To Hank…

If you could spend Happy Hour with anyone you wanted, dead or alive, who would you pick, what would you drink and where would you meet?

I was warned ahead of time that I’d be asked those questions during a live interview on Big Blend Radio. It didn’t take long to make my pick. I chose Hank Moss. Hank is the missing character from Bella, my first novel. Some quick background before we shift to the bar.

Hank and Bella had only been married a few years when he died on an Afghan battlefield. The military told Bella he was killed by the enemy; an anonymous source said it was friendly fire. Hank, a rising pro tennis player, had joined the Army after his sister was killed on 9-11. Everyone urged him not to do it. Except me.

Here’s how our talk went down over a few beers at a quiet country bar.

SP: So I’m drinking with a ghost?

Hank:  You’re asking if an imagined man killed on an imaginary battlefield now drinking imaginary beer at an imagined bar in an imagined conversation is real?

SP: You’re right; forget I asked that. Was joining the Army a mistake?

Hank: They killed my sister. It felt silly pretending it was still important to hit tennis balls. I didn’t really have a choice.

SP: Seems you did. Seems you chose revenge over your wife and daughter.

Hank: Anyone ever kill someone you loved? If not, you don’t know; so don’t judge.

SP: I’m guessing you know they lied to Bella. What did you think she’d do when she found out it was one of our own soldiers?

Hank: Try to prove the truth. Nothing would stop her. She’s got a side no one knew about. Now they know.

SP: But you’re talking about routine stuff, like which movie or which sitter. This thing put her up against generals and congressmen.

Hank: Fierce is fierce. She’s smart and beautiful and dangerous when she’s angry.

SP: Are you proud of her?

Hank: I love her and what she did for me, so yeah, I’m proud.

SP: Besides being proud, what else would you tell her?

Hank: Watch close over Katie. Don’t let anything happen to her. She’s still a scared little girl. It’s going to be hard for her.

SP: Thanks, Hank; sorry this has to be so quick. I’ll pass it on.

Hank: Tell ’em I’m sorry. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. Tell ’em to remember the good times, but to move on. There’s lots of life to live, lots more stories…

Do you ever talk to your characters? Have they ever surprised you?

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Covering Strom Thurmond at the Capitol, circa 1995

In 1992, there was an election that gave South Carolina its first black congressman since the Civil War.

That’s where fact stops and fiction begins in Bootlicker, my account of a historic election imperiled by a dark secret. This week I was honored to talk about fact-inspired fiction and a number of other topics with Pattie Welek Hall, host of JOYradio. The interview follows. If there are any follow-up questions or comments, I’d love to hear them!

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1 – How should authors hug the line between sex and sexy? This post offers some ideas.

2 – Where do you get your news, and why? Here’s a piece on why we need to be smarter news consumers.

3 – Is anyone buying the guilt-free Coke? A closer look at how Coke’s marketing department is getting ahead of an on-going debate about obesity.

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Author Jenny Milchman, measuring success by how late she can keep readers reading.

Jenny Milchman spent 13 years writing and rewriting the novel that would become Cover of Snow. Her literary journey is an inspiring story of perseverance, optimism and love of craft. How did she do it, and what lessons can other writers draw from her experience? Some answers follow:

SP – Jenny, Tell us a little about the Cover of Snow, including how long it took to write and get published.

JM – The idea behind Cover of Snow was a question that grabbed me around the throat and just wouldn’t let go. What would make a good man do the worst thing he possibly could to his wife? Of course, first I had to figure out what that ‘worst thing’ would be. Once I did, I had a premise and an opening scene that persisted over many years and about twenty-two drafts. It took me a very long time to get published. Thirteen years. During that time, I was always lucky enough to have agents, but although they got my novels close, interested editors were never able to get consensus from the rest of the house to make an offer. Cover of Snow is my first published novel, but it’s the eighth novel I’ve written.

SP - What have you learned in the process that might benefit others still struggling with their novels?

JM - Well, first I would offer a cautionary note. Just because we think our novels are done, brilliant, glowing, doesn’t mean that they are. A novel can always be improved—even after it’s published—but there are many improvements that need to be made before it’s published, and as authors, we don’t always see them. I know I didn’t. Novels and writing need time to mature, like fine wine. Don’t rush to be published, and seek out as many objective reads as you can get, always allowing feedback time to percolate before you decide whether or not it applies. And I’d also offer an encouraging note. The world will always need great stories. I think that the need for story is almost as elemental as that for food and water and breath. If you are able to tell a great story, then you will find readers one day, and there are more ways than ever now to do so. If it hasn’t happened so far, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It just means that you haven’t succeeded yet.

SP  -What’s your view of self-publishing and why did you go the traditional route? Has technology made publishing so easy that writing a novel has become a glorified hobby?

JM  - My view of self-publishing is that it’s one more route to readers. Self or traditional publishing are no better or worse than each other. It’s not a question of one being a fallback. There are pros and cons along both roads. On the self-publishing side think of speed and control and infinite shelf life. On the traditional side think of distribution and a share in investment and a team approach to building a career. These and other factors should be understood by the author so that a deep self-examination can occur and the author can think about which road will be the best fit for him or her. I don’t know if ease of technology will ever make writing a novel into a hobby, unless you consider hobbies lengthy investments of hope and heart and work. (Maybe they are). But though uploading a novel might be relatively simple, writing one will always be hard!

SP  - You’re going on a unique author road trip. Tell us some details and why you chose to put so much time into the effort.

JM  - I’ve dreamed of being a writer for 37 years, and I’ve been trying to get published for 13. But hard on the heels of that dream was another one…of going on the road once I had a book out, and meeting the people who supported me during all the time it took to get here. I met many of those people online, and I’m deeply aware of how forums and Facebook and listservs and Twitter all widen the world we live in. But there’s something about a real time, face-to-face meeting. I want to shake hands with the people who have helped me. I want to say hi to readers I never would otherwise have known. Hear their stories because they have done me the honor of wanting to know mine. As of now we have a few legs planned. One that runs north from Connecticut down to Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi, then out west to Colorado, and back through Wisconsin and Michigan. Another that goes up to Vermont, before running south again to Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. And then we will head west to San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle—and it’s not clear where we’ll go after that!  Here’s what we’ve got so far: http://www.jennymilchman.com/tour

SP  - What metrics will you use to decide whether your first novel is a success. Is it a certain number of sales? Reviews? Amazon ranking?

JM  - If readers enjoy my book—if they stay up later than they intended because they need to know what happens—then this novel will be a success, and I will feel privileged all my life.

SP  - I know you’re coming to the Washington, D.C. area. Please share any details you have firmed up so far.I will be at a Politics & Prose-sponsored event on February 2^nd. This promises to be a fun night, at a wine and supper club, and I am hoping there will be several writers in attendance and that we can open up a roundtable conversation about writing and publishing today.

Jenny Milchman is a suspense novelist from New Jersey whose short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Adirondack Mysteries II, and in an e-published volume called Lunch Reads. Jenny is the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, and the chair of International Thriller Writers’ Debut Authors Program. Her first novel, Cover of Snow, is published by Ballantine. Jenny can be reached at http://jennymilchman.com and she blogs at http://suspenseyourdisbelief.com

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Room for Merlyn?

Authors should be on Pinterest because women love the site, and women, sales figures tell us, buy the most books. Plus it’s an interesting challenge for authors, who traffic in words, to tell stories in photos.

I jumped aboard awhile back. I persuaded friends traveling abroad to take my books along and get photos in exotic places. Bang: Pinterest board.

We spent two days in a studio filming a book trailer. I shot dozens of behind-the-scenes photos. Bang: Pinterest board.

I took an author roadtrip to South Carolina, shooting dozens of photos and learning just about as many lessons. Bang: Pinterest board.

My boards relate to my novels, as I like to keep some space between family life and the writing life. There’s one exception, and I’m still not sure if I shouldn’t pull it down and put it somewhere else.

A long time ago, before any of our (now adult) children arrived, we got a dog. Now, I know people love to talk about their dogs. And people with dogs and kids? Settle in; you’re going to spend a lot of time listening.

I’m no exception. Merlyn was one of the special dogs, a brilliant, athletic Golden with, well, you get the idea. There are times these many years later that I still miss him. (Don’t worry, I miss the kids too now that they’ve moved away, but that’s another post). So I found old photos, scanned and cleaned them up a bit, and created, “Dog of Gold.”

It’s the one board that stands out from the others, in that it has nothing to do with Bella or Bootlicker. It is, however, another story from the same author.

My question: Am I undermining my brand? Does it belong in another collection, or can I keep it with the author boards?

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Sharing a laugh with Trevor Dennison at Scranton library.

During the wild year about to fade into history, I learned:

- The art and romance of literary speed dating;

- That “message” may be more potent as a verb than a noun;

- To understand the angles that help or hurt in photos, and to aim for the former.

I launched a second novel, a prequel to Bella titled, Bootlicker, and learned:

- Unveiling your book at a trade show in a region of the country where your story takes place makes good sense;

- Even bookstore owners have limited attention spans. That puts it on you to pitch fast and effectively, to stand out or step away.

- No one cares if you have one official launch party or half a dozen. Target different audiences and party your pages off.

I commissioned a trailer for the second book and learned:

- To turn a novel into a script, imagine pitching your story to a commuter whose train has just pulled into sight (You’ve got about 30 seconds);

- Backstage photos from the shoot make a great Pinterest board;

- Everyone’s making a trailer. Go the extra mile and make a little art.

Jeffrey Madison plots the Bootlicker storyboard.

I used my website and at least five social media sites, but learned:

- A handshake seals the bond between author and reader better than anything that currently exists in cyberspace;

- Online followers are terrific, but people you meet in person become advocates, and possibly surrogates;

- When wine appears at book clubs, questions get pointed. What would YOU do if a woman like Bella grabbed you under the table?

I did dozens of interviews and learned:

- Making assumptions, like perhaps the interviewer read your book, is a mistake;

- Back to back to back interviews are challenging, but your enthusiasm and belief in your work must come through loud and clear every time;

- Interviews and reviews are different animals. An interview should be a conversation. Don’t drag out answers and hog the time.

In analyzing nearly 70 reviews of my two novels, I learned:

- Great reviews don’t translate to great sales, at least not right away;

- A great review can send you soaring; a lousy one can send you into a funk. Resist both extremes, and never argue with a reviewer.

- If someone says she loved your book, say thanks, (insert person’s name). Then quickly ask her to please post a few lines on Goodreads and Amazon. (So easy to forget!)

With Natasha Barrett on Let’s Talk Live!

There’s more, of course. This year I experimented with tools like Viddy, Storify and Wordle. I revamped my website, adding new illustrated excerpts and a Skype book club option. I jumped on a free Vocus trial and fired out a press release that got some attention. As my first novel, Bella, was winning a couple of awards, I also hosted several webinars for the Author Learning Center. I took a road trip to South Carolina and learned the value of leaving time to follow an impulse.

The water is rough and crowded here in the Indie Ocean, but that’s the way I like it, and can’t wait for the New Year.

How about you and any lessons you learned in 2012?

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Making meringue with Lowcountry Live’s Jon Bruce.

A book promo tour has landed me in the green room of ABC4 just outside Charleston, S.C., where I’m waiting for a guest shot on Lowcountry Live.

I’m happy to be here, as are the other guests-in-waiting: an artist, a guy who sells bar crawl tours, a woman from the animal shelter toting a little dog with a big cough, and the guests who kicked off the show, a pair of chefs preparing dessert live on the set.

None of us pays much attention, either to the TV monitor or to one another. We’re focused on why we’re here. Conversation would be distracting. When it’s time for our few minutes on air, we need to be sharp and focused.

Someone notes that the chefs are whipping up a nice meringue, and I think to myself that’s what we’re all doing. Step by step, ingredient-by-ingredient, the chefs are making stiff peaks of tasty meringue and selling their restaurant. We’re mentally rehearsing the lines that will sell our art, tour, novel and cause.

I think for the millionth time about the switch authors must make from creative writing to creative marketing, how some won’t do it because they’re more comfortable behind the computer than in front of the camera.

My takeaway: the same technology that has made it possible for anyone to self-publish has flooded the marketplace with books. At the same time, people have limited discretionary leisure time and dozens of entertainment choices.

You need to be more than a good writer to catch their attention. You need to turn your 400 pages into an irresistible blurb. You need to blog, tweet and post, and you need to get out to book clubs and meet people face to face.

And though it may feel uncomfortable and unnatural, you need to put on a smile, get out of the kitchen and whip up your meringue on TV.

What other tips do you have for writers who hate promotion and marketing?

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Reserve a little time for spontaneity.

One of the all-time best improvements to luggage is that extra compartment out front. If you pack too tightly, have to add a last-minute item, or just need to get something fast, the zippered pocket is your salvation.

When authors pack up and hit the road, the inclination is to pack – suitcase and brain – the way a general maps a battle. Plan, practice, penetrate. Maximize the time and leave little to chance. And no freelancing.

I learned today you need an extra compartment out front, a place in your noggin that lets you entertain the idea of an extra stop. En route to a weekend of events in Charleston, S.C., I took a lunch break in Florence.

Hungry and sick of driving, I wanted to get to the restaurant identified by Google, and then get back on the road. As I glanced left, however, I noticed a palace of a building that turned out to be, according to the sign, a public library.

I kept going, but the image of the building returned throughout lunch. A quick search revealed this was the Doctors Bruce & Lee Foundation Library. I called and got Margaret at the Reference Desk. I explained I once worked for a South Carolina newspaper, had written two novels, and was wondering if I could come by and donate a copy of Bella and Bootlicker.

Reference Manager Aubrey B. Carroll accepts donated copies of Bella and Bootlicker.

Affirmative. I went back and wound up having a nice chat with Margaret’s boss, Reference Manager Aubrey B. Carroll. Mr. Carroll gladly accepted the books, posed for a photo, and said he’d add them to the collection.

You’ll recall the usual luggage metaphor advises to write as tightly as you pack, with no clothes hanging out the sides. (Or excess verbiage clogging the pages). This one’s a little different. It’s about leaving space to follow an impulse. I recommend you do just that.

What’s the last spontaneous thing you did on an author road trip?

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Though it was not featured at any booth, the formula for success for self-published authors was hiding in plain sight last weekend at the Miami Book Fair.

Oh, it was easy to miss. The streets were packed with visitors sifting through novels new and old, nibbling roasted corn on the cob, and redirecting their kids’ attention from hand-held video games to colorful tents with serious books. Life-sized cartoon mascots turned aisles into obstacle courses. Music blared and skin turned from pink to red under the strong south Florida sun.

Delicioso fair food kept crowds from going hungry.

Off to one side, though, was an aisle marked Writer’s Row. It was there that self-published authors could have rediscovered a secret they probably already know. That is, there are no shortcuts in this game. Writing the book is only the first lap of the marathon. Nothing happens until you rewire your brain and switch from creative writing to creative marketing.

It is hard work, particularly for anyone who believes the work should speak for itself. Of course it should, but there are lots of loud voices out there, and it’s easy to get drowned out without a messaging arsenal that includes social media and plenty of personal appearances.

Six or so miles away from the fair, however, a little awards ceremony was underway that honored the actual writing portion of the marathon. Readers Favorite CEO Debra Gaynor was telling authors “what you do is important. What you do touches someone’s life in some way.”

It was nice to hear. Important to hear. A bottle of cold water at lap 13. And a much-needed pat on the back before resuming the race.

Debra Gaynor, Readers Favorite CEO

So thanks, Debra, for the drink, the medal and for hustling back to the fair and manning the booth that featured this year’s winning books. The most important lessons are the ones taught by example.

What lessons have the rest of you self-publishers learned lately?

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Readers Favorite CEO Debra Gaynor: “Bella is a great read.”

It’s fitting that my moment of calm in the Indie Ocean occurs this weekend in Florida, the state where I began my reporting career in 1976, two years after Nixon became the only president to quit the job while still in office.

That timeline puts me in college – at American University in Washington, D.C., no less – at the height of Watergate. I caught the fever and was going to be the next Woodward or Bernstein – Woodstein.

Instead of covering the White House, I wound up covering the Naples High School Golden Eagles. Hey, jobs were scarce! Though dismayed at first, the lessons I learned those two years served me well through more than 25 years of writing for daily papers, including plenty of time back in Washington.

But something happened along the way. We were writing to fit the news hole in those days, meaning that interesting pieces of my stories were getting cut for lack of space. I went back to school in the late 1990s and got my Masters in fiction, realizing in the process that what I really wanted was the space to write novels.

Anyone who’s ventured down this trail knows that writing, editing and publishing are like angry relatives at the family picnic. They have different agendas. Each thinks he’s more important than the others. And that’s without even mentioning the crass couple that arrives late, Aunt Promotion and Uncle Marketing.

When I began, there was but one path to the barbecue: query until you found an agent, then pray the agent found a publisher. If you stumbled anywhere along the way, the picnic was over.

I began with traditional agents. It didn’t work for several reasons, so I chose the new way, to self-publish, build a website, and use new media and old-school marketing to find an audience. I was immediately drawn to the democratic notion that real readers would decide if my books were worth reading.

But this is tedious work that never ends. First, you must make the tricky switch from creative writing to creative marketing. Then you write, post, tweet, and talk until your fingers ache and your voice quavers. Or, if you’re wealthy, you can sit back and hire a big PR firm to do the work.

When word came earlier this year that my first novel Bella won an Indie Excellence Award, I was thrilled. When another email arrived announcing it won the Readers Favorite 2012 Gold Medal for Dramatic Fiction, I took a breath. Things were moving in the right direction. Bella is about a widow’s quest to uncover the truth behind her husband’s mysterious death on an Afghan battlefield. She enlists the help of an unhappily married Washington journalist, and together they learn powerful lessons about the power of temptation, the futility of revenge and the consequences of yielding to either.

So that’s where I am this weekend, in Miami – a couple of hours east of Naples, the place where I began writing for a living – to pick up my prize and enjoy a moment of calm in the Indie Ocean. Then it’s back to work.

Click cover for Amazon page

How about you? Rough seas, clear sailing, or a combination of the two?

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