing there is a demand makes the pitch easier both for you and for the agent when they approach a publishing house down the road.

Building a demand is not easy but by maintaining a constant press to get the word out there it can certainly give you a boost when telling agents and publishers just how much your book is desired. Being able to back it up is vital so pay attention to what you learn and show your talents for writing and drawing a crowd as you take the next step.

Book Profile - Asylum

Asylum is the first in a series by Madeleine Roux and I am absolutely in love with these books. I started reading the first one late in the afternoon and if I hadn't stopped for dinner and fallen asleep around three in the morning I would have completed this book the first day.

I was brought into the story of Dan and his friends as he joined a summer program for college prep. I myself went through a preparatory program though nothing like the one he was scheduled to attend. Not only did I not stay overnight in a dorm for several weeks but the dorms on the campus I attended were not housed in a closed down asylum.

It was an intense read that captured my imagination form the beginning and held my interest until the last page. I actually finished the book and within an hour I have already begun reading Sanctum, the second in the series. I checked on Amazon knowing that there was a third book which I went out and purchased as soon as I realized how quickly I was reading through them but I saw that she had two other books related to the series as well as additional titles I will be checking out as well. Her engaging style and descriptive storytelling have made her one of my new favorite authors.

From Amazon -

Madeleine Roux's New York Times bestselling Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-illustrated novel that Publishers Weekly called "a strong YA debut that reveals the enduring impact of buried trauma on a place." Featuring found photographs from real asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Asylum is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity, perfect for fans of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, the New Hampshire College Prep program is the chance of a lifetime. Except that when Dan arrives, he finds that the usual summer housing has been closed, forcing students to stay in the crumbling Brookline Dorm—formerly a psychiatric hospital. As Dan and his new friends Abby and Jordan start exploring Brookline's twisty halls and hidden basement, they uncover disturbing secrets about what really went on here . . . secrets that link Dan and his friends to the asylum's dark past. Because Brookline was no ordinary mental hospital, and there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Book Profile - Sanctum

Madeleine Roux brings the creepy love up a notch in the sequel to Asylum. Dan, Abby and Jordan stay in touch following the horrifying summer program at New Hampshire College but the distance and memories create issues for them maintaining their friendships. Not only do they struggle to stay connected in the real world but the haunting situation they survived is continuing to plague their lives as they attempt to move on.

Dan is particularly effected knowing his family ties to Brookline and the nightmares that found him over the summer never really went away. He decides that going back to where it all started is the only way to finally find the answers he so desperately needs. He convinces Abby and Jordan to join him for a perspective students weekend. With fear in their hearts they set off to find the answers to the questions following them.

It doesn't take long after arriving on campus and meeting their hosts for the weekend to realize that there is even more wrong at New Hampshire College than they had originally believed. They dig through background on the Warden and Brookline itself while following the path they were sent on by Felix trying to figure out the puzzle before they lose their minds and possibly their lives. They discover long covered secrets and someone or something to fear around every corner but are able to receive unexpected help from one they believed to be a threat. I loved this book and like Asylum I couldn't put it down.

From Amazon - In this chilling, fast-paced sequel to the New York Times bestselling Asylum, which Publishers Weekly called "a strong YA debut that reveals the enduring impact of buried trauma on a place," three teens must return to the asylum that still haunts their dreams to end the nightmare once and for all. With the page-turning suspense and horror that made Asylum such a standout, and featuring found photographs from real vintage carnivals, Sanctum is a mind-bending reading experience that's perfect for fans of the smash hit Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Dan, Abby, and Jordan remain traumatized by the summer they shared in the Brookline asylum. Much as they'd love to move on, many questions remain, and someone is determined to keep the terror alive, sending the teens photos of an old-timey carnival, with no note and no name. Forsaking their plan never to go back, the teens return to New Hampshire College under the guise of a weekend for prospective students, and there they realize that the carnival from the photos is not only real, it's here on campus, apparently for the first time in many years.

Sneaking away from sample classes and college parties, Dan and his friends lead a tour of their own—one through the abandoned houses and hidden places of a surrounding town. Camford is hiding a terrible past, and the truth behind Dan's connection to the asylum's evil warden is more terrifying than Dan ever imagined.

Character Profile - Dr. James Kurtsman

I have done a profile on him before and so it may seem redundant to talk about him once more but I wanted to focus less on his specific role in the book and more on the inspiration behind him as well as interactions he has with the rest of the support group in Sharing Strength.

As anyone that has been with me for awhile knows I suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, more commonly known as PTSD. I was diagnosed when I was twenty two though it is assumed I actually experienced the initial trauma when I was in my teens. I survived a physically and even more so psychologically abusive relationship and because of the destruction of my self worth went on to several other incidents I have never totally recovered from.

I have gone through treatments over the years. I have done one on one sessions and been in a support group briefly. I went through a number of different forms of treatment meant to rebuild my self esteem while also helping my find an outlet for my frustrations but very little helped until about seven years ago. After losing my father I decided to go back and finish my degree in college. The satisfaction of completing that gave me the confidence to do something I had never dreamt of since my diagnosis, I went overseas alone to do volunteer work.

Every treatment I had was supervised by a therapist of some sort and I even thought of the counselor in Australia where I went to volunteer as a kind of therapist. She was the one there the day I had my breakthrough. I had been destroyed mentally to the point I was afraid to do anything in case it was wrong. I couldn't think, go anywhere, pick out my own clothes, eat or even enjoy a movie without someone else telling me it was alright. I couldn't make a mistake. Well within the first few days of my trip I managed to slip off a moving cart and get run over by it in a sheep pasture. I was mortified. Strangers had witnessed my humiliation and I mentally shut down.

That is until our leader and a few of the other volunteers stepped up to help me. They didn't make fun of me. They didn't harass me about not being perfect. They instead assisted me all day and even hung out with me later when no one was making them. I had suffered a public fall and they became my friends anyway. Everything all of the therapists had been working on with me clicked. I began to recover.

Dr. Kurtsman is a mesh of all of the people I have worked with over the years from the doctor that had lost a significant other and had to retire from personal depression to one dealing with a cancer diagnosis of his own. Taking pieces from the support group leader and the hands off friends approach of my leader and friends from overseas I have melded a man that makes me smile anytime I write about him. He is kind and caring. He sees the group as a tiny family and is far more emotionally effected by their goings on than a regular therapist would be. He is unable to maintain that professional disconnect and objectivity but that is part of what makes him human. He is their leader but in his own way he is one of them and experiences their grief and triumphs every step of the way.

Marketing Tips - Facebook Author Page

Most people in the world have a profile or page on some form of social media. There are numerous platforms out there though some of the most recognizable are Instagram, Twitter and of course Facebook. Today I want to examine Facebook, but the profile we all know and love, the additional options that can help grow your marketing abilities and visibility.

When I first joined with the indy publisher Pure Ice I was thrilled. It was a whole new world for me and I was ready to make the jump to published author complete with the royalty checks, copies of my books and the readers and fans. I was going to make a splash in the publishing world selling my book anytime I got the chance and people were going to be excited to meet me and have me sign copies right? To a very small extent yes, but in a much larger and worldly sense, a definite no. No one knew who I was and even with the fast approaching date of my release I realized that only a handful of people, almost all of whom I knew personally were actually interested.

That was when I was told to help my marketing by creating a twitter account as well as a Facebook author page. I am slightly inept at social media so this was not something I was aware was even an option. I opened up Facebook on my computer and searched the application with fresh eyes finding the options running down the left side of the screen. When I found the option to create a page I clicked it and immediately started filling out the information. I have dreamt of being an author for so long I thought it would be a breeze but it turned into a struggle shortly after I began.

I had no idea what to put in the about section other than "aspiring author". It was so short and kind of lame that I deleted it determined to come back to it. I finally got all of the questions answered, did fill in the about section and prepared to make my first inspiring and profound post. That was when I froze again. What was I going to say? What if I said or did something that would turn potential readers off to my book? What if I wasn't doing it right? All of these doubts and more swirled in my head. O was lost.

I chatted online with some of the fellow writers I had met and they were able to bring me back down to a calm and relatively competent state of mind. Relax, they told me, not everyone is going to like what I say or even like me. My work will speak for itself when I get to that point and growing a fan base takes time and dedication. There will be days that you will struggle for content (beyond true), there will be days you post something you feel is just a space filler and it will get more likes than something deep and meaningful to you (has happened more than I can count) and there will be days when you post something about your work and receive support that will send you over the moon ( those posts never stop being amazing).

The biggest advice I can give is to go ahead and jump in with the author page on Facebook and make sure to be active as much as possible but remember to take the good for what it is and the bad with a grain of salt. It does take time but when you start seeing people support your work and you as an artist it makes every post, emotion and moment spent working on it completely worth it.

Finding The Strength To Finish Sharing

Over a year ago I sat in front of my television flipping through channels not really paying attention to the shows that flashed across the screen. I was deep in thought. I had created a charity series I was very proud of and had recently released my debut novel Never Give Up. I was simultaneously flying high on the pride of the release while crushing under the intense fear that I would never come up with another book. Sure I had a few short stories and an idea for for a children's series though I wasn't making much progress on doing anything productive with either.

I just felt like I was lacking inspiration and the connection with characters outside of my first book. What would I write about? Who would be interested if I did? I just couldn't seem to find anything that sparked my interest for writing again. As I went through the channels I happened across a show talking about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, something I was diagnosed with when I was just twenty-two years old. The show was informative but focused solely on veterans. As the hour progressed it became clear that the show was not only exclusively talking about veterans but the wording they chose and topics discussed implied that veterans were the only ones that suffered from such a condition. 

It is well known that the horrors of combat can cause PTSD in active duty and veteran military members and it is important that people are made aware of what they are going through. However I found it frustrating and insulting that the program would gloss over people like myself and make it sound like there were no others that could have PTSD. Right then I found my inspiration. I used my own experience actually splitting the things that led to my diagnosis to create two different characters. I also came up with two soldiers and a man that was diagnosed following a tragic car accident that claimed the life of his young son. I put them all in a story about a support group for PTSD and wanted to use each of them to demonstrate situations that people can suffer and difficult moments they must endure.

I wanted to show how some people can react to the diagnosis as though it means they are weak (which could not be further from the truth) and how some people even though they know they need help are not supported and the trouble that it can cause. It has been extremely difficult to write and I have not finished but after writing in parts and taking an extended break I am thrilled to feel I am on solid ground to finish the first draft.

I am thrilled to be back to the clarity I needed to write especially such an intense and emotional story. I am looking forward to finally finishing the story and getting some feedback from my beta readers as well as start submitting it for consideration. Sharing Strength is definitely y next big priority.

Book Profile - South of Hell

Being from Michigan originally myself I laughed in the back of my mind when I picked up this book thinking how entertaining it would be if it took place in Hell, MI. As it turns out, it does. I have been there before and so reading about places that I have visited and actual locations people would recognize if they visited the area such as the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor or take a drive up to Howell made it a wonderful read with added flair for me.

P.J. Parrish has a very raw style and an unapologetic use of rough language. The description of characters, setting and interaction is vibrant and pulls the reader directly into the action. This is a Louis Kincaid book and while I had no idea it was part of a series in the same way James Patterson has Alex Cross when I began reading it I will definitely be checking out more of these books.

From Amazon:

With one phone call from a man he barely recalls meeting years ago, South Florida detective Louis Kincaid heads to the Michigan town of his college days to reopen a disturbing cold case -- and finds himself confronting his own painful past secrets...secrets that risk his future with the woman he loves, detective Joe Frye. 

Ann Arbor police detective Jake Shockey wants Kincaid's help in the case of Jean Brandt, who went missing nine years ago -- and whose husband, Owen, has since been paroled. Now, Owen Brandt's girlfriend appears to be at risk, and Shockey is desperate to get involved. Kincaid soon unearths the deeply personal reasons why...and with Joe Frye assisting, Kincaid links yesterday's jealousies with today's potentially lethal vengeance. It's only a matter of time before one will win out over the other -- and before Kincaid's own shattering revelations will be forced out into the light of day.