What We're Writing Week: Julia's To-Do List

 Julia Spencer-Fleming: I'm at a weird point in the process of seeing a new book into the world (and you'll have to pardon any birthing metaphors I make; my oldest, Victoria, is having a baby this fall, and it's taking up a ridiculous amount of my brain space, considering I don't have anything to do with it.) 

At any rate, the words-on-paper portion of my work is done. AT MIDNIGHT COMES THE CRY has been edited, and copy-edited, and galley-edited. (This is why authors will often say they never want to think about their current title ever again.) I'll kick into high gear again sometime in October and through November, with, I'm sure, some events in December, because we all know books make the best holiday gifts, don't we? 

In the meantime, I'm left working on my To-Do list. It starts like this:

 

1. Have website rebuilt

    1.a  Research current best practices for author websites. What to                       include vs. what's too much? 

    1.b   Get recommendations of web designers

    1.c  Contact and interview web designers

But then I start thinking, wait - what do I want the new website to look like? Remember that discussion on author branding we had a couple weeks ago? Should I use the same fonts as my book covers? (and what are they, anyway?) Do I use pictures of moody Adirondack landscapes? Maybe small towns? Shoot, should I have something that reference the military in there?

So then I go back and start:

 

1. Determine branding - what message to I want to send to my readers?

    1. a  Who are my readers? 

    1. b   What are the three/four words they use for my work?

    1.c  Do I need a tag line? Is that old fashioned? Oh, crap, I'm going to               have to do more research, aren't I? 

And of course, if I have a brand new website, I want my social media - Instagram and FB - to reflect the same look.  Also, I'm terrible with posting regularly, and that's not going to fly with a new book coming out. I promised Steve the Marketing Guy I'd do a better job. So if I renumber the website stuff to 2...

 

3. Update social media with new headers, etc.

    3. a  Come up with a posting schedule 

    3. b  Don't forget to schedule time to answer readers, comments!

    3. c  What the heck to I post about?  

 

Now I'm thinking I'd better go back to 1. b and add in

1. b. 1  Determine topics based on description words for books

1. b. 2  Figure out what kind of photos and graphic work with the brand 

 At this point, I'm getting increasingly overwhelmed, and I haven't even touched on everything I need to do to revamp and relaunch my newsletter. That's probably going to be points 4 through 6 all by itself.

Honestly, dear readers, this is not what I thought I would be doing when I became a published author. (I also didn't think I'd still be changing the cat pan and mopping the kitchen floor after becoming a NYTimes bestseller, but the life of an author is much less glamorous than advertised.)

Do you ever get overwhelmed by the unexciting but necessary part of your work? And does writing out your to-do list ever make you want to recline with a cold drink, as it does me?  

What's My Brand?

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Branding. When I was a tiny tot, the only time I heard that word was while watching Bonanza or Big Valley, and it referred to Hoss or Heath ropin’ and wranglin’ a heifer and impressing the ranch mark into the poor thing’s hide. (It never seemed to bother the cow, but it’s not like she was asked her opinion.)

 

 

When I started my writing career, the concept of an author brand was just taking off, and it was strictly limited to a name. (No hot irons involved, thank goodness.) James Patterson was a brand. Danielle Steele was a brand. It meant readers were so devoted to what you wrote, they’d buy the current book, and the next, and the next, not knowing anything about what was between the covers. For a few extraordinary writers, their characters were their brand: a Jack Reacher thriller, a Dirk Pitt adventure.

 

While both those types of branding still exist (and THANK YOU, dear readers who buy one of our books automatically!!) the world has changed since the early aughts. Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok, YouTube - they’re all major forces in connecting with fans and developing new readers. And they all have one thing in common: visual imagery. Even author blogs and newsletters have gotten more image-heavy; those old plain-text emails you signed up for in 2000 are long gone.

 

Right now, with a new book out in five months, I’m working on a brand new website, a new email, and how to tie everything together on other social media platforms. My problem? I honestly don’t know my brand! Ideally, I should be able to put together several words encompassing feelings, images, and elements of my fiction in a way I can translate into, well, all those things online I just listed. For instance, everyone’s favorite, Louise Penny. I would say, “Canada, literary, well-travelled, small town.” And sure enough, if you go to her website or sign up for her newsletter (you should, it’s delightful) you see images and writing that conveys those very concepts.

 

Reds, do you have a solid idea of your “brand?” How did you come up with it? 

 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Ha ha ha. NO. I do not. You guys tell me, okay? I would LOVE, truly love, to hear it.

 

HALLIE EPHRON: Brand? I have never thought about my writing in terms of creating a brand. I mean, I know we’re writing “genre” fiction, but we’re storytellers and the stories we tell don’t come out of an advertising machine and none of them are cookie-cutter. They come from somewhere inside us, and I suppose the extent to which they’re similar to one another, that goes toward creating a “brand.” 

 

For me? My brand would be *creepy but not icky* *suburban* “domestic suspense* and *stuff that could really happen.* Doesn’t sound much like clever branding. But there you are.

 

JENN McKINLAY: I wish I had a brand but I’m all over the place in different genres and whatnot. I haven’t a clue. Anyone? Hit me with what you think my brand is, readers! I’m all ears.

 

JULIA: I'm not sure how to put all your books together as a brand, Jenn, but I think "brightly colored" and "fun" are definitely in your portfolio. 

 

LUCY BURDETTE: My brand would probably be Key West, food, friends and family, murder. With a good dash of psychology stirred in. And the obligatory pets, especially cats. (Sorry Lottie.). When you pick up a Key West book, it’s reasonable to assume that that’s what you’ll be reading. 

 

My question is supposing I want to take a tack that doesn’t fit into this “brand.” THE INGREDIENTS OF HAPPINESS, for example, and quite possibly UNSAFE HAVEN. Neither one takes place in Key West. Although the food remains, it’s not the same central character that it was in the other books. Hmmm…

 

So I wonder if a person really wants to make a switch, would it be best to decide which two or three of these qualities will fit the new project too? Or should we quit worrying about our brands–leave that to the marketing gurus–and write what we want to write?

 

RHYS BOWEN:  Julia, I feel your brand is the Upstate New York version of Louise’s books. Small town, cast of characters we come to know and love, evil in the most bucolic of settings. Hank, you are definitely edgy domestic suspense.

 

I know I have a brand because one of my publishers turned down the proposal for In Farleigh Field because “it was too far from her brand.”  

And if you look at my covers they definitely reflect a brand: the Royal Spyness and Molly Murphy both easily identifiable and clearly reflect the tone of the book. 

 But I’m not happy with a writer being tied to a ‘brand”. As you know, my stand-alones range from tense thriller to  warm historical. The only thing that links them is that they are all set in the past. I applaud Jenn for reaching across genres.  I read across genres, don’t you? Many readers do.

 

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  I never thought about having a brand, but I guess it would be British mystery/police procedural/contemporary. If we add “couples investigating” and take off the “British” that brand would include your books, Julia. Maybe we need to form our own brand!

 

JULIA: I can see that, Debs! "Clever couples, cottages, cultural critique and carnage." What do you think, dear readers? Help us out and let us know what words or images you'd use to describe our brands!

A Brilliant Idea

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: So a theme seems to be emerging. As one always does, right?

About how we find the books we want to read. Why we choose them. What we need to know. What’s going to make a difference.

You know about that high-priced study done recently which sought to discover the answers to those very questions. One thing it asked, specifically, was  “What is the number one way you discover a new book?”

What do you think the number one answer was?

Survey SAID:

Pausing for suspense.

And the answer is: word of mouth.

(However much was paid for that, I could have told them the same thing for, say, half the price.)

Anyway. But what always annoyed me about that—how does the FIRST word-of-mouth begin?  That seems to be the better question. How did the FIRST  person hear about it in the first place?

And now--a fabulous group of authors figured out a pretty darn ingenious way.

The Thing You Didn’t Know You Needed but You Really, Really Did

Michael Guillebeau: We mystery readers are always on the prowl for new things like mutilated bodies, serial killers—and stories we’ve never heard before. So these eight writers put together a mystery candy store: chapters and stories and interviews from eight very different award-winning writers, each writing in a different style and sub-genre. And it’s free for download on Amazon on February 20-21 only.

HANK:  See?  Isn’t that a GREAT idea?  Like a book of previews, just a taste, just an introduction (and a whole lot more good stuff inside) to some brand new authors—and some who may already be on your shelves.

But the participants discovered an unexpected benefit—they, too, were introduced to someone new!  

And I asked each to tell you about a new favorite writer they found in the process.

Michael

Michael Guillebeau: I’d never read Chris Knopf before and now he’s a favorite. His hardboiled-in-the-Hamptons Sam Acguillo is the closest thing to my two fictional idols of Travis McGee and Spencer that I’ve found in years of looking. No wonder he won a Nero. Thanks, Chris.

Chris Knopf: I found Kathleen Cosgrove. I like mysteries, and I like to laugh. With Cosgrove, you get both.  Even better for me, she can really write. Getting spunky female protagonists to be believable and engaging, and actually funny, is really hard, but she does it. A great lark, with teeth (read her and you’ll see what I mean.) 

Kathleen

Kathleen Cosgrove: I’m thrilled to have found Lisa Alber and KILMOON. She’s a wonderful teller of stories, drawing me into the mystery within the first pages. Her richly drawn characters move about in an Irish setting painted with loving detail. This is both a mystery and a complex and fascinating journey to a place and people that will stay with you long after you close the book.  

Lisa Alber

Lisa Alber: If we’re talking about wonderful storytelling, then what is it about Southern writing? I love it, so imagine my delight to discover Larissa Reinhart. Cherry Tucker, her protagonist, is a lot spunky, a little redneck, and a classically trained painter to boot. I love the artistic details Larissa incorporates into her mysteries, not to mention the hint of romantic suspense. "Southern charm," that’s the phrase I’m looking for!

Larissa

Larissa Reinhart: Despite the lighthearted, colorful world I write about, as a reader, I love the grittiness of hardboiled crime writing. I've found more heroes to root for in Jaden Terrell's private investigator Jared McKean and Detective Thomas Booker. The fact that I can find these hard-edged detectives with hearts of gold in Southern fiction is an added plus. I'm so happy to add Terrell's works to my TBR pile.

Jaden

Jaden Terrell: I met Jessie Powell at Killer Nashville and knew she was sharp, dependable, and fun to be around. What I didn't know, until I read MARRIAGE AT THE RUE MORGUE, was that she's also a wicked good writer. She calls her style 'cozy noir,' a great description of this novel, which incorporates traditional cozy elements with serious issues. And monkeys. Everything's better with monkeys.

Jessie

Jessie Bishop Powell: I found Cat Enright and her author Lisa Wysocky and stayed up past midnight reading THE OPIUM EQUATION. Cat is the perfect combination of badass and plausible, more than capable of rescuing herself from a crisis, but fallible enough to walk into one.

Lisa Wysocky

Lisa Wysocky:  Any book that starts with, “I only took this job to get fired,” has to be good. Michael Guillebeau delivers (and then some) in JOSH WHOEVER. From a very real protagonist to the Russian mob, the fast-paced writing crackles with fun, humanity, heroes, and hope. I am thrilled to have found another “unputdownable” author.

MICHAEL: And don’t forget that free download on Feb 20-21!   Here's the link! http://www.amazon.com/Eight-Mystery-Writers-Should-Reading-ebook/dp/B01A9SBOMU/

HANK: And yes, I wrote the introduction—and so honored to do so.

So Reds, how did you hear of the last new book you bought? Not that you necessarily liked it, just: HOW? WHY did you buy it?  Let’s see—I found David Taylor’s Night Work at a bookstore signing. I LOVED it, and now it’s an Edgar nominee. (Not that those are connected….)

How about you?