Marylee MacDonald's Blog: Writing and Caregiving

Does Fate still play a role in our lives?

In ancient Greece, Fate wasn’t a single divine being. The three Moirai of Greek mythology were women with a subtle, but awesome, power. They decided a person’s destiny and determined whether that person was good or evil. They also chose how long a person’s life would be.

Clotho, the spinner, spun the thread of life;Lachesis, the measurer, chose which lot in life one would have and measured off how long that life would last;And, with her scissors, Atropos—she who could not be turned—cut the thread of life.The Three Fates Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Date: 1558–59. Creator Giorgio Ghisi artist Italian (ca 1520–1582); after Giulio Romano, artist (image via The Metropolitan Museum of Art via Creative Commons; Accession number: 175016–125.)

Greek tragedies are all about Fate, either the Fate that is caused by a person’s fatal flaw, such as pride—“hubris”—or Fate that is caused by a quality that might ordinarily be thought of as beneficial, even praiseworthy.

Cassandra, the Clairvoyant

Cassandra was a prophetess whose Fate was to foretell future events correctly but never be heeded or believed. She was the daughter of Priam, Troy’s last king, and his wife Hecuba. Below, she’s standing on the steps of a Trojan temple and warning her compatriots about the tragedy that’s about to unfold. She could foretell Troy’s Fate and wanted her fellow citizens to be on their guard. She warns them not to allow the Trojan Horse through the gates of Troy. (Look in the upper right quadrant of the engraving to see the famous horse standing outside the gates of the city.)

Cassandra Foretells the Trojans Their Fate. Artist: Bernard Picart (French, 1673–1733). Culture: French. Date: 1731. (via Yale University Art Gallery, public domain; Object number: 1986.2.60.)

Euripides’ play, The Trojan Women, dramatizes what happens to the women who ultimately become captives of the victors. After the Greeks destroy the city, Cassandra embraces her imminent slavery and servitude to the Greek’s leader, Agamemnon. She has foreseen the future and knows that her Fate lies in humbling herself and, thus, fulfilling her destiny. Proximity to Agamemnon will allow her to avenge her loved ones’ deaths.

The Idea of “Fate” Has Gone Out of Favor

Nowadays, we’re largely insulated from tragedies that, to the Greeks, seemed “fated”—until a spouse is killed in an auto accident, until a parent dies, until a child dies young, or until a man in the prime of life contracts ALS. All these events fall outside the norm of Saturday morning soccer and parents’ date-nights out. Living our busy lives, it’s easy to push away thoughts of our own mortality—the calamitous meteor crashing through the roof of our house.

And, yet, bad things do happen to good people. We are those good people, and we’re startled when the intruders—the Fates—knock on our door.

When the Fates Come Knocking

A calamity is what happens to Colleen Gallagher, the protagonist in my novel, Montpelier Tomorrow. The Fates came knocking a second time. Except, this time they didn’t come to her door. They come to her daughter’s door, and Colleen just happens to be visiting. The thing is, bad things had happened to Colleen before.

As Yogi Berra famously said, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” In Colleen’s case, the shock of her young husband’s unforeseen death had sensitized her to disaster. As a young widow, living in the aftermath of trauma, she sought explanations, found none, and then replayed the bad thing in her head, trying to find an explanation for why she’d been left to raise three children on her own.

Can You See Disaster Coming?

Colleen is not quite like Cassandra. She knows that a person can’t, in fact, anticipate the “bad thing.” Lightning doesn’t strike twice, she believes. Or, possibly, because her own life had been drastically altered, she subconsciously thinks that Fate, or the Fates, will not strike her family again. Maybe, she even hopes that her misfortune has insulated her children.

“I can picture myself innocently walking through the house, curious about the life my daughter had begun to construct for herself. It was the last moment of tranquility before fate blindsided me, blindsided me again, I should say, because my husband’s death had also come at me out of the blue, on just such an ordinary day.”

Colleen Gallagher speaking from the pages of Montpelier Tomorrow

But the moment her son-in-law tells her he has ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, she feels a skin-prickling dread. She knows she must stand between the “bad thing” and her daughter. At a very minimum, she feels compelled to warn her daughter that the bad thing is coming, and that she had better beware.

Understandably, like the Trojans, Colleen’s daughter cannot bear to look beyond the gates of the city. A young wife and mother, she refuses to believe that Colleen’s dire warnings would come true. Inevitably, their world views clash. Soon, they are living in the pressure cooker of caregiving, sleep deprivation, and ALS. With the hope that she can affirm her daughter’s desire to make the most of the time she and her husband have left, Colleen throws herself into planning a special “last Christmas” in Vermont.

Over the course of the novel, Colleen’s own life veers off course. But, to have any hope of saving her beloved child, Colleen must throw herself under the bus.

Unfortunately, Colleen has a fatal flaw. She is proud, determined, and convinced that she has super-human strength. However, in a battle with the Fates, it’s not a given that a mere mortal will win.

A New Edition of Montpelier Tomorrow

I recently recovered the rights to my novel, Montpelier Tomorrow, and republished it with Grand Canyon Press. Probably this is an instance of a writer, namely me, returning to her own material. I actually like writing about people and situations where there’s not a predictable outcome. I hope this new edition is going to find its way on the bookshelves of new readers.

Below are some reviews from the previous edition. It’s really gratifying when readers understand a book on a deep level, and it’s especially gratifying because this book is definitely not a beach read.

Montpelier Tomorrow is one of those books where if you asked five people what it’s about, you might get five different answers. Yes, it’s about a family dealing with the father being diagnosed and living with ALS. But it’s also about the things we do for our children to support them, even in adulthood, and the relationship between husbands and wives.

—Shelfalicious

Her honest portrayal of powerlessness, annoyance, compassion, and humor underscore how there are no saints when it comes to long-term caregiving—only ordinary individuals trying to summon their best.

—Karen Rigby for Foreword Clarion Review

MacDonald throws in an interesting cast (many of who have dysfunctional qualities of one form or other)—a mix of family, friends, neighbors, medical people, and strangers—that together turns her well-scripted plot into a more realistic extension of Seinfeld.

—Anita Lock for The US Review

MacDonald’s characters are endearingly human; the gregarious Maureen, the willful but forlorn Esmeralda and her dog Bear; and of course, Colleen herself who, like many mothers, takes on a superhero’s role, doing what needs to be done without complaint but with increasing levels of exhaustion.

—Literary Fiction Book Review

The post The Greeks Believed in Fate appeared first on Marylee MacDonald.

Few references to the Spanish flu exist in literature. Even history books glide over an event that devastated families and claimed more lives than were lost in World War I.

History looks back and searches for causes and effects. Historians can tell us where and how the pandemic began. It can chronicle the spread of a disease that swept the nation. But for all its benefits in providing insight into our past, history as a discipline is data driven. It’s analytical and often concerned with geopolitical forces—the economy, unemployment, etc. That’s not true of literature.

Katherine Anne Porter’s Pale Horse, Pale Rider is subjective and autobiographical. In places, the work comes close to poetry, as defined by Wordsworth. Porter’s purpose is not to “report” on this historical event. Her purpose is to take us inside it, to put us in the moment and allow us to live vicariously, to see as she saw and feel as she felt.

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.”

— William Wordsworth

But why did she let years go by before writing an autobiographical story about this turning point in her life? Perhaps, as Wordsworth said, she needed to have some emotional distance.

A Biblical Reference

The novella plunges us into the “fever dream” of a young woman racing away from Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse described in the Bible’s book of Revelation. Porter had grown up in Texas, and horses had played a big part in her early life. The metaphor of galloping on a horse and trying to outrace death would have seemed natural to her.

The novella’s title refers to Death, the pale rider of the Apocalypse.

Although she nearly died of the flu herself, she lived to tell the tale. Thirteen years after her near-death experience, she was able to write about the life-altering episode that left lasting marks on her soul. “It simply divided my life, cut across it like that. So that everything before that was just getting ready, and after that I was in some strange way altered, really,” she wrote. “It took me a long time to go out and live in the world again.”

Not until 1931 was she able to tackle the subject of influenza and what it meant to be a survivor. She had left the chaos of Nazi Germany and taken refuge in Basel, Switzerland. When asked why she wrote the story when she did, she said that the snow-covered Alps surrounding city reminded her of Denver.

Denver was where she had fallen ill in 1918. She had been a young reporter in the prime of life. Then, suddenly, she was so ill, she had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital. And, the hospitals were full. Her fever was so high, her hair turned white. Her boss wrote her obituary. After months in bed, she was so weak that when she stood, she fell and broke her arm. To me, this sounds like the stories of patients who’ve been intubated and spent months trying to recover their health.

A Public Health Emergency

How long will it take us to develop perspective on the COVID pandemic, to understand what happened to us individually, but also what happened to us as a nation and a world? Many years, I should imagine. We have all been affected in multiple ways, and we have not yet conquered this scourge.

The black-and-white images below only hint at the extreme public health measures put in place to try to halt the spread of the Spanish flu. There are more images in the book, including baseball players wearing masks and anti-masking proponents protesting that they’re tired of masking protocols.

If you’d like to read my thoughts about Katherine Anne Porter, see archival images of the Spanish flu, and read an annotated edition of her novella, then click here to download the book.

Read it and be amazed. A Classic for Our Times

A short novella about the Spanish flu

By clicking this box you are agreeing to receive emails with info about reading, writing, giveaways, and forthcoming books. Figure 1. Love Field, Dallas, Texas. Preventative treatment against influenza, spraying the throat. (National Archives. ARC Identifier: 45499289)Figure 2. Protection against influenza. Men gargling with saltwater after a day working in the War Garden at Camp Dix. (National Archives. ARC Identifier: 45499299)Figure 3. The 39th Regiment on its way to France marched through the streets of Seattle, WA. Everyone was provided with a mask made by the Seattle Chapter of the Red Cross. (National Archives. Local Identifier; 165-WW-269B-8)Figure 4. Police court officials in San Francisco holding a session in the open as a precaution against the spreading influenza epidemic. (National Archives. Local Identifier: 165-WW-269B-13)Figure 5. Members of the St. Louis Red Cross Motor Corps on duty. These women were responsible for five ambulances. Influenza Epidemic, St. Louis, MO, 1918. Photograph.

This is a teaching edition I’ve used in writing groups. It is not available elsewhere. However, it’s a book that has been meaningful to me. All writers, me included, need to spend time thinking about which what they will write next. Which stories demand to be told? Which stories will not let us rest?

Learn how and when Katherine Anne Porter contracted influenza. Read about the horrifying strychnine shot that doctors used for patients with severe pulmonary problems. Treat yourself to a timeless work of literature.

Read it and be amazed. A Classic for Our Times

A short novella about the Spanish flu

By clicking this box you are agreeing to receive emails with info about reading, writing, giveaways, and forthcoming books.

The post A classic novella for our times appeared first on Marylee MacDonald.

Long, long ago, in a galaxy faraway called YOUTH, I sat at a gun-metal-gray desk, awaiting a verdict on my Master's thesis. This was May, 1975, roughly two years after my husband's death, and my thesis was a novella entitled That's Who I Am. The plot--if there even was one--centered on a woman's encounters with her roommates in a maternity ward. As most early works of fiction inevitably are, the novella was autobiographical.

A bound copy of my Master's thesis, a novella entitled THAT'S WHO I AM, resides in the archives of San Francisco State University's library.

I had placed my magnum opus in my advisor's faculty cubby a month before. Now, it was May, and I was right up against the deadline for a June graduation. As soon as I graduated, I needed to find a job.

AN ADVISOR'S OPINION

As I sat watching Wright Morris fiddle with his mustache, I had a sense of impending doom. He'd force me to crank out another revision. Or, I'd have to type the whole darned thing again! In the worst case, he'd tell me the novella sucked and that I should start over. (He'd already told me to throw out a half-completed manuscript and start afresh, so I had reason to be fearful.)

Wright Morris was the winner of the National Book Award and the American Book Award. He taught Creative Writing at San Francisco State from 1963 to 1975. I was one of his last students.

Morris placed a heavy palm on the ream of paper. His chair creaked back. Then, he sighed, unwrapped a lemon drop, and popped it in his mouth. "Mrs. MacDonald," he said, preparing to end the torture, "you are very young. One day you will discover your subject matter."

I sat in stunned silence. "Do I have to start over--again?"

"No," he said, patting the tome. "This is okay. The writing's good. Your characters come alive."

"Will you approve it?"

"Yes, yes, it's fine." He pushed the manuscript across the desk. "What I'm talking about is your long-term career. Every writer has her own material."

"What, exactly, do you mean by 'material'?" I said.

"The people or settings or situations that bubble up from your subconscious. The 'material' you can't let go of and must return to again and again. The material that comes into your writing when you least expect it."

"What is your 'material'?" I asked.

"Nebraska," he said. "Big skies, freight trains, and a certain kind of vagabond childhood. But, as you can see, that wouldn't be your material."

I didn't see at all. I had no idea what he was talking about.

On this index card Wright Morris summarized his thoughts about my novella and about issues I needed to be address before sending the manuscript to an agent.

As he and I discussed the fine points of That's Who I Am, I understood that he wasn't exactly blessing the book with his imprimatur. The book wasn't horrible. It was good enough to satisfy the requirements of the degree; but, it needed work before I sent it to an agent.

Exhausted and hugging the manuscript to my breast, I left his office. Driving back to Palo Alto and my four young children, I pondered what he'd meant by "my material."

MY "MATERIAL"

Fifty years later, I know what my "material" is. Surrender: A Memoir of Nature, Nurture, and Love returns to the subject matter of that early novella--That's Who I Am. In both books the protagonists--me, or a thinly disguised version thereof--seek to understand the nature of identity and motherhood.

SURRENDER circles back to themes found in my early novella.

Surrender is a book I could not have written when I was young. I had no perspective on the pea under the pile of mattresses--the obsession that is always there, disturbing sleep, appearing in dreams, and bubbling up in stories.

But, Wright Morris was correct. My "material" is not Nebraska. My "material" has to do with identity, adoption, and motherhood. It has to do with the life journey of a woman, which is different from the life journey of a man.

Those obsessions have been there from the early days of my life as a writer, and I can finally say, This is what I've been trying to write about all along.

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far away called YOUTH, I sat at a gun-metal-gray desk, awaiting a verdict on my Master’s thesis. This was May, 1975, roughly two years after my husband’s death, and my thesis was a novella entitled That’s Who I Am. The plot–if there even was one–centered on a woman’s encounters with her roommates in a maternity ward. As most early works of fiction inevitably are, the novella was autobiographical.

A bound copy of my Master’s thesis, a novella entitled THAT’S WHO I AM, resides in the archives of San Francisco State’s library.

I had placed my magnum opus in my advisor’s faculty cubbyhole a month before. It was May. I was right up against the deadline for a June graduation, and I needed to get a job.

An Advisor’s Opinion

As I sat watching Wright Morris fiddle with his mustache, I had a sense of mounting dread. He’d make me do another revision. Or, I’d have to type the whole darned thing again! In the worst case, he’d tell me the novella sucked and that I should start over. (He’d already told me to throw out a half-completed manuscript and start afresh, so I had reason to be fearful.)

Wright Morris was the winner of the National Book Award and the American Book Award. He taught Creative Writing at San Francisco State from 1963 to 1975. I was one of his last students.

Morris placed a heavy palm on the ream of paper. His chair creaked back. Then, he sighed, unwrapped a lemon drop, and popped it in his mouth. “Mrs. MacDonald,” he said, preparing to end the torture, “you are very young. One day you will discover your subject matter.”

I sat in stunned silence. “Do I have to start over–again?”

“No,” he said, patting the tome. “This is okay. The writing’s good. Your characters come alive.”

“Will you approve it?”

“Yes, yes, it’s fine.” He pushed the manuscript across the desk. “What I’m talking about is your long-term career. Every writer has her own material.”

“What, exactly, do you mean by ‘material’?” I said.

“The people or settings or situations that bubble up from your subconscious. The ‘material’ you can’t let go of and must return to again and again. The material that comes into your writing when you least expect it.”

“What is your ‘material’?” I asked.

“Nebraska,” he said. “Big skies, freight trains, and a certain kind of vagabond childhood. As you can see, that would not be your material.”

I didn’t see it at all. I had no idea what he was talking about.

This index card summarized Wright Morris’s thoughts about my novella and about issues that needed to be addressed before the manuscript was publishable.

As he and I discussed the fine points of That’s Who I Am, I understood that he wasn’t exactly blessing the book with his imprimatur. The book wasn’t horrible; it was good enough to satisfy requirements of the degree; but, it needed work before I sent it to an agent.

Exhausted and hugging the manuscript to my breast, I left his office. Driving back to Palo Alto and my four young children, I pondered what he’d meant by “my material.”

My “Material”

Fifty years later, I know what my “material” is. Surrender: A Memoir of Nature, Nurture, and Love returns to the subject matter of that early novella–That’s Who I Am. In both books the protagonists–me, or a thinly disguised version thereof–seek to understand the nature of identity and motherhood.

 

SURRENDER circles back to themes found in my early novella.

Surrender is a book I could not have written when I was young. I had no perspective on the pea under the pile of mattresses–the obsession that is always there, disturbing sleep, appearing in dreams, and bubbling up in stories.

But, Wright Morris was correct. My “material” is not Nebraska. My “material” has to do with identity, adoption, and motherhood. It has to do with the life journey of a woman, which is different from the life journey of a man.

Those obsessions have been there from the early days of my life as a writer, and I can finally say, This is what I’ve been trying to get at all along.

The post What Is a Writer’s “Material”? appeared first on Marylee MacDonald.

Photo by Zach Reiner on Unsplash

In this column I’m asking subscribers to share their knowledge about writing, publishing, and marketing books. I’m calling it “Ten Questions.” Thank you, C.Y. Corbett (Yvonne Corbett) for allowing us to learn about your new service for aspiring writers! – Marylee MacDonald

C.Y. Corbett, born and raised in Ontario, Canada, is a long-time resident of Apache Junction, Arizona. In a studio facing the iconic Superstition Mountains, she teaches painting classes in oils and acrylics along with her husband and fellow artist, Jim, and indulges her love of writing. To date, she has written several short stories compiled into an anthology titled Tall Tales from Western Trails and a young adult novel entitled Rememberings.

As a beta reader of other writer’s books, she discovered a knack for accurate proofreading and started an affordable online business to help starving authors produce a professional presentation of their novels.

You are invited to learn more about her craft by visiting her website at www.WordGander.com

MM: When I moved to Arizona a few years back, I discovered a state full of enthusiastic writers, all of whom were working hard to write and publish books. Has your work teaching painting put you in touch with writers, or did that happen some other way?

CY: Twenty years ago, I talked my husband into quitting our salaried management jobs—and secure paychecks—to start our own Art Instruction business. My husband had never painted before this time, so it was a major leap of faith for him. This year, 2020, we celebrated the 20th Anniversary of our very successful business . . . until the pandemic abruptly closed us down.

My love of writing was kindled in my teens, but only in the past few years have I indulged in writing “fun stuff” for myself. And now I’m hooked. Before the pandemic I belonged to a local Writers Group and initially offered my proofreading services, free, to my fellow writers. I hadn’t planned to start an online proofreading business, but it suddenly seemed a viable alternative to our cancelled art classes. This unexpected diversion is a happy accident that I’m eager to expand on. Life does have an uncanny way of changing your direction.

MM: One of the big struggles for new authors comes when the book is “almost finished.” New authors often press “publish” too soon. Why is this a bad idea?

CY: Prior to publishing, any new piece of writing—prose, poetry, website, ad copy, whatever—must go through many stages of growth. A lot of those stages are concerned with editing, correcting, re-writing, and editing again. I’ve read a number of works by “author hopefuls” who ask for my opinion of their writing, and I have to say that the quality of their printed copy astonishes me . . . not in a good way. Either people are simply not self-editing their own work, or they genuinely don’t know what they’re doing wrong. We know that the first page of a novel will very often determine whether or not a sale is made . . . so that first page [and all the pages that follow, of course] has to present a polished, professional invitation to the potential buyer to read on. I suspect a lot of new authors are intimidated by the price of professional editing and proofreading, but those services are valuable and essential if they hope to make sales. And isn’t that, after all, the validation they’re looking for?

MM: Even in my own work, I’ve found that it’s often the little things that trip up readers—characters with different names, typos, etc. What kinds of problems cause you to go on the alert?

CY: Consistency is a big one. The spelling errors, typos, grammatical snags are like playing with a puzzle—which I love to do. Consistency is the puzzle piece that is harder to place into the whole. When my brain tells me something is not right, it has more to do with an instinct than book-learning. It requires remembering where that previous reference appeared and searching through many pages of text to find it again. That exercise prompted me to create a Style Book as I work through each project I’m editing to serve as a quick reference of the author’s work and save me a lot time searching. Along with their edited manuscripts, my clients receive a copy of the Style Book I’ve created for them, to help them with their own corrections or revisions. It’s a handy tool to have.

MM: Brilliant! How can fixing these problems make a better book?

CY: As I mentioned earlier in the interview a clean, polished copy is going to garner more sales and more positive reviews of an author’s work . . . which leads to more sales. Right? Repeated errors, omissions, inconsistencies will inevitably work against a reader’s satisfaction with the story and, honestly, against the writer’s reputation as a competent author. The way an author presents his book is a reflection of the professionalism of the author himself or herself.

MM: What is your history as a reader? As a kid did you haunt libraries or read under the covers?

CY: I read The Bobbsey Twins, The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie, Stephen Leacock, and others. Books have always been my companions. My favorite room in our house is my library. Shelves and shelves of books. Happiness.

MM: Reading an unknown author’s book is different from reading a book that’s an Amazon bestseller. How do you keep an open mind?

CY: It’s a developing process—theirs and mine. We all have something to learn from one another, and I really do want them to succeed—get their work published. It’s my hope that what I have to offer to “my” writers will benefit them as much as my association with them will be of inestimable value to me. Works both ways.

MM: When an author sends you a manuscript, do you prefer to read it on an e-reader, or do you print it out?

CY: When I’m doing the final editing of my own writing, I favor a hard copy. That way I can visualize it more as a book-in-print. However, I prefer to edit the e-version of a client’s work so I can use the editing applications I have on my computer to mark up and comment as I read. It’s a much more immediate method of editing that keeps me focused on the copy vs. the plot. The story line is still registering all the way through, but without distracting me from the task at hand.

MM: Would you describe yourself as a beta reader, copy editor, or both?

CY: I am a beta reader, a proofreader, and a light copy editor . . . depending on what my client wants. I emphasize “light” copy because I am very conscious of interfering with an author’s voice. In that respect I try to suggest options that the author can accept, reject, or spin in another direction entirely. If I’m asked for a more intense editorial opinion, I’ll offer it. But it will probably cost more.

MM: Are there any books or websites you use when you’re unsure of a point of grammar or spelling problem?

CY: The old standby, Dictionary.com, is my “go to” to clarify an author’s word usage, particularly if that word choice doesn’t ring true for me; for other quick queries I simply ask my friend Google. The most reliable reference I have is my own extensive “library” of grammar rules. I add to this library regularly as questions arise.

Grammarly.com is a great tool for writers as they are developing a manuscript, especially since it’s free. But, it’s not always 100 percent reliable, so I never use it. The same is true with the Microsoft Word’s spellchecker and grammarchecker, but those squiggly lines under the text do serve a purpose to alert writers to glitches in their work. Those glitches should always be investigated. And that’s a strong argument for authors to engage a professional person vs. an android before publishing.

MM: What has been your greatest reward in helping authors present their books in the best possible light?

CY: While my business isn’t yet paying the bills, I do love reading the work authors send to me, and what I want most is to see their success. Their success bolsters mine, after all. A client of mine in Australia recently informed me that she is ready to launch her debut novel. Another client (who has a published memoir that’s already on Amazon) is initiating himself into the world of suspense fiction. It’s very gratifying to realize I might have helped these creative people produce a bestseller.

MM: What impact, if any, has the pandemic had on your business?

CY: When the U.S. became aware of the vast scope of the pandemic threat, our painting classes were abruptly shut down right in the middle of our busiest season of the year . . . and our remaining 20th Anniversary projects had to be scrapped after a year of planning. Our hands-on teaching methods would be compromised trying to teach remotely. That wasn’t an option—we would not be able to give our students the particular attention they’ve come to expect from us. So . . . no more Parks & Rec classes: no more ASU classes; no more classes at our home studio or abroad.

But, in seeking an alternative income that we could build remotely, I launched my WordGander.com website to help writers polish their books. My fledgling business is growing slowly—keyword “growing”—but I’m anticipating making many new acquaintances and reading many new books. So, I’m calling out to all the writers out there to help me build my new business, and I promise to help you get your “masterpiece” published. Let’s do this!

The page where people can find out more about her services:

For authors: https://www.wordgander.com/

For artists: https://www.xperiencethejoy.com/

Any other social media sites where people can find you.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yvonnescribbls

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Yvonnescribbls

Ah, the woes of running a book launch during a pandemic! Or, even writing the book for that matter.

So, folks, back in the pre-COVID days, I had set a goal for myself. My goal was to publish–and promote–four books during the calendar year 2020. This was my New Year’s resolution, and I didn’t want to let myself down. Very much like my parallel goal of losing forty pounds! I would be svelte when I scheduled my bookstore readings! Ah, the olden days.

Back in the fall I had pulled together a Booklaunch Tracker. I mentioned the tracker in Book Launch Strategies, Part 2. If you haven’t taken a look at the blog post, please understand that this was my “road map.” It was my way to keep myself sane during the writing, editing, and launching of my books.

My goal was to put in place a system that could be replicated–for me and for you! I would start small, and then apply the lessons learned to the next launch. Like all of you, I would rather spend time writing books, and I figured that systems would allow me to protect my writing time.

The Monkey Wrench


Two poets sitting outside and offering their services in exchange for whatever people wanted to pay. I’m sure they would now be wearing masks, but this is from the “olden days.” (Thanks to Andraz Lazic on Unsplash for sharing this photo. It made me nostalgic for the good ole days.)

As we all know by now, life did not go according the plan. I had, of course, used my Book Launch planner, but with bookstores closed, I needed to pivot and do two back-to-back book launches using only resources available in the virtual world. I want to give you an update on how that went and what I plan to do next time. This post is a cautionary tale of what to do and what not to do.

The Plan

My sisters are going to laugh when they see that phrase “the plan.” My mom always had a “plan.” As in…”What’s the plan?” Now, I’m way less of a planner than my mom. In fact, my thought last fall was that I had to get over myself and actually MAKE A PLAN. I didn’t have to follow it 100 percent, but a road map on the back of an envelope would be better than nothing. (Prior to last fall, just writing a book and getting it up on Amazon felt like victory. Only after the fact did I try to get reviews.)

Hence, I spent five or six months coming up with my ginormous spreadsheet, out of which I hoped to pick five or six strategies that I could manage without cutting into my writing time.

I don’t write fast, nor are my books in a popular genre like romance or fantasy, where avid readers gobble up books as soon as the writer gets the next one out. So, I figured that I’d build the launches around independent bookstores in two places where I had friends and where I could expect people to turn out for a reading. If I was fortunate, I could get local papers to cover the launch. Because I had also been a writer-in-residence for the Mesa Public Library, I knew I could count on former students to turn out for live events in the Phoenix area, and the library had promised to invite me back for a presentation.

The Pivot

To supplement live events, I had scheduled some online events. Good thing, too. I have a large Twitter following and expected that I could persuade a few followers to buy my book. It’s hard to tell if that was successful or not. I’d say not.

Book Riot pushed my book out to their readers. Very little happened as a result of that, probably because their readers prefer other kinds of books. Or, possibly, they didn’t like the cover. There was no detectable uptick in sales, nor any reviews.

What did work well was Bookish First, one of the resources listed in my Book Launch tracker. The deal with Bookish First is that you upload a sample of your work and then their readers decide if they want to see more. (I uploaded three stories out of the twelve in my book.)

The site runs a week-long raffle featuring the work of a few authors–five, if I recall correctly). The avid readers who are part of the Bookish First community must post mini-reviews and give the book a star rating. At the end of the week, Bookish First conducts a drawing for readers who have submitted reviews with three or more stars. So, in other words, their readers have to be interested in your book in order to get it. You also have to be willing to give away 50 to 100 books, and if readers want paperbacks, that’s going to run you some money.

My takeaways from this experience are as follows:

The cover is more important than the content. Many readers did not like the cover on BODY LANGUAGE .
Ebook formatting is key for online promotions. (I’ll say more about this in a minute.)
Getting the books into readers’ hands prior to the book’s official release is absolutely critical. (Because of the pandemic, I sent the books directly from Amazon rather than going to the post office. The fact that the book wasn’t autographed disappointed at least one reader.)
Bookish First costs money, but it was a lot easier than trying to self-schedule a blog tour.




Ebook Formatting

The experience of trying to get pre-release reviews and of coming up with a modest P-L-A-N taught me a lot. I learned that formatting creates a positive first impression. My books aren’t full of bad grammar or typos, but I had formatted my books in CALIBRE, an app that allows an author upload a Word document and then have the file converted to other file formats, such as those for Kobo, Nook, and Kindle. I have also used Smashwords. Both of these apps are widely used in the self-published-author community, but I found they had drawbacks.

They were both time consuming.
Calibre required knowledge of html.
Smashwords produced files that were plain and unappealing.

Smashwords can be beneficial for authors who want to push their books out to a number of different books sites in addition to Amazon. Smashwords is an “aggregator,” meaning they send your book to the Apple bookstore, Google books, Kobo, and Nook. The other popular aggregator is Draft2Digital, but I wasn’t trying to push my books out. I was simply trying to create readable e-book files in a variety of formats, my goal being to create appealing samples for prerelease readers.

Fast Forward to Vellum

I discovered that many indie authors had found Calibre and Smashwords too tedious. A friend told me to try Vellum. I had to buy a Mac on eBay to do that, but two weeks ago my new used computer arrived, and I’ve uploaded all my Word files to Vellum.

The program is amazing and intuitive. It has save me weeks of time and untold aggravation. I am getting ready to release a new book–my third this year–and this time, I have beautiful electronic files for every single online bookstore. What’s more, Vellum also magically transforms my text into a print book. The text is the same for both. Only the output differs.

Here are the advantages:

Error-free files upload seamlessly to Amazon.
A longer book can be shortened to a preview version, simply by removing chapters.
Fonts and spacing are easy to adjust.

There are two downsides:

You can’t kern fonts, so if you’re used to laying out books in Adobe InDesign (which is how I’ve always laid out my print books), kerning is a feature you’ll have to do without. (Kerning means adjusting the space between letters.)
There are a limited number of design options for chapter styles, section breaks, and the like.

However, now I can finally spend time writing and forget about the aggravation of formatting my books in html.

What Am I Going to Do for This Book Launch?

Here’s my action plan, building on what I learned from the previous launches.

Since Bookish First provided a way to reliably get those important early reviews, I’ll be going back to them.

I’ve put a lot of focus into getting a stunning cover, and I hope that will invite readers to give my words a try.
I’ve formatted the book in Vellum so that I can enter last minute changes without too much grief.
I’ve uploaded properly formatted e-book files to Kirkus Reviews and other prerelease review sites.
I’ve set up a prerelease e-book on Amazon so that I can begin trying to get advance sales.
I am going to set up a series of prerelease emails to my mailing list.

The last item is new. I didn’t do this in a systematic way before. My hope is that some fraction of people who follow my blog will want to support me during the launch. (I use ConvertKit to handle email, but I have never “segmented” my list so that people who subscribe only get email that could potentially be of interest to them.)

As you can see, I’m not trying to add fifty things to my “to do” list. In reality, I’m just adding one thing–creating a series of launch emails. To do this I will need to watch ConvertKit’s “how to” videos, and then apply them to my list.

My expectation is that if I keep piling these blocks on top of each other, I will be able to develop systems that can be reused for each succeeding book. I know many writers just hate the marketing side of the writing business, but we all want readers, do we not? Yes, we do!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Marylee MacDonald’s Book Launch Tracker can help you plan effective book launches. Essentially, a tracker functions like a runway. If you want your book to have liftoff, you need a three- to six-month lead time, but if you don’t you lay out the tasks in advance, the day of your book launch will arrive, and you won’t have  mechanisms set up to ensure that readers will find your book and then buy it. As Ross Perot used to say, “It’s not rocket science.” But, actually, it is rocket science. There are a lot of moving parts and a lot to learn about how to pull off an effective launch.

Give yourself time to execute your book launch. The longer the runway, the less stress for you.

In my last post, I said that the kind of launch you design depends on you. I really meant it. For some authors, in-person events provide a payoff for all those months or years in isolation. For shy authors with a bit of social media savvy, it’s easier to launch a book through the internet. Since most books are sold via the internet, learning how to effectively market on social media is critical. And, I’m glad I put the effort into learning this, because Covid-19 is caused me to cancel three in-person events.

How to Stay Sane in an Online World

I spent much of this spring and summer putting this book launch tracker together so that I could keep from going nuts during a book launch. I want to share it with you because every writer I know experiences the same bemusement at the prospect of getting out there and hawking books. But, we want readers, don’t we, and how else will we get them if we don’t get out there and advocate for ourselves?

Here’s my book launch tracker. It includes 19 Tools, each with a set of tasks that can lead to success.

How My Book Launch Tracker Works

In this Book Launch Tracker, I’ve grouped resources to make it easy for you to find strategies that fit your personality. The important thing to note is that you can’t “do it all.” My recommendation is that you start with two or three tools, those that fit your personality and your time parameters. As you get more comfortable with marketing, you can try other tools.

Here’s a breakdown of the Tools at your disposal:

Tool 1-Your Website or Landing Page

Tool 2–Review Campaign

Tool 3-Media Kit

Tool 4-Marketing Materials

Tool 5-Book Trailer

Tool 6-Email Campaign

Tool 7-Social Media Campaign

Tool 8-Book Pre-orders

Tool 9-Interview/Media Campaign

Tool 10-Targeted Guest Posting/Hosting

Tool 11-Speaking Engagements

Tool 12-Amazon Bestseller Campaign

Tool 13-Book Launch Incentives or Bonuses

Tool 14-Bundled Promotions, Special Sales, and Bulk Purchases

Tool 15-Targeted Blog Tour

Tool 16-Contests, Giveaways, Raffles, & Free Days

Tool 17-Paid Advertising

Tool 18-Telesummits, Webinars, and Podcasts

Tool 19-Influencer Outreach

One thing to note is that each Tool is broken down into specific tasks. See the little black triangle in the corner of some of the tasks? Hover your mouse over that triangle, and an explanation will appear. The explanation will give you more detail on the task, or it will point you to a website.

To download the Book Launch Tracker, click on this link. Save the file and rename it. After you’ve renamed it, you can customize it for your own needs.

Make Sure to Look at Each Sheet

In addition to the main sheet, which you’ll see when you open the file, there are detailed sheets that can help you expand your marketing efforts.

If you plan to send ARC (Advance Reviewer Copies), look at the ARCs’ sheet for tools that can automate the process of sending out electronic files.

If you plan to do a campaign based on Bloggers, look on the Bloggers‘ sheet. I have listed some bloggers, but there are many more. (A word of caution, here. If you’re going to contact a blogger and ask to be featured on that person’s site, follow their blog and comment in a friendly way several times before you approach them. They’re likely to be more receptive if they recognize your name.)

If you need book reviews, check out the listings on the BkRevws‘ sheet.

The sheet named Form Responses 1 contains listings of Influencers for Facebook and Twitter as well as a more complete listing of bloggers. (Some children’s authors have had a lot of success using Influencers on Instagram. I’m not very active on that platform, but it might be pure gold for you.)

A Bit of Advice Vis a Vis Bloggers

I hired a firm to do a blog tour a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, I was naive and didn’t ask whether the blogs that were going to be part of the tour had readers who would enjoy literary fiction. When I looked at the sites I was aghast. They were all sites that featured bodice rippers, mysteries, or sci fi. Most of the blogs only had 20 to 30 followers, so that wasn’t doing me any good.

At that point I decided I needed to organize my own blog tour. I started with a website I really like called The Book Blogger List. By typing in some keywords, I was able to come up with a preliminary list of bloggers. I then looked on Alexa.com to see which blogs had an actual following and whose tastes ran to literary fiction. (You can also use Ahrefs.com or Similarweb.com to find kindred spirits.) Not all bloggers are willing to read books by small press or self-published authors, and some bloggers are wide open.

I made a list of blogs. I began following and commenting on their posts. At that point I had a vetted list, but, more important, I enjoyed getting to know the bloggers. I was genuinely interested in expanding my horizons, and I think it showed. By that time my book launch was approaching, I had a better sense of who might be receptive.

If you’re going to try this strategy, it’s important to look at both the blog’s genre, the blogger’s willingness to host an author’s book, the number of their followers, and the needed lead time for one of their slots. I figured that if I narrowed my list to 10 bloggers, that would be better than the scattershot approach of hiring someone to just send the book to the “usual suspects”.

Full Disclosure

Now, here’s a confession. I am now in the middle of a launch and realizing that there are two things I need to do better. One is that I need to segment my email list, dividing those who signed up because they like my writing from those who signed up to get advice and help with their own writing. I haven’t done that because I haven’t had time to watch the videos on ConvertKit that tell me how to segment a list. But, I will because I know I must.

The second thing I wish I’d done is to put together a “street team,” those folks who are so enthralled by my fiction that they can’t wait for a new book to come out. I will do that just as soon as I get past these two back-to-back book launches. As you all surely know, you can’t do everything. And, I’ll report back on my successes and ways to improve.

Meanwhile, here’s another article about simple tools that will help you out during a book launch.

And just in case you missed the link to the Google Sheets’ version of the Book Launch Tracker, here it is again.

For those of you who’d rather open the Tracker in Microsoft Excel, click here for the download.

And, meanwhile, I’ll just put in one more plug for one of the books I’m launching right now. You can get the Kindle version for $5.99 (only until March 27 when the price goes up to $9.99). Alternately, you can order a paperback for $20.99. For those of you who don’t want to self-publish, this book could be a lifesaver. It’s a compendium of 350+ non-fee-charging publishers, and there are some backdoor ways to get your manuscript considered by the likes of Knopf and Avon.

 

 

 

 

 

The answer to “What’s the best book launch strategy?” is that a successful launch strategy depends on you. The only thing that won’t work is to have no launch plan. And, yet, that’s the situation most writers find themselves in. Tongue hanging out, they can’t wait to “get the book up on Amazon,” and then they cross their fingers and pray that readers will discover it and leave reviews. Folks, that is not going to happen. I know. I’ve been there.

Save back some of your creativity and put it into a launch plan. Think strategically. You’re not just launching THIS book. You’re learning how to launch this one and the books yet to come.

Plan to Get Steady Sales

The key time you must get sales is during the first and second weeks of your launch. That is, if you want Amazon to take note and vault you into the “best sellers” or “movers and shakers” categories. What you need to do is put your whole heart and soul into doing three things:

Figure out which categories are “winnable,” meaning which have the least competition and are most appropriate for your book;
Figure out how you are going to reach potential readers;
Put a big effort into making your first week yield steady and rising sales.

Solicit Pre-orders

Before you launch, you should definitely be building excitement through social media. Do a cover reveal. Put an excerpt of your book on your author page. Enlist your “street team” to spread the word that your book is coming out.

Reduce the price of your book during the pre-order stage to motivate people to buy it right now.

Advertise on Facebook, Twitter, etc, that the book will only be at that price until launch day.

Send emails to your subscribers’ list, telling them about this one-time good deal. Most people won’t act until they’ve received 7 reminders to take action, so in each pre-order email, make sure there’s a clear call to action. Buy my book now!

The good thing about pre-orders is that Amazon will take note of them. If the book appears to be one that’s drawing interest, that will help you. But don’t slack off now! You’re just getting started.

Bar Chart Illustrates Rising Interest

The key time to get Amazon to take an interest in your book is during the first week or two. If you have pre-orders, that’s good. But, even better is if you can find and persuade a large number of readers to order your book during the crucial launch week.

How will you do that?

One way is to sell to your list–your email list. If you can segment your email list, sending out an email every day to a different group of people, then you can keep sales steadily going up. This assumes that people will actually open your email. If they don’t, well, email overload is a problem we all face, and you can’t do anything about that. However, most email service providers do show who has opened the email and who hasn’t. You can try resending, or sending a different message, such as, “Hey, I sent out a pretty important announcement yesterday, and it looks like you didn’t open it. Here it is again, and I’d really like your help with this.”

A second way is to create momentum through running Facebook ads or Bookbub ads. These can be expensive, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing and haven’t targeted your audience well, but Bookbub ads–as opposed to getting a slot on a Bookbub Deal–can potentially be a way for you to get a lot of downloads, and, hence, eyes on your book. However, if you’re in a niche genre (as I am with literary fiction), you may find that you’re shelling out a lot of money for very little return. Even though Bookbub ads can target certain segments of the market, not every reader on that targeted list is going to spring for your book. If you’ve written a romance, however, that’s a popular genre, and romance readers are among the most avid readers out there.

Combining Launch Strategies

Timing is everything, in book marketing as well as in the stock market. Ideally, one would want the numbers to have a slow and steady rise.

Let’s consider one launch scenario. Below, I’m assuming that the author doesn’t have a huge email list, but is able to get some sales. Sales are starting to die down at the end of the week, but they increase when the author runs a Bookbub ad. The key thing to think about is that this ad won’t do you any good if you run it three months from now. It will have a positive effect if you run it during launch week. As I said, timing is everything.

You need a PLAN so that you can take immediate action during the launch phase. And you may need help from some of the big players in the online book-marketing world–BookBub, BookRiot, BookBuzz, or BookishFirst. (More on these resources in my next post.)

This bar chart illustrates a launch where lukewarm sales get a boost from a Bookbub ad.

When the Almighty “Zon” Takes Note

In an ideal world, you would aim for getting steady sales during the first two weeks. If you succeed, your book will appear on Amazon’s “Movers and Shakers” page. As you will note in the fine print below, this page comes from the number of books sold in a 24-hour period.

If you can manage to get on the “Movers and Shakers” page, Amazon will take over the advertising for you.

How Do You Know How Many Books You Need to Sell Per Day?

Tom Corson Knowles has a very handy free calculator. It will tell you exactly how many books you need to sell to achieve a particular sales rank. https://www.tckpublishing.com/amazon-book-sales-calculator/

 

Here’s how to use this tool. Find a book on the “Top 20” bestselling books’ page. Look at the author ranking, and type in the numbers. See how many you need to sell to reach the Number 1 ranking. Then check the sales rank for book that’s ranked 20th. That’s the spread, and you need to figure out how to lob your ball into this ballpark.

Daunting, isn’t it? But, don’t lose hope. I have more on this subject, including a Book Launch Tracker that breaks down specific launch strategies and tasks into bite-sized pieces. Here’s what the planner looks like. In my next post I’m going to explain its features and how it works. Essentially, it’s a Google Sheet that you can customize for your own launch.

Here’s my book launch tracker. I’ll be talking about it in my next post.

Meanwhile, in case you missed a previous post about how to rank in Amazon, go here and read it now. Also, I am using this Book Launch Tracker to manage my own new book release. As a favor to me (and to yourself, I hope), you can take a look at the book I’m featuring right now. Here’s a preview of the book.

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In this column I’m asking subscribers to share their knowledge about writing, publishing, and marketing their books. I’m calling it “Ten Questions.” Thank you, Jenny Wheeler, for allowing us to learn about how a late-in-life writer from New Zealand found inspiration and excitement in the gold fields of California! – Marylee MacDonald

Author Tip: “Think like a career author. (Unless you are really happy doing it as a hobby.) Examine the market closely, and decide what sort of book you want to write and where it will fit in terms of publishing niches in the current market. Make sure you understand reader expectations in the genre you choose, and then do your best to satisfy them.”

Follow her on Goodreads. 

If you’re on Goodreads, here’s where you can find this prolific author.

About her series: Of Gold & Blood: Readers’ reviews report “hooked from the first page.”

California, 1868. The three Russell brothers have been separated by time and tragedy. When they reunite in a proverbial promised land, they must heal the past and build a future for themselves and the strong women who hold their hearts. But the rough Western frontier breeds more danger than delight…

As they soon discover, in California’s Gilded Age, all that glitters can be love… or murder.

MM: A book begins as an idea in the writer’s imagination. Eventually, this grain of sand turns into a pearl. What was the grain of sand that fired your imagination?

JW: As a child we regularly holidayed down the Thames coast in New Zealand where the hills are riddled with old mine shafts from New Zealand’s own “gold rush.” We’d often venture into these old mines (hair-raising though it is to admit it now), and almost every summer I lugged home boulders of quartz as a keepsake. I think this sparked in me a curiosity about the “Gold Rush” period right around the Pacific – NZ, Australia, and California…

MM: How did you approach turning this idea into a manuscript, and eventually a book? Did you take classes, read books, or just plunge in?

JW: I was already an experienced nonfiction writer, having been a newspaper and magazine editor for more than a decade. I approached fiction as if learning a new skill – related to my previous experience but very different from it. I read a lot of craft books and attended craft workshops at writing conferences like the ones put on by Romance Writers of NZ.

MM: Authors today have many options when it comes to publication. Did you work with an agent, find a publisher through other means, or self-publish your book?

JW: After I examined the state of the market I concluded the best approach for me was to indie publish. I had written three nonfiction books, one traditionally published, one self-published by printing in Hong Kong ourselves, and one indie published digitally and as a Print On Demand paperback.  I concluded the latter would be the best for me because I didn’t want to invest the time doing all the work of finding a traditional publisher – and likely failing – when I could use my time more profitably in writing books.

MM: What is the biggest single lesson you learned during the writing process?

JW: Craft-wise to turn off your editor/censor when you are writing the first draft and let your creative brain have free rein. Business-wise, that writing the book is only about 40 per cent of the process – the other 60 percent is learning how to market it.

MM: What would you advise others who are still at the idea stage?

JW: Think like a career author. (Unless you are really happy doing it as a hobby.) Examine the market closely, and decide what sort of book you want to write and where it will fit in terms of publishing niches in the current market. Make sure you understand reader expectations in the genre you choose, and then do your best to satisfy them.

MM: Were there any writing tools you’d recommend? Did you use apps like Grammarly, Scrivener, or another outliner to help you structure your book?

JW: Scrivener absolutely. I regularly consult the following books:

Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham
I’ve amalgamated some of Blake Snyder’s ideas from Save the Cat into that structure.
Oh, and also The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne. These three are my “go to” authorities…

MM: Was it hard to decide on a cover, or did you or your publisher hire a professional designer?

JW: I hired a professional designer recommended in Joanna Penn’s podcast The Creative Penn (www.thecreativepenn.com), another highly recommended source of indie publishing information….

MM: Who is your ideal reader? Who would particularly enjoy your book/s?

JW: Women from 35 up.  Some men read and enjoy them, too, but “older” women are the primary target audience.

MM: How do you connect with readers? Do you like to do live events, such as book fairs or library talks, or have you found readers through social media, Goodreads, or Amazon?

JW: I reach out via my reader podcast The Joys of Binge Reading, where I chat with authors working in similar genres to myself. I do regular Giveaways through the podcast, newsletters and podcast blogs, and also regular Social Media.

MM: What has been your greatest reward in undertaking this publishing journey? (This doesn’t have to be a financial reward.)

JW: Discovering the joys of expressing my creativity freely and having the pleasure of talking to others engaged in the same effort.

Readers, check out Jenny’s podcast, too! There’s a lot of interesting content on there and more to come. www.TheJoysofBingeReading.com.

Links to Jenny’s books:

Here’s where you can find the books in Jenny’s series. Note that the first book in the series is free! I think it’ll get you hooked, and you’ll want to read the rest.

# 1 Poisoned Legacy on Permafree: ASIN: B07GZKJL1M  Free Download here

#2 Brother Betrayed ASIN: B07H9S5J8B $2.99

#3 Double Jeopardy  ASIN: B07JJ6VL1 $3.99

#4 Tangled Destiny ASIN: B07K9TQT1Z (New York Christmas Novella – 0.99)

#5 Unbridled Vengeance ASIN: B07YS24Y7L $4.99

#6 Hope Redeemed ASIN: B07ZYC462R (A Spanish Novella) 0.99

#7 Of Gold & Blood Box Set – Books 1-3 ASIN:  B07KJFLRXF $6.99

“A book without a book launch plan is just a fantasy.” Did I hear that someplace, or am I making it up? In any case, I’m launching a new book on April 17, 2020, and I thought it might be helpful if I take you through this journey with me. I am by no means an expert at this, just trying to get better. So, for the next two months, I’ll be doing regular posts and sharing some of the tricks and tools I’ve found useful.

The Cover Image

Apart from your writing, the number one thing authors must get right is the cover. Self-published authors are not going to find their books in bricks-and-mortar bookstores, not without a whole lot of effort. Hence, it’s super important to nail the cover. Here are the criteria:

It must look good at postage-stamp size.
It must be right for the genre.
And, it must present an image that telegraphs the content of the book.

Here’s a YouTube video by Joel Friedlander and Joanna Penn. Pro art director for Simon & Schuster weighs in here. The folks at Penguin Random House share insights into some of the intangibles of good cover design.

Some covers feature people. Others feature art. Some designs rely on graphics such as slanted text to convey energy and draw the reader in. Each cover style is going to be familiar, on the subliminal level, to a certain kind of reader. You need to make sure you understand the reader’s unstated expectations about what a book in your genre should look like.

Joanna Penn has put together a resource page where authors can shop for various inexpensive cover designs. Amazon has its own cover design app, along with helpful videos on how to proceed. If you want to have an independent designer come up with something unique for you, I recommend either 99Designs or DesignCrowd. Here’s an article comparing the two.

Most important, however, is that you have three to five prototypes. If at all possible, show them to readers of books in your genre. Allowing readers to participate in cover selection can help build anticipation prior to the book’s release.

Creating a poll isn’t as hard as your might think. This article explains how to create a Google poll. The cover design and polling needs to be scheduled months in advance. You need to settle on a cover and get your book ready to send out for review.

The Book Title and Subhead

So, okay. You have an image, but you’re a wordsmith, right? Is your book title going to draw readers in? What about the subtitle?

Let’s start with the title. Look at books in your genre, and remember that Amazon is the biggest search engine in the world. Readers’ fingers are pecking away, even as you read this. Type the word that sums up your book in Amazon’s search box. Is it a thriller? Literary fiction? Romance? Young adult novel? Click on each search term to see what comes up. You’ll notice that mystery authors often use the word “mystery” in the title.

Use Amazon’s search box to find words that readers might be searching for to include in your title or subtitle.

Many authors are now using the subtitle to drill down into a particular niche, such as “cozy mystery” or “Book 1 of the Yada Yada series.” Technically, Amazon wants to see the subtitle on the book cover, but the more text on the cover, the harder it is to get a clean design.

There’s an additional reason for the subtitle. Authors who write books in series may want to clue readers in to where a particular book falls in that series. The idea is to hook the reader with Book 1, and then keep them turning pages until they reach the end of the series. One series that I’ve particularly enjoyed was written by Patrick O’Brian. After reading Master and Commander, I was hooked. A series can ultimately lead to greater profitability because authors can market not just the individual books, but a box set.

Notice here how the subtitles are loaded up with terms that suggest the specific genre of the novel, but that also cleverly hint at the books to come.

Amazon’s Subtitle Strategy

If you can find some way to telegraph to the reader that this book is one that might engage them emotionally, then they are more likely to press the “buy” button. Amazon’s own imprint, Lake Union Press, is doing that for every one of its books. Unlike the subtitles based on keywords, Amazon’s strategy relies on “tearjerker” words. These aren’t so much keywords–no one is going to search for a book using the word “heartbreaking”–but the subtitle does suggest whether the book is going to be a comedy or tragedy.

I began noticing Lake Union Press’s use of emotion-packed keywords about a year ago. Maybe they were doing it before then, but if so, by now this use of a subtitle has become their calling card. Note how the subtext is in a tiny typeface in order to keep distraction to a minimum.

The Back of the Book

At this point I’ve talked about the cover design, the title, and the subtitle. A couple of years ago, I heard a wonderful lecture by Amy Collins. She talked about how people decide to buy a book. They look at the cover. They flip over the book and look at the back. Then, maybe they’ll skim the first page. If you grab them by then, you’ve made a sale.

Remember that sequence. Cover. Back of book. First page. You have–gasp!–five seconds to get their attention. The text on the back of your book is your second most important marketing message. It will tell the reader whether the book is for them or not. What has to go on the back? Three things:

a paragraph giving the reader a sense of what they will experience if they read the book;
blurbs from third-party sources;
an author bio.

The Blurb

Figuring out what to put on the back of my book took me a week. Here’s how I went about it. I cruised over to Kirkus Reviews and looked at comparable books of literary fiction. I cut and pasted snippets of text that sounded like the book I’d written. I dug out a press release from an author who is sadly no longer with us. Somehow, when I’d bought his book, the press release had been tucked inside. Then I sat and played with the language.

Here’s what I came up with:

Welcome to the short stories of Marylee MacDonald, where spiritual sojourners seek their hearts’ desires. John tries to be a faithful husband, but can’t say no when the love of his live invites him on a fishing trip. Deep underground in a Spanish cave, a spelunker risks her life, only to discover that the miraculous and tragic coexist. Seeking answers to her brother’s disappearance, Sunny find out why he never came home. Epic in scope and confessional in tone, the stories in Body Language are so beautifully written that the characters will stay in your mind long after the book is done.

As my grandma used to say, “Don’t hide your light under a bushel basket.” I believe in this book. I want my utter commitment to shine through.

Testimonials

Are you connected to authors who might be willing to write a testimonial? How about a local writing group? If not, then there are plenty of places you can get professionally written reviews. One, of course, is Kirkus Reviews, but many self-published or independently published authors find their price prohibitive. I would recommend that any author get reviews from Readers’ Favorites. As a source for professional reviews, they aren’t allowed to post on Amazon, but they can post to Barnes & Noble and Goodreads. It’s a big help to have five reviews flash up on the screen the day of the book release. Please be aware that all of this scheduling must be done three to four months in advance.

This week I’ve dealt with the cover, subtitle, and back of the book. Next week, I’ll talk about Amazon’s book page, book descriptions, and how to optimize them for sales. Amazon’s book page is where you’re going to post your professionally written reviews. Read my post about book reviews and how to get them. That way you’ll be prepared.