New Short Story

AuthSpot picked up my hardboiled detective story from Triond. It’s titled An Old Acquaintance. About 3,400 words, it blends age, humor and action, with a twist. It was a fun story to write, and I’m trying to get one done every couple weeks as I did with my first offering The Reunion. They get hundreds of hits, and some of that hard to get name recognition.

Rick Cantelli is a P.I. working out of a Santa Barbara office. I liked the character almost as much as I did my two in The Reunion. Writing the short story freebies isn’t taking away from my novels or screenplays. I went over 35,000 words in my new sequel to HARD CASE, and I passed the 30 page/30 minute trek to a completed third screenplay using my characters from DEMON. I figure maybe if I have a complete 7 feature film set showcasing my YA trilogy, and the books do well, maybe someone will look at the scripts. Just thinking about it is what makes all this stuff exciting.  :)  After I get a slew of the short stories done, I’ll probably join them all up into a novel and sell them on Amazon for 99 cents or something.

Enjoy the Superbowl today. St. Joyce is a rabid 49er fan, and boy, if they don’t do well, there is going to be hell to pay. I’ll talk her into having a couple pops to settle her down before the game. I’m making pork roast when I get home from playing basketball, so it’ll be ready when she starts screaming at the TV.  :)  I figure to get maybe five more pages of script done and a couple thousand more words on the new novel: The Lure of Hell.

Book Killing

Writing has been going very well. I learned about a practice this week from an article my friend Jordan Summers tweeted about. It’s called ‘Killing a Book’. According to the article, a new practice in operation on Amazon involves authors who use their sock puppet and trolls to fill a competing author’s reviews with one star hit pieces. Another more subtle one is using trolls or sock puppets to put a favorable review on an author’s book, and then using the same entity to trash everything else the author has done, using the line ‘I really liked such and such book, but this one is horrible’.

I thought it was strange when the long knives came out in droves to eviscerate E.L. James for her ‘Fifty Shades’ lightning strike. Then there was Stephen King announcing that Stephenie Meyer ‘Can’t write worth a darn’. King’s statement was incomprehensible in that he insulted a fellow author who not only was writing, but everything she wrote sold in the millions of copies. Even if he were asked to critique Meyer’s writing, he could have stated ‘I don’t care for her writing style, but obviously I’m the only one’.

It makes me wonder – can’t anyone simply be happy for another author's success? In the examples of hit pieces done anonymously, did the perpetrator actually believe the readers would immediately buy their offerings instead? In King’s case, did he think readers hearing or reading his Meyer remark would then become his fan? In the ‘Fifty Shades’ evisceration, you could at least tell that most of the remarks were from people who had actually read the book, mostly because many of them were very funny. I confess when I need a laugh, I go over to read comments on ‘Fifty Shades’. I don’t agree with doing them, but there are some real comedians out there doing the comments on ‘Fifty’. Besides, if I were E.L. James, I’d be on the boards enjoying the hell out of it.

The ‘Book Killing’ phenomena is much more dangerous. I have writing friends who have had this done to them. They’re trying to make a living off their writing, and a ‘Killing’ will many times drop sales down from the thousands to single digits. To me there’s no excuse for one or two star bombers on Amazon concerning books. A reader is allowed a very extensive preview of a book. If it’s poorly edited, written, or the plot’s not what they thought, there is certainly ample warning to avoid purchasing it. I’ll use my book MONSTER as an example. It’s over 640 pages long by even Amazon’s calculation. They give the reader six full chapters to decide. Believe me, if you read the first six chapters of MONSTER, you can make a decision.  :)

It's rough out there in the marketplace.  :)

Radio Report and Audio Books

The radio gig went extremely well. Elaine gave me a chance to mention DEMON and STORM in detail, along with many of my other books, screenplays, and projects. She seemed to like the interview, and wants to have me back on another YA show when I release the second book in the trilogy. There will be a repeat of her show today, and the podcast is available for anyone wanting to hear the young adult show themed program at their convenience – AUTHOR’S CORNER

Elaine Raco Chase is also an author as I’ve mentioned. She’s really into audio books too, which she discussed with me on the show. She told me about an audio group called ACX – Audio CreationExchange, where an author can make deals to have their novels converted into audio books with no upfront costs. It does mean splitting the royalties, but as I’ve found out over the years, half of something is far better than all of nothing. I’ve already signed up DEMON and LAYLA, and a narrator has already auditioned for LAYLA. As I understand it, you are supposed to wait for a time, and see if other narrators also audition. That way, you find the best voice for your novel. On the other hand, you may only get one narrator audition to pick from… or none. Anyway, I’ll report on the progress.

I registered my third screenplay, second in the DEMON series, with WGAW (Writer’s Guild of AmericaWest). I put the script and logline on at STAGE 32. Not much progress to report on the screenwriting front. I’m advertising the first DEMON script on InkTip.com, where supposedly production companies look for their next project. I’ve started my third screenplay in the DEMON series, and my new novel sequel to HARD CASE is going very well. I’m also writing short stories for either free slots on places like Bookstove.com or if I can land a feature spot with Book Trailers Showcase e-mag. I hate spamming every social site I belong to, so writing stuff, and new ventures, fit in with my name recognition quest a lot better.  :)

That’s it from the writer’s marketing trenches. :)

Radio Interview

I will be on my fellow author's radio show, Author's Corner, tonight at 6:40 PM PST, 9:40 PM EST. I'll be talking with her about my YA novel DEMON, and possibly STORM, my other YA novel with a Warren, Ohio backdrop if we have time. We’ll also be discussing other projects and WIP’s. Elaine is an exceptional host, and her show is first rate. If you'd like to hear about the Young Adult novel craze, tune in from the beginning. It starts at 5:00 PM PST or 8:00 PM EST.

This can be a fun part of marketing and reaching new readers. I’m trying to think of it as such. Elaine is great to talk with, and she does her show very well. If you’ve ever thought it’s easy to keep a broadcast moving along on topic, listen to a full show. It is extremely difficult, but Elaine makes it seem easy.

I got my funny poem EVIL CLUTTER picked up by AuthSpot. I have featured it here once, but now it’s out there, shared with a few more people. That’s it for now. Don’t forget to tune into Elaine’s Podcast or download it later. This is another opportunity to hear me pretend I know what I’m doing on radio.  :)

Poems and a new Author's Database

My poem, The Lighter Side of Dogs and Cats was picked up through Triond by AuthSpot. It’s a laugh at the more odorous side of our four legged friends I’ve noticed over the years. AuthSpot also put up my more nostalgic poem, Funny. I read where putting short stories and poems on-line somewhere people actually visit helps with letting readers get to know you.  :)

I finished my third screenplay, which is the second script of my YA trilogy DEMON. No real bites on my other two, so I don’t have any idea where the screenplay writing will ever go. It’s still fun though, and it hasn’t affected my novel writing at all. I’m a third of the way through a new dark sequel to HARD CASE, where I introduce two new violent people into John Harding’s crew.

There’s a new Author’s Database site where a writer can post all their covers, places their novels are for sale, and a biography. They do a real nice job on it. Here’s the link if anyone wants to stop by or sign up. It’s free – AUTHORSdb.

All’s quiet on the automotive East Oakland demilitarized zone front. The street’s been quiet, and cold. The shop’s been at around fifty degrees all week until yesterday we hit the sixty mark. Yeah, I know… boo hoo… you poor California muffin. :)  I’m doing another Internet Radio spot with Elaine Raco Chase on Thursday, highlighting my YA novel DEMON. I’ll post the time and put a link to it later when my time is confirmed.