It’s official: The Book Trailer Manual has just been released!

Dear Fellow Author:

THE DREAM OF PUBLISHING MEETS THE REALITY OF PROMOTION

OFFICIAL KICKOFF DISCOUNT
Limited Time : Buy now for 25% Off
Expires at midnight 8/20/2010.

You’ve just sold a book and are facing the task of book promotion and publicity. Like all of us, you hope that your book will gain a wide readership. You want appreciation for your literary work, you want your career to jump-start, so you can write more books, not just this one. You’re hoping your name will soon be a household name and fans will anxiously be waiting for your next title.

But your publisher has a low budget for promotion and publicity for your book. Maybe you’re a mid-lister and you feel ignored. You understand that it’s hard to break through the cluttered media and capture the attention of readers. Really, all you want is to be able to explain your book, to tell the story behind your writing it, so the reader will understand it better.

No, what you really want is to forget all the publicity stuff and just write.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was one, simple, easy way to get word-of-mouth started? Let your readers spread the word for you. Readers telling readers about your book, until they turn it into a best-seller, a classic. Fans telling fans about your book until there are enough fans they even start anticipating your next book.

In this uncertain world of publishing, there are no guarantees. But the online world has given us possibilities, especially book videos or book trailers. Think about how many times you’ve gotten email from a friend with a link to an exciting video. You watch it, right? Give people something to talk about with a great book trailer!

Read more at The Book Trailer Manual website and blog.

Book Trailer Manual Blog

I’ve also added a blog to the Book Trailer Manual site and plan to post weekly updates, such as new sites to submit trailers to, hints/tips on how to create better trailers and how to use it in marketing.

To subscribe to it you can do one of two things:
If you already subscribe to Fiction Notes through email, then click at the bottom of the message to update your profile. Add the Book Trailer Manual newsletter to your subscription.

If you don’t subscribe to any of our newsletters, you can do that here.
You’ll receive emails whenever the blog(s) are updated, with a copy of that posting. So convenient!

It's Here.

BookTrailerManual.com: Blogging about book trailers

This weekend, my new how-to book is released. To accompany The Book Trailer Manual, I’ve started BookTrailerManual.com, a blog about book trailers.

Here’s links to the first few posts:

• Book Trailers: How To
• 15 Minute Book Trailers?
• Why Choose Animoto? Software Review
• Book Trailer Spoof

If you have a new book trailer, I’d love to feature it. But I don’t want to just showcase the trailer: instead, I’d like to interview you or let you do a guest post about how to make trailers, where to distribute, solving problems related to trailers, reviews of software, etc. Send me an email at darcy at darcypattison dot com.

It's Here.

Career Evaluations and Study of the Market

I rarely post personal things, but good news is made to be shared. This story begins a couple years ago when I was looking at what I was writing and realized I’d like to also write something about nature. I started looking for picture book ideas on nature and looking a possible publishers. I found an innovative company, Sylvan Dell Publishing.

Sylvan Dell is innovative in several ways. They developed an online ebook reader and have a grant program to make their entire bilingual catalog available to a school for a year. It’s a great public relations and marketing idea, which puts their science and math literature books in front of kids across the U.S.

Besides great marketing to the education market, they also market well to trade, especially the gift and specialty bookstores of parks and museums. Last year, I went to Sanibel Island, Florida and the local bookstore there stocked many of their ocean/beach related books. There is a wilderness area on the island to preserve the mangrove islands and various wildlife and the bookstore at the park also carried SD books.

So, I wrote a story for them and the editor, Donna German liked it. Here’s another place they are innovative. Instead of acquiring books throughout the year, they hold manuscripts until near the end of the year. German does regular culling of mss every month or so, but winds up with about 50 manuscripts she likes. Then, the company goes through a rigorous decision process before acquiring the ten manuscripts which will comprise their next list. This process allows them to balance a year’s list in many ways. Realizing that this is a different way of deciding on manuscripts, SD accommodates the author’s needs: if your mss is being held for the annual acquisition meeting, you are still free to submit elsewhere. If you are interested in submitting, you MUST read their guidelines, as they are also unique. Expect a fast reply.

I decided that I liked their innovations in marketing to both education and trade markets, in both English and Spanish, in both hardcover and paperback. I submitted!

New Picture Book: Prairie Storms, August, 2011

My picture book, PRAIRIE STORMS, has been accepted by Sylvan Dell for a August, 2011 release. It is the story of how animals survive a year of storms on the prairie.

The illustrator will be Kathleen Rietz. I LOVE this picture, “Symphony in a Pond,” and can’t wait to see how this talented artist does the various storms and animals in the book.

Picture Book = Adventure

This picture book is already an adventure. My research on the prairies ranged far and wide, and mostly it was about those places in Kansas and farther north. But SD asked for an author’s photo, preferably something related to the topic of the book. That’s easy for someone writing about a dog. But the prairie ecosystem has dwindled so much that authentic prairie is hard to find.

Still, I took a look around and found an option. In Arkansas, the eastern alluvial plains covered a swath of land from the Mississippi River west toward the Ozarks. This delta area once held 300,000 acres of tall grass prairie. Today, less than 1% is left. Fortunately the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission has bought up land to preserve and an hour’s drive from my house is the Konency Prairie Natural Area. Yesterday, we took a drive out to see this 70 acre tract of prairie.

It is located almost in the city limits of of Slovak, Arkansas, and just south of a Russian Orthodox Cemetery. I was hoping we’d get some good photos on the prairie. Instead, it had recently been burned off (a good conservation practice for prairies) and was almost featureless.

Photos from Konency Natural Prairie Area: Click to see large image

Well, at first glance, it might be featureless, but walking across the prairie, we saw several things. Most surprising was the green tree frog; but after getting home and reading more, green tree frogs like damp areas and parts of this land was damp. My husband spotted the brown frog (not sure of species yet), and I found the bleached white turtle shell. As you can tell, he’s better at spotting camouflaged creatures; he’s also the whiz with the camera. You can bet, we’ll revisit this prairie area several times this year for more pictures.

Want to write something new?

• Evaluate. What have you been writing? Is there a topic you’re passionate about or a genre you’ve longed to write in?
• Challenge Yourself. Take a risk. Challenge yourself and go for it.
• Research the Market. Part of my challenge was that I wanted to see what innovative marketing can do for a book. I went looking for a company that was doing innovative things.
• Write and Submit. Follow through. Do it!

Once a book is published, it takes on a life of its own. I’m excited about the journey that Prairie Storms will take without me and excited about where it will take me that I never expected.

It's Here.

Today, I’m chillaxing (see Def. #1). I deserve it, I think you’ll agree. I finished the 3rd major revision of my novel yesterday. Wahoo!

Don’t worry, plot will be back on Monday.

My plan for today is to Chillax

So, here are the chillaxy things I plan to do today:

• Behind the scenes Blog Tweaks. Finish tweaking the newly installed Events plugin, which nicely produces an Events Page, listing my speaking engagements. This year, I’ll go to Idaho, Massachusetts, Michigan, Texas, Upstate New York and Alabama. If you’re anywhere close, come! And be sure to introduce yourself!




• Read YOUR blogs-here are some gems I’ve recently bookmarked.
  • Alan Gratz on Reading Aloud to Adolescents. Dirty dog – he’s going to Japan for six weeks, and didn’t invite along his friends. I think I’ll research Samurais for MY next novel.
  • Roz, at Dirty White Candy, is having a dandy time trying to Avoid Exposition and making a mess with divinity.
  • Actually, I’m SO glad that Roz is NOT giving me an honest critique of my newly revised, totally wonderful novel. I don’t like honest critiques.
  • I love Laura Salas’ weekly poetry prompts. Only 15 words, or less, allowed. It really teaches you the value of each word.
  • Sara’s welcome to the new Ambassador of Children’s Literature, Katherine Paterson echoes my own heartfelt wonder at this woman’s work.
  • So, many more great posts – who can list them all? But be assured, I’m reading your posts today!
• Read my daughter’s new blog, Sticks, Rocks and Dirt. She’s a vegan. People often ask her–seriously unable to fathom this dietary lifestyle, “What do you eat?” Her standard answer is “Sticks, rocks and dirt.” Hence, the blog. She’s living now in Denver and loves the whole “eat locally” philosophy.
• Brainstorm. Work on my new Friday Ideas word: clumsy.
• Talk and listen, listen and talk. Meet a friend for coffee.
• Clean my office? Nah, I’ll do that next week.

Shameless Commerce Division – More Blog Tweaks

As the Car Talk guys always say, this is the Shameless Commerce Division. I now have several eBooks available. I’ll be tweaking the lousy thumbnail images, which I never seem to get right:

• Winter Writing with Kids – 5 Lessons. Based on Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer and other winter characters. Price: Free download.
• 
  I Wrote a Book – Now What? Based on a presentation at the 2009 Arkansas Library Association conferece, this ebook gives resources and advice to new writers. Price: Free download.
• 
  How To Write a Children’s Picture Book. Based on a picturebook retreat, this has 36 self-paced lessons to help you write, polish and sell your picture book. Price: $10. Download immediately.
• After the First Draft. 30 one-minute tips to get you through a fast second draft of your novel. Perfect for those who did NaNoWriMo. Price: $5. Download immediately.
• The Wayfinder. Middle grade novel, now available through Kindle or Mobipocket. Price: $6.99 Now on sale for $1.99

It's Here.

As freelance writers, we often need to look for creative ways to generate income to pay those pesky bills. One solid way for me has been to teach professional development sessions in the summer, continuing education classes for teachers which are required for renewal of their certification.

Teaching Professional Development Classes for Teachers

In my area, this is the time of year to send out proposals to schools and to our state’s education service cooperative (or regional centers for professional development). Now is when they are planning and scheduling summer classes. I’m offering to custom tailor a session to their needs, but I’m also giving them these specific sessions which I could teach:

Paper Lightning: Prewriting Activities to Spark Creativity and Help Students Write Better.

Based on my book, Paper Lightning, this session covers prewriting activities for the full range of writing tasks including all essays and writing fiction, with special attention to activities that fulfill the prewriting portion of the writing standards in the English Language Arts Curriculum Standards. This includes moving from oral to written language, selecting a topic, narrowing a topic, how prewriting can help make essays longer and more in-depth, organizing information and ideas, and more. Drafting, editing, revising and publishing standards will be addressed as appropriate. (3 or 6 hours; K-8) Download sample pages from Paper Lightning.

Write a Picture Book

This session encourages a teacher’s own creative writing by developing a picture book idea into a finished manuscript. The session covers the genres of picture books, picture book standards, plot, characters, and language. Text is put into a dummy format to simulate a picture book format.
(3 or 6 hours; for any teacher)

What’s New in Children’s (or YA) Literature

I’m also current on new releases in children’s literature from kindergarten through young adult and would be glad to develop sessions for your teachers on any topic, any grade level.

Tips on Developing Professional Development Classes

• Talk to your teacher-friends to see how many hours of professional development are required, where they usually take these hours and what are their favorite classes to take.
• Find contact information for those in charge of professional development. This might be at a local school district, it might be a school principal, or the state department of education might have this information on its website.
• Study your state’s language arts curriculum standards with an eye toward what you could teach. I focus on the writing standards, but you may prefer to focus on the reading standards.
• Evaluate your strengths/weaknesses in areas covered by the curriculum standards. What could you effectively teach? What would you like teaching? Can you tie this into one of your books, for example, teaching history teachers about Hitler’s Germany?
• Develop a solid proposal that fills a need in the teaching community.
  • Emphasize the curriculum. Usually by tying your proposal into curriculum standards, you’ll hit a sweet spot.
  • Provide teaching level targeted. Is this class for K or 8th grade teachers? If not already evident, also specify the subject matter.
  • How long will the class last? In our area, classes are usually half day or all day.
• Send out the proposal in a timely manner. Find out when educators in your area are ready to schedule professional development sessions and send it out at that time. Be ready to discuss fees, travel reimbursement, overnight stays if needed, handouts, equipment needs, etc.

Some years, I seek out many extra opportunities for income through teaching professional development; other years, I just take what comes. Either way, it’s been a great way to meet people in my state who love children and children’s literature.

Do you do this in your area?

It's Here.

My novel, The Wayfinder, is now available in two different digital versions. You can still find used copies of the book on Amazon, Abebooks and other online stores. In addition, you can download the novel from Amazon’s Kindle store and from Mobipocket’s Ebook store.

Amazon’s version requires the Kindle, Amazon’s exclusive ebook reader. Mobipocket can be read on almost every ebook reader or on a free desktop reader (a fast download).

The Wayfinder, print edition

The Wayfinder, Kindle edition

The Wayfinder, Mobipocket edition

It's Here.

Are Ebooks finally ready for Prime Time?

I hated it when, about ten years ago, my local library went to the online digital version of the reference book, Books in Print. I tried to look up something about quilts. There were about 5-600 entries beginning with Quilt in the title, and in the paper version, I’d just flip a couple pages and Voila! 2 seconds to find what I needed. In the online version, I had to go through about 30-40 screens before I came to the end of the Quilt titles. Wasted time. Are digital versions or ebooks still a waste of time? Maybe.

Are Ebooks Viable? Yes.

When are ebooks used the most? When traveling.
Friends report that they love to load up several ebooks and keep the weight down in their luggage. Ebooks are used in schools, when textbooks are changed often, as a way to reduce costs to the student. Ebooks are here to stay and will probably co-exist with paper versions for a long time.

We’re going to read ebooks, that battle has been won. The next question is this: are dedicated ebook readers the best option for reading ebooks? Should you buy a Kindle or Sony ebook reader (or some other brand) as a Christmas gift?

Dedicated Readers, iPods and Screens. The biggest problem with reading ebooks has traditionally been the inferior quality of screens and the eye-strain of reading from a screen. In some ways, this is a McGuffin, because, well, we all read online right now, and many of us read many hours a day from a computer screen.

Enter e-ink. It is supposed to be a higher quality, less eye-strain and should be available in color in another year or so. So, let’s agree that the screen-quality problem is about to be solved, or else call it a moot point.

What Happened While You Were So Self-Absorbed. But there’s a complication when deciding on how to read ebooks: technology hasn’t stood still while e-ink has been developing. We now have the iPhone and other smart phones. Here’s where I think the current discussion of ebooks goes wrong. I mean, how many pieces of technology do I want to carry around? The answer for most of us is, not many. Which is why the Apps market for smart phones is so dynamic right now. If I’m carrying around this smart phone, which is always hooked up to the net, then why not do everything on this one piece of equipment.

Optimal Screen Size for Multiple Tasks. Which changes the problem from screen quality to screen size. What is the optimal size screen for multiple tasks? For me, most smart phones fail this test. I want huge, 18″ or bigger, flat-screen, best-quality-I-can-afford monitors. But you can’t carry THAT around with you. And now, we’re down to this question: what size screen is the best compromise for portability, flexibility and easy viewing? What’s the best compromise of features and quality?

Do you see what has changed? My requirements for an ebook reader has been changed by the advent of smart phones. I now want one piece of electronics that has instant, almost-everywhere access to the internet; the screen must be large enough to read comfortably (very important), so I have flexibility in choosing what tasks I’ll do on this device; it wouldn’t hurt either, if it also included a keyboard in a usable size, instead of the teensy-tiny Blackberry and other smart phone keyboards.

Netbooks. For me, the answer is a NetBook.
Can you read ebooks on a netbook? Yes.
Is the netbook dedicated to one and only one task of reading an ebook? No. It’s versatile.
What about travel, is a netbook just as easy as, say, a Kindle? No. But it’s close. The weight is close to that of a hardcover book, making a netbook a good compromise because I gain the flexibility of tasks.
What about letting me choose my brand/style of equipment, instead of a proprietary device like Kindle? Yep, I can choose from a very wide assortment of netbooks, with all sorts of options.
With any dedicated reader except Kindle, I also gain that wi-fi access. (That will likely change in the next few years, with more ebook readers adding internet access.)

So, what’s the best way to read on a Netbook? For those companies using e-pub standards, there are several “desk-top” applications that make ebooks easy to read. The Mobipocket reader is the one I currently use.

Bottom line: I won’t buy a dedicated ebook reader any time soon. Instead, at about the same price, I have a netbook.

Why I Choose a Netbook over a Dedicated Ebook Reader

Advantages

• Small, weighs about the same as a hardcover book.
• Wi-fi enabled
• Flexible computing for multiple tasks
• Good compromise for screen size and keyboard size

Disadvantages

• I can’t download from Amazon, because their Kindle format is proprietary and doesn’t fit with ePub standards. However, Mobipocket, Smashwords, Fictionwise and similar sites all have formats that I can read on my netbook.
• So far, netbooks can’t double as a phone. But neither do I have to get the smartest phone I can find, either, because the netbook can take over some of those tasks.

The Wayfinder, my fantasy novel is now available is now available as an ebook on Mobipocket.com

It's Here.

School Visit Focuses on State Projects

A Celebration of States. Last week, right before Thanksgiving, I visited the El Dorado, AR school for a celebration of the states. The GT classes had been studying the US states: each student made a “suitcase” using a cardboard box the size of a boot box. They painted, collaged, and decorated it with images about and from their assigned state. Inside, they put pictures of famous people, flags, state bird, state flowers, selected items and puppets. In addition, each student had a short oral presentation on their state.

To support their hard work, I was there to talk about The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman, my story about a wooden man who crossed the US to connect a family. It was great fun to talk to these students because they knew the US map so intimately.

Congratulations to all the students who worked so hard on their state boxes!

It's Here.

I just finished a great school visit. Driving home, I realized there were some keys to making it great.

Communication.

It’s essential to communicate with the venue effectively right from the first contact through the actual event. I try to respond within 24 hours to requests for school visits, weekend retreats, speaking at conferences, or any other speaking requests.

I’m often asked how many times a year I do events. Basically, I try accommodate requests as often as I can. So, if I’m asked, I usually go.

During the Initial communication, I try to find out these things:

What type of event is being planned?
How can my participation add to, complement or enhance the event?
Dates?
Type, length and content of presentation?
Type of audience (grade levels, reading levels, adult, etc.)?
Preferred date and alternate dates?
Compensation rates?

Clear expectations result from clear communication and is the backbone of a great event.

Providing materials for advance preparation.

School author visits are most successful when students are prepared. I provide a free downloadable pdf file of lesson plans for all my books, which helps teachers introduce my books. For adult presentations, it’s often necessary to send bios, descriptions of presentations, and suggested copy to advertise the event when appropriate.

Oliver is available to visit your school.

Another area of preparation is providing order forms, so books can be purchased at the event. I have a pdf file that I modify to fit the needs of the event. For example, I often give discounts to books bought when I speak and I adjust this as needed.

Speaking is great fun. I’ve had whirlwind events! And I’ve met fascinating people in CA, LA (Louisiana, not Los Angeles), WA (Washington state, not D.C.), and many other places around the US.

Being Prepared Myself!

The day before my school visit this week, I checked my bag to make sure everything was there. Well, let me back up. I keep a bag packed with things I’ll likely need at a school event: foldable wire frame to hold a book upright; copy of book inter-leaved with overhead projector sheets for each page (back-up only these days); CD burned with Powerpoints of each of my books (MOST useful); a miniature Oliver K. Woodman, samples of each of my books to show while I talk; a snack bar just in case I get hungry; common medicines I might need in case I get a headache or something. I usually add bottled water the morning when I leave.

OK, I go overboard. But I’ve been places where I got a headache and didn’t have medicine and I don’t like it. I go prepared!

This time, I checked my bag and the Powerpoint CD was missing. I searched, but ultimately had to burn a new CD. Had I not checked, the school visit would have been disastrous.

I also do MapQuest or Google Maps and PRINT IT OUT. I’m direction-challenged and follow these type maps to the letter, so it’s essential when I’m driving to have this.

If I’m flying somewhere, I double check reservations a week ahead. I try to have contact numbers while traveling; a school number isn’t enough, since travel may be after or before hours. I usually like a cell phone number of the person in charge of the event; likewise, I give them my number, so they can contact me for any reason.

If I’m speaking at a conference, I try to have handouts ready a couple weeks early. Which means my presentations are ready ahead of time and I can go over it. Often I read mss from writers attending. I read these carefully, make notes, and often re-read on the plane to an event, as well as referring to them privately in-between sessions. I want to be helpful to the writers and that means I need to be familiar with their work.

Most events go well because I try to communicate early, often and clearly, I try to help the organizers to prepare the audience ahead of the event, and I try to be prepared myself. I love to travel and speak.

It's Here.

Time to Re-Plot my Novel

I’ve been chugging along on my novel revision, enjoying how the scenes are coming together. But it’s time to stop and take a wider look at the structure of the novel. Sigh. I’m not pleased. I was enjoying the pace of revisions and starting to enjoy the rhythm I had established of reading and marking up a scene at night and re-writing it the next day. But the scene I was reading last night has that major plot point that I’ve got to solve before moving on.

It’s time to pull out Novel Metamorphosis and go back to the basics: Write down the basic plot points for this subplot, pinpoint where it changes from the last draft and re-plot. It must be done now, before the plot begins to spaghetti out of control–if it hasn’t already.

Placeholders in a First Draft

My plot problems are caused by a complication which my readers found unbelievable. Even when writing that first draft of the novel, I probably knew I’d face this in the revision. But I didn’t know what else to put there. I like the idea of placeholders, ideas or chunks of writing or simply a phrase which hold a place in the story until I can come back and spend time replacing it

When I come back to re-evaluate the place holder, here’s my criteria:

Unique, fresh, unusual. I’m looking for something to “stand out in today’s crowded marketplace.” I’m thinking about how to push in some direction that is unexpected, different. (How many ways can you even say, unique, fresh, unusual, different? Even THAT expression is tired.)

Appropriate and fits story. I’m lazy, too. I want something that fits the current story with the least amount of change involved. I go for unique first and do huge revisions if necessary. But really, why would I wish extra work on myself? Sometimes, just a bit more brainstorming will unearth an alternative that works and involves the least revising.

So, that’s my plan for today: fire up the ol’ brain cells and try to find my way out of the maze of novel plotting.

It's Here.