I am a self-employed writer, which means I’m working for an idiot who doesn’t pay me enough – but the holidays are great.
I’m ex many occupations, from the respectable ‘career-ladder’ to disreputable “somebody’s- got-to-do-it”. All a good way of seeing someone else’s point-of-view. Best job, apart from writing, was dispatch-riding on a motorcycle in the 70s, though I’ve also enjoyed teaching, librarianship, counselling and helping to run a community-centre. Sometimes I’ve looked respectable in a suit, other times a bit more wild and woolly (though still stylish) as a biker. It’s strange how differently people treat you, depending on what you’re wearing. A suit means I’m sometimes addressed as ‘sir’, but in motorcycle leathers I’m always referred to as ‘mate.’
The worst job that I’ve done ? You really don’t want to know, but it was in a processed food manufacturer’s factory – put me off bacon, sausages and quiches for a long time, and made me look at pet food in a new way. I’m very glad that I don’t have any pictures.
I’ve been writing since I was eight, when I penned a story about a desert island and attempted to compile a dictionary – as Clarissa does in my short story ‘The Moon Is Out Tonight’. I’ve written for magazines under a variety of pen-names, ghost-written a couple of biographies and had a column in a local newspaper.
I used to concentrate on non-fiction of an informative, how-to instructional nature, as I’m a firm believer in the dissemination of knowledge to enable people to do things for themselves. Knowledge is power, and in these troubled times of economic downturn and increased intrusion into our lives by government agencies, its vital to know how to get through. My fictional stories also show people coping and finding ways to survive.
I’m based in a Celtic nation, the county of Cornwall or Kernow. I’ve been here for twenty years, and have lived all over the country, as well as abroad in France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and the U.S.A.
Moving on from the Social Media is Watching You! post, I wondered how many of you use Instagram? Either for fun or to promote themselves as writers.
Several writing gurus have observed that Facebook is losing young users, who are migrating to Instagram as the way to communicate with friends. This would certainly be relevant to you as a writer if your target audience is juvenile or YA. It’s less so for me, with crime fiction, as the genre attracts older readers, but I’m still intrigued by the possibilities of Instagram.
As I gird my loins to establish a social media and blogging presence, I’ve been checking out the advantages and drawbacks of different sites. Three years ago, I set up basic accounts with LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, Quora and Pinterest, a Facebook business page, separate to my personal profile, and started this WordPress blog.
I previously posted about my tactic of using Pinterest to get my name out there, by adding my blog address to pins. I could start other boards more to do with books, writing, publishers, famous crimes and Cornwall, where my novels are set, but it’s a time-consuming process.
I’ve been pondering how effective Instagram could be. Jane Friedman hosted a guest post by novelist Annie Sullivan on ways of using the site.
There’s a community of book lovers on Instagram called Bookstagram, which would be the ideal place to self-promote.
It’s impossible to predict how many of these book lovers actually buy books, but word of mouth promotion and viral marketing has to start somewhere.
Back in 2015, two years after I returned to creative writing, I instigated several measures aimed at raising my profile as a writer—hopefully, to sell more books.
I created profiles on Twitter, Quora, and Reddit and Pinterest and began a writer’s blog via WordPress and created a Facebook business page.
I had doubts about how successful such social media postings would be, for there are hundreds of thousands of people doing so, including many, many writers. I subscribed to the notifications of about twenty established and newbie authors, to see what they were saying. I swiftly became aware that many were struggling to fill the space, while there was an awful lot of repetition of publishing news. If someone was prepared to express an opinion, taking a stance with a sense of humour, I opened their newsletters with a sense of anticipation.
Pinterest is an entertaining site, with wonderful images pinned on ‘boards’, but I was bemused by how it could be used to help a writer publicise their books. I came across the suggestion of adding one’s blog address to each ‘pin’, as a way of tempting users into checking you out; to make the pins more interesting, I added information about the image.
I put up a dozen boards featuring things that interest me, including art, nature, trees and wise words, including one board of my own ebooks. These pins were intended to drive readers to my blog—which has since mysteriously disappeared!
I backed away from developing these various social media profiles, for various reasons, including reticence about wanting to promote me as a person (why couldn’t my writing do the talking?), ignorance of the process and irritation at the superficial level people communicate these days.
Recently, I’ve decided to return to self-publishing, so need to find ways of publicising my series of Cornish Detective novels. One interesting aspect of uploading ebooks to Smashwords and Amazon, that hooked my attention is the use of what are called ‘keywords’ as a shorthand way of describing the plot.
Thus, my first novel in the series, Who Kills A Nudist?, would have tags of Nudism/ Murder/ Cornwall/ BDSM/ Supercars/ Smuggling/ Human Trafficking/ Firearms/ Organised Crime/ Surfing
Such tags could also be used as the titles for boards on Pinterest, as discussed by Teagan Berry in these two articles here and here.
It makes sense to take advantage of people’s interests via the boards, for if someone is interested in surfing in Cornwall, and is not averse to reading about kinky sex and murder, then they might seek out my ebook.
Do any of you have a presence on Pinterest?
Have you used your boards to promote your books?
What do you think of it as an idea?
Of all the photographs I pinned on my Pinterest boards, this one has been the most repinned—which says something about people’s need for optimistic images:
In my latest campaign of querying, I’ve selected 88 agents and publishers who I think would be amenable to my Cornish Detective series and who I think I could work with.
I made a submission to Boldwood Books who opened for business on February 1st. I saw news of their inception in the publishing industry newsletters.
The company was started by an experienced publisher, Amanda Ridout, and staffed by executives who know their stuff.
As they’re a startup, with no writer clients, as yet, their website is rather bare. Unusually, they requested the whole manuscript—rather than the first three chapters or 5,000 words—a practice I’ve noticed digital publishers favour more than print publishers.
They’re also relaxed about query letter and synopsis length, so I included spiel about the commercial reasoning behind my series and its Cornish location.
Approaching a publisher directly has advantages, but carries risks too, as most writers are clueless about contracts—which is what a literary agent is good at hammering out.
Boldwood is vague about contracts, which is kind of understandable as they’re new and funded by six private investors, but also slightly worrying. Statements on the site say:
“Your contract will be based on partnership principle and the proceeds of success shared equally.”
“Together we will build you into a global bestselling brand through energetic social media activity; dynamic pricing; collaborative retailer relationships and arresting digital advertising campaigns.”
Apparently, they intend to publish in all formats, with the first books released in autumn this year. Amanda Ridout is quoted as saying:
“We will startoff small, but it’s all very scaleable, very quickly.”
Ridout added that the publisher would not be paying advances at launch—no surprises there, as the huge advances newspapers love to report are rare.
The press will look to acquire World English rights as standard, publishing initially in ebook, audio and print-on-demand, and other physical editions when required. Ebooks are cheap to release, but POD can carry fees and audiobooks cost a fortune to record if the narrator is famous.
I wonder how much of that expense will come from the author’s earnings…
As I emailed my submission, I found myself thinking of biker Jesse James, who builds choppers. To encourage customers to pay him, he has a tattoo inked on his right palm, which says Pay Up-$ Sucker.
Not quite the approach to take in the genteel world of publishing, but in trying to turn my books into commercial products that generate income, it’s always in the back of my mind (a cobwebbed place!).
I know that I can write decent stories, but I’m also sure that it feels like entering a pool of sharks when it comes to contracts. As billionaire financier observed
I’m not for one moment suggesting that Boldwood Books are doing anything shady, but setting sail on a newly constructed ship carries risks…think Titanic!
What do you make of Boldwood Books‘ vague assertions?
In real life, it’s sometimes true love and the one that got away, which inspires great writing. John Keats immortalised Fanny Brawne, in love letters and sonnets. Shakespeare often referred to a ‘Dark Lady’ and a ‘Fair Youth’ in 154 love sonnets, who are thought to be a noted prostitute of the time, and a gay lover, meaning the bard was bisexual.
Scott Fitzgerald used his wife Zelda as the basis for several characters, also nicking parts of her diary to use in his novels! W. B. Yeats’ poetry is full of unrequited love for Maud Gonne. The main characters of Pride and Prejudice are based on Jane Austen’s affair with Tom Lefroy, a lawyer who went on to become a politician and Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.
More recently, Bob Dylan was inspired by his wife Sara Lowndes, penning one of his best albumsBlood On The Tracks when they broke up.
Leonard Cohen died in 2016, but aware of his own frail health, wrote a moving farewell to his dying muse Marianne Ihlen—who inspired the songsSo Long, Marianne and Bird On A Wire.
There’s a strange form of sexism when it comes to muses, for male writers are said to be inspired by the women they loved as if something in their psyche is reflected by the liaison, whereas few female writers are identified as having their work lifted up by the men they gave their hearts to.
I’ve dedicated several love poems to old girlfriends, who inspired happy memories. A recurring character in my Cornish Detective novels is an American photographer, called Mish Stewart, who is based on my camera-toting friend of the same name—with her permission.
While in the early stages of writing the last book in the series, which is set in the art colony of Saint Ives, Lizzy, a friend in Birkenhead unexpectedly sent me some art books. One was about an Austrian-New Zealand painter called Hundertwasser, who was new to me, but whose colourful paintings were ideal for my plot. I dedicated the story to my friend Lizzy.
Who has been your muse?
Have you dedicated any stories to loved ones?
Do you have any famous writers’ portraits on your wall, to act as inspiration?
I haven’t ever heard of anyone praying for divine inspiration from the patron saint of writers and journalists, Saint Francis de Sales, but I’d hazard a guess that authors ask his boss, God, for help—or seek it in alcohol.
When we talk to God, we’re praying. When God talks to us, we’re schizophrenic.
Some writers rely on a mascot for solace, keeping it nearby when they’re working. As we’re advised to develop a hide as thick as a rhinoceros, to cope with criticism and rejection, little plastic models and stuffed rhino toys are popular.
Whatever deity or muse you seek creative inspiration from, it’s still syphoned through your inner psyche as an author—and you’ve got the hard work of actually interpreting your ideas in words.
I refer to a folder of quotes, aphorisms and poems that I’ve collected over the years when I’m in need of a boost to my fortitude. Observations such as this from Andre Dubus IIIhelp to keep me going:
I think what I love most (about writing) is that feeling that you really nailed something. I rarely feel it with a whole piece, but sometimes with a line you feel that you really captured what it is that you had inside you and you got it out for a stranger to read, someone who may never love you or meet you, but he or she is going to get that experience from that line.
I recall the enjoyment that I got from reading Dennis Lehane, Barbara Kingsolver, Anne Hoffman and Michael Connelly and knuckle down to write something decent. Another way of motivating myself is to recall terrible writing, such as Jeffrey Archer or Dan Brown—this really lights a fire under me!
Do any of you send out prayers for inspiration?
Or, do you turn to famous writers as a way of recharging your own creative batteries?
Any story is instantly dated, by the time that it takes to proceed from being edited by the author, to going through queries with literary agents, then, if successful, more editing at a publisher. By the time marketing has been decided, a book cover designed and a launch date is chosen, it could be up to a couple of years after typing The End that the book hits the shelves.
The process is quicker if self-publishing, but if the plot is set in contemporary times, then events could still overtake the writing. It’s easy to modify the manuscript of an ebook, but doing so might lead you towards looking like a smart arse!
The first case in My Cornish Detective series is set in 2012, so Book 1 would be nine years in the past, should I be successful with querying this spring in securing a publishing deal. I try to avoid political references but had to mention Brexit, as Book 3 happens in 2016 when the referendum took place. The poverty of moorland farmers drove the crimes of murder and livestock rustling.
It doesn’t bother me too much, that the first story is dated, for not a lot has changed with policing since 2012, and anyway I wanted to show my protagonist’s story arc from being recently widowed, though depression and on to rebuilding his life and falling in love again.
In a way, the era of any story is irrelevant, provided the narrative is strong enough. I read several hardboiled detective novels last year, set in WW2, which was barely alluded to, other than how key witnesses were away fighting overseas.
Developments in technology obviously affect storytelling. I well understand why crime writers choose to set their tales before the 1990s, when computers, CCTV and smartphones became popular. Researching Big Brother and IT takes much of my time, which was why I set one novel on Bodmin Moor, to get away from surveillance and to have more face-to-face questioning of witnesses and suspects.
Not that penning Historical Fiction is easy. I’ve written two novellas set in the post-American Civil War era known as The Reconstruction, which required more research than any of my novels. It’s not just the historical facts I had to get right, but also the overall feel of the times, the social mores, prejudices and loyalties to make things feel authentic.
Although it requires complex world-building, writing Science Fiction and Fantasy starts to look attractive! But, I’m not sure I could keep a grip on an invented world, and with the one sci-fi story I wrote, set on Mars, new discoveries by the Exploration Rovers immediately made my tale obsolete. I wonder if the popularity of dystopian stories is rooted in not having to worry about dates, for everything is torn down with people forced to begin again.
No one wants to write fiction that quickly becomes dated, and one way to avoid doing so is to limit the use of transient slang and jargon. The same thing applies to references to modern culture, for what’s popular on television or on the internet now will swiftly fade from people’s memories—indeed, readers might wonder why your characters aren’t glued to the latest idiotic reality show.
Certainly, context is crucial. If your protagonist is gullible and hooked on trashy reality tv, mention it, but keep things generalised rather than naming specific shows. The same thing goes for identifying brands of food and drink, where the label might confer status in the here and now, but be irrelevant in ten years.
Some cultural references should be retained, to give a sense of time, but the strength of your story should come from characterisation rather than delineating your protagonist by their shopping lists.
Using dates in stories is one of the many dilemmas an author faces, but we’ll always be around. Going back to the Stone Age, people told stories, trying to make sense of the world around them as well as to entertain; nothing much has changed. As Ursula K. Le Guin observed:
A while ago, I posted about unpopular words, after ‘moist’ was voted the least-liked word in the English language.
One word that’s come into common usage in recent years, which irritates some people, is ‘ongoing.’ I think it’s replaced ‘continuing’ because it sounds more proactive—a mini example of spin—as the speaker or writer is ‘on’ something that’s ‘going’ somewhere…whereas ‘continuing’ implies that something is dragging on, with no end in sight.
Euphemisms can be used politely to spare people’s feelings or diplomatically to obscure the true ghastly meaning, which is public relations for governments. As writer and critic Isaac Goldberg observed:“Diplomacy is to say and do the nastiest things in the nicest way.”
Thus, we get odious terms like ‘collateral damage’ and ‘friendly fire’ to denote people killed unintentionally in war zones. These days, those who are meant to be targetted aren’t killed, they’re ‘neutralised.’
I dislike the way stars and celebrities are described as “rocking” an item of clothing. It’s an extension of another silly phrase to “rock up” somewhere.
“Flaunting” gets overused, usually inaccurately. If someone is flaunting themselves or something they own, they’re doing so in an ostentatious way to attract attention. A movie star sunbathing on a private beach wearing a bikini, unaware of paparazzi with telephoto lens 400 yards away, isn’t “flaunting her considerable assets.” The prurient and judgemental Daily Mail do this a lot, pretending to be disapproving of some bimbo flashing her boobs, while displaying her flesh for the delectation of their readers.
Word choice is crucial for writers, to create the right feeling. It’s sometimes tempting to use posh words, that prove how vast our vocabulary is, but often a simple choice carries more impact. However, giving your characters linguistic quirks, through their use of slang, technical or fancy words describes them as much as listing their physique and clothing.
When reading, I’ve become alert to the author or journalist’s word choice. Yesterday, I came across what looked like a horrid way to describe pumping water from a flooded mine, that I thought must be made up. It was in a Cornish newspaper report about plans to reactivate an abandoned tin mine called South Crofty. They intend to ‘dewater’ the mine. That’s a horrid way of saying drain, but to my surprise, it’s a long-established term.
I still don’t like it as a word, and it had me wondering if adding ‘de’ to other words would work—could it be said that a medic who revived a drowning victim had ‘dedeaded’ them? If I threw up after eating a meal, have I deeated it?
Are there any words or expressions that aggravate you?
‘Moist’ is proving to be one of the most disliked, which surprises me a bit—perhaps it’s something to do with the way that pronouncing it forces the mouth into a suggestive moue—apart from any problematic suggestiveness of definition. Mind you, I can think of circumstances when it’s a jolly good thing if things are moist….
As a writer, I find it hard to get worked up about words being dislikeable, for they are tools to be used to convey meaning and create an effect. I do take exception to trendy slang. Words suddenly become popular, in a strange phenomenon that sees them applied to things that are nothing to do with their true meaning. Thirty years ago ‘turbo’ was used to describe everything from sunglasses to microwaves when turbocharged engines became popular as a way of generating increased performance.
These days, the word ‘iconic’ is bandied about with monotonous regularity—try watching a television programme to see how quickly the presenter uses it. They could better describe something as noted, famous, long-established, historic or well-known.
By chance, just this morning, I came across a revolting example of a trendy word that I absolutely hate! It was in a newsletter about politics and referred to Donald Trump having some ‘splaining’ to do.
My brain did a somersault, briefly confusing it with another clumsy modern term for a man spreading his legs in public‘manspreading.’
I realised that the journalist meant ‘explaining’.Even more annoyingly, he’d contracted a slang term ‘mansplaining’ in some feeble attempt to sound cool. What’s the point, if the word takes as long to say as the original, sounds ugly, creates confusion in the reader and is just a pathetic attempt at being hip?
Are there any words that drive you nuts?
ADDENDUM
‘Severe misuse’ of the survey for the most unpopular word, has led to Oxford Dictionaries suspending it.
My first foray into digital self-publishing was in 2013-2014. I’d written a lot of poems and song lyrics and a dozen novellas and short stories, so finding the Smashwordsbook distribution site offered me a free way of getting my work out there.
Laughably, I first published in time for Christmas, thinking to make a few quid, totally ignorant of how crucial marketing and self-promotion are. Without making potential readers aware of who I am and what my books are about, uploading a manuscript started to feel like emptying a bucket of water into an ocean.
I learnt a lot about digital publishing from Smashwords‘ founder Mark Coker, and his style and marketing guides are free and worth a look.
I self-published the same titles on Amazon, using their basic KDP option, but resisted theirSelect option, which gives higher royalties, as it insists on exclusivity. This would have meant me taking down all of the 44 titles Smashwords had published and distributed to other booksellers. In theory, this is easy to do, but in practice, it can take weeks. I disliked Amazon‘s bossy attitude.
I’ve spent the last four years writing five crime novels, occasionally running querying campaigns of literary agents when I felt like being ignored or rejected!
In 2019, I’m dedicating myself to selling me as an author and my books as commercially viable products. I’ve queried 88 agents, but increasingly, I’m favouring a return to self-publishing. Whether I do this or if I luck into a publishing contract with a book company, I’m still going to have blog, tweet and post on social media to let the reading world know I exist. I’ve been singing away, wondering if anyone can hear me.
As part of making myself look good, I reformatted the ebooks on Smashwords, adding hyperlinks from the Table of Contents to chapter headings, to ease navigation for Kindle users. I also tidied my biography and a self-interview. This is easily the most mind-numbing and repetitive task I’ve done in writing books, making editing feel like a walk in the park. With Smashwords, the changes have to be made individually for each book.
It was partly the slowness of conforming to Smashwords style requirements, that helped me find another book distribution operator calledDraft2Digital while searching for competitors.
This article compares Smashwords and Draft2Digital.
There’s nothing to prevent me from having my ebooks distributed by Smashwords and Draft2Digital, keeping them on Amazon. The main drawback will be duplication, including with ISBNs, which Smashwords and Draft2Digital offer for free…Amazon doesn’t require them, as they use their own ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number).
Apparently, there’s an easy way of migrating listings on Smashwords over to Draft2Digital, but this would feel disloyal to me.
What do you think of Draft2Digital?
Have any of you used them or Smashwords?
What has been your experience with Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing?
Does good always prevail over evil? It would make for a boring tale, were the goodies successful at defeating the baddies every time, for one thing, we’re advised to do as writers, is to make our protagonists suffer, then make them suffer some more, to the point where they look doomed.
The best stories, that remain memorable, contain moral ambiguity. If the good guy has flaws, if they’ve taken a shortcut that’s illegal or reprehensible, it makes them more human. Character flaws in an otherwise strong hero create dramatic tension. Just think of Hamlet’s indecision and self-doubt, when he’s faced with how to avenge his father’s death.
Antiheroes are popular: James Bond, Holden Caulfield, Severus Snape, Othello, Harry Flashman, Scarlett O’Hara, Jay Gatsby, Philip Marlowe, Becky Sharp and Emma Bovary stand out because they’re not all good.
What about the ending of a story? Adult readers can handle ambiguity and disappointment better than children—and if your story is part of a series, it gives them something to look forward to. In one of my crime novels, the serial killer who my detective has been pursuing, and has finally cornered in a Neolithic burial chamber, suddenly disappears in a sinkhole. Seemingly buried beneath thousands of tons of soil and granite, I may reincarnate him in a later story. Wary of making my hero look like a sap, alienating the reader, I gave my copper a strange victory, for he revealed that one of the victims was killed by a second murderer.
With young children, it’s better to have a happy ending, for they’re vulnerable and after all, morality has been taught through stories from time immemorial. This is not to say, that baddies can’t be frightening and even fun.
It’s not just the moral correctness of a story that needs to be considered, for these days, the behaviour of authors is being scrutinised. Publishers are starting to get authors to sign morality clauses, absolving them of responsibility to continue to publish their client’s books, if the author behaves in a deplorable way.
This is potentially worrying, for what of the love lives of erotica writers? If a convicted murderer has gone straight since being released from prison, is it OK for him to pen accurate depictions of how to kill someone? Many famous writers from history were notoriously unstable and defiant of the law—their lack of political correctness made their books successful.
A publisher marketing how right-on, woke, unbiased, open-minded and kind to their parents, children and pets an author is, might help them gain entry into heaven, but there’s a danger that their clients will look like a bunch of goody-goodies whose books are bland and safe.
Reading should be stimulating and challenging, which sometimes means going near the edge of the cliff. Moral rectitude is off-putting.
