Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds

 Do you try to stay current in your reading, to keep abreast of the market, or do you read from your TBR pile at random? Do you read classic mysteries?

I do try to stay current. Keeping up to date is another thing, though. I have titles in my TBR pile from 3 years ago I haven’t gotten to yet because of a million different reasons, so "current" is a fluid term for me mostly meaning in the current decade.

One way I keep current in recent years is that I’ve been given the opportunity to judge for som...

Do you try to stay current in your reading, to keep abreastof the market, or do you read from your TBR pile at random? Do you read classicmysteries? 

I’ve abandoned all hope of ever keeping on top of my TBR—and that’s astatement of engagement, not defeat. A book indicates I am still curious, stillinterested in learning about other ways of seeing and feeling. Fiction is notan escape.

Which brings me to demolishing my latest TBR pile: a steady diet ofnonfiction for my historical noir thr...

 

 

Do you tryto stay current in your reading, to keep abreast of the market, or do you readfrom your TBR pile at random? Do you read classic mysteries?

I like my readingthe same way I like my music, without boundaries. So, give me historicalfiction, or old school Agatha Christie and as long as I can open the page andfall into the story, genre is never a consideration when making my decision onwhat to read. Don’t tell anybody, but I can still get into a little romance, everynow and ag...

I was thrilled when Angela Crookasked me to join 7 Criminal Minds. So, a big thank you to her, and a shoutoutto the group for the warm welcome. Though I’m new here, you’ll learn that I’mdefinitely not a wallflower. And I was glad to hear that twisting the ruleslike taffy is perfectly acceptable. I may do so occasionally, but I will becareful not to break anything. Promise.

This month’s question aboutpromotion is a good one. Some writers would say it’s the least noble thingabout writing. ...

What is the best money you ever spent on promotion and marketing? Travel for bookstore reading events? Advertising? (If so, where—in a conference program book? Newspaper? Social media? Amazon)? Giveaways? A “discovery” website like BookBub or Fresh Fiction?

Over the years, we at 7 Criminal Minds have come to the consensus that there is no grand secret for selling books, no magic bullet, or foolproof stratagem. Maugham famously pointed out that there are three rules for writing a novel, but no one...

Thoughts on Promotion and Marketing

by Dietrich Kalteis

The foundation of any successful book is writing one that readers value: something inventive and original, but not bizarre or quirky purely for the novelty. I wouldn’t want to be the first to venture into some strange sub-genre like musical crime fiction, with book blurbs like: “He’s on the case—and on the dance floor.”

I think the smart marketing happens before any thoughts on promotion begin, starting with a standout cover and top-notch edit...

 

Terry here, with our doozy of a question for this week: What is the best money you ever spent on promotion and marketing? Travel for bookstore reading events? Advertising? (If so, where—in a conference program book? Newspaper? Social media? Amazon)? Giveaways? A “discovery” website like BookBub or Fresh Fiction? 


 Promotion is so hit and miss that it hardly seems possible to figure it out. Gone are the days when publishers routinely promoted their authors—maybe by helping pay for an ad or buying...

 What is the best money you ever spent on promotion and marketing?

The rudest of rude awakenings I experienced as debut author was the realization that marketing was going to fall on my shoulders. Coming from the theatre and film worlds, I'd grown accustomed to fading into the background, letting my work speak for itself. Little did I know, the world of publishing doesn't take kindly to "vanishing" unless you're literally J.D. Salinger. And I, sadly, am not...yet! So, I had to get used to the sub...

My husband can rest assured I'll never share our secrets!
(Maybe I shouldn't be sharing this funny photo either!)
How do you choose your characters? Do you base them off of people from real-life? If so, how you disguise your characters so their real-life counterparts don't recognize them?

Guilty as charged.

I used to deny this, and insist that all my characters are fictional. The truth is, they're an amalgam of people I know really well, people I've met briefly, people I've seen on television or in...

How do you choose your characters? Do you base them off of people from real-life? If so, how you disguise your characters so their real-life counterparts don't recognize them?

I don't base characters on real people, generally.

For instance, I've never written a villain who's utterly and completely without a single redeeming feature. A man who is not only stupid, but also ignorant; not only ignorant but proudly so. Too uninformed to know how uninformed he is and too lazy to amend it.

I've never wr...