Copy Cat

by Holly West

Lately, I've been thinking I need to copy more authors.

I don't mean plagiarizing, silly. I mean studying what other authors do pr/marketing-wise and copying them. Or at least aiming to copy them. I have to be realistic, knowing that as much as I might want to, I'm never going to make the time to all of the stuff I see other authors do. My head explodes just thinking about it.

First, let's understand that the best pr/marketing tool we have is our next book. I get this. I'm working on that. This post is about strengthening my platform, creating a plan and following through on it. I've got lots of ideas but I suck on the follow through.

Who are some of the authors I'm looking to emulate?

Diane Vallere, author of four different series, one of which she self-publishes, is one of the best branded authors I know (she's also one of the savviest and most generous). And she does most of this branding herself. Her career trajectory is inspiring to me--she set about the traditional publishing route and when that didn't work out, she successfully self-published her Samantha Kidd series. After that, she launched her Madison Night Mad for Mod series, which was picked up by Henery Press, a small but growing publisher. Since then, Diane has secured deals for two more series, the Material Witness mysteries and the Costume Shop mysteries, both for Penguin Random House.

In the midst of all this, Diane quit her job and now makes her living as a full-time writer. While I don't want to write four series, I do want to diversify my writing life to fulfill my own interests and, if possible, to make a better income from writing.

So what lessons can I take from Diane?

1) She's always writing that next book.

2) Her website reflects her personality, the tone of her books and serves up what readers want to know.

3) Her social media presence is well-orchestrated without being obviously so. One of my favorite things she does is post pictures of her wardrobe when she packs for conferences. She knows her audience and caters to it splendidly.

4) She cultivates her mailing list and actually sends out newsletters.

5) I'm sure she does loads of other things I don't know about. But basically, she lays out a marketing plan and she follows through on it.

Jeri Westerson is the author the Crispin Guest historical mystery series (as well as several other novels) and I'm not sure if I know any other author who works harder at PR and marketing. She's also extremely knowledgeable about publishing and isn't shy about spreading that knowledge around. When her long-time publisher pulled the plug on the Crispin series, she self-published a prequel. She's since found a different publisher for the Crispin books but will continue self-publishing other titles in tandem.

Like Diane, Jeri is making a living at her writing, but it hasn't been straight forward and she's explored multiple avenues to get there. Everything I said about Diane, above, applies to Jeri, too.

I talk about self-publishing with author friends a lot. One of my favorites, Neliza Drew, just self-published her debut, ALL THE BRIDGES BURNING, and beyond the excellence of the book itself, she did such a good job with the publishing that it inspires me to consider self-publishing again myself. But if I ever do, it's clear to me that I'll have to master the art of marketing and PR in a way I haven't managed yet. Maybe by copying authors who do it better than I do, I'll get there.

Or at least I'll get closer. Baby steps.

Everybody Let's Get Stoned

Guest Post by Jeri Westerson

Holly's note: Welcome to the my first guest post of 2016. It's rather appropriate that it's Jeri Westerson, author of the Crispin Guest medieval mysteries (and several other novels as well) since she's been kind of a mentor to me in my own career. Her latest Guest book comes out on February 1 from Severn House buy you can buy now on Amazon.

I'll let Jeri take it from here.

Medievally speaking, we aren’t talking about what Bob Dylan expected, or, to be more literal, getting a good stoning for some infraction. I am, however, talking about an actual stone, the “Stone of Destiny” to be exact, that features in my newest Crispin Guest Medieval Mystery, THE SILENCE OF STONES.

What is the Stone and why is it important to my medieval tale of murder and mayhem? It happened in the later part of the 13th century. In the time of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace (yes, that William Wallace, but the less said about the movie “Braveheart” the better), when all the heirs to the Scottish throne seemed to die off one after the other. At one time there were fourteen claimants, but the two that had the best or at least loudest claims, were Robert the Bruce and John Baliol.

So they turned to Kind Edward I of England. He was known as Edward Longshanks because he was very tall. Later, he was to be known as “Hammer of the Scots” and not in a good way. They figured Edward was a king and a gracious knight and he could be relied upon to arbitrate. Edward said, “Sure I’ll arbitrate. But if I do this for you, you name me Overlord of Scotland.”

They kind of rolled their eyes, said sure, whatevs. Then the Scots ended up choosing John Baliol anyway.

Edward just wouldn’t seem to go away. He’s like the last guy to leave the party even when the hosts are starting to clean up. So he asked the Scots to provide troops for his war with France and they’re like, “Are you still here?” They’re so pissed off, in fact, that they allied themselves with France.

Now Edward is pissed off. And in 1296 he invaded Scotland and that’s when he captures the Stone of Destiny.

Just what the heck is the Stone of Destiny? The Stone of Scone? Jacob’s Pillow?

In Genesis 28, Jacob travels to Bethel, gets tired, grabs a stone, and uses it as a pillow—as one does—and dreams of a Stairway to Heaven. And it is this Stone that is taken into Egypt by Jacob’s sons. The pharaoh’s daughter, named Scota, where people believed the name of Scotland derived—except it didn’t because it comes from Latin, Scoti which means the “Gaelic regions”—supposedly took the stone into Spain, and then it ended up, somehow in Ireland where Irish kings were crowned. It seemed to be the thing to do to sit on the stone and be crowned. In Ireland, the stone was supposed to groan if you had the right to be king when you sat on it, and stay silent if you didn’t. That would mean a lot of instances where no one was king—until the smart guy hid someone in the bushes to groan at the appropriate time. And if that were the case, then he deserves to be king!

In the 6th century, Fergus Mor Mac Earca, King of the Picts, brought it to Scotland. Cinaed Mac Ailpin, 1st King of the Scots, left it at Scone (pronounced “scoon”) Abbey.

It’s grey sandstone, 27 inches long, 17 inches wide, and 11 inches high. With iron rings embedded on either side.

It’s stolen in my book THE SILENCE OF STONES, but it WAS never stolen…until young Scottish nationalists stole it in 1950. In 1996 Prime Minister John Major returned it to Scotland to appease the Scottish Independence movement. So now the stone lives in Edinburgh Castle with the proviso that it come back to England when a new monarch needs to be crowned. 

By the way, tests done on the stone in 1996 proved that the stone’s provenance was around Scone Abbey. So much for Bethel and Egypt and Spain. 

HOWEVER…did the monks of Scone Abbey really give Edward the real Stone of Destiny or did they pull a fast one? Rumor had it that they hid the Stone and gave Edward a lid to a cesspit, with rings and all. Even Edward wasn't sure and he returned to Scone to demand an answer--but everyone said that, yes, that is the real stone. So is it the REAL stone of destiny? Is the real stone still hidden somewhere in the abbey? No one will ever likely know.

All this talk of the Stone naturally leads us to the Coronation Chair that sits in Westminster Abbey. 

Now this is not a throne. This chair was strictly created for the purpose of crowning the monarch of England. Edward originally commissioned a bronze chair and it was always designed to house the Stone of Destiny beneath the seat as a symbol of England’s supremacy over Scotland. But the bronze chair was going to be too expensive so he settled for wood.

It is believed Edward II, Edward III and Richard II (the king who reigns in the Crispin books) were crowned sitting in this chair, but we aren’t certain. The first monarch we are sure of that sat in the Coronation Chair was Henry Bolingbroke, Henry IV.

There are exceptions as to who sat in the chair for their crown. None of these did so:

• Edward V (one of the princes in the Tower). Richard III already took the throne before his nephew could be crowned.

• Lady Jane Grey was only pronounced Queen and that only lasted 9 days.

• Mary I, Bloody Mary, Henry VIII’s daughter. She sat in the chair but took another for the actual crowning.

• Mary II. She ruled with her husband William of Orange, so she let him have the chair and they made another one just for her.

• Edward VIII abdicated to marry Wallace Simpson before he could be crowned.

Even Oliver Cromwell used the chair to become Lord Protector after the English Civil War.

Symbols. They can hold people together or divide them. The Stone in the Coronation Chair was designed to cleave England and Scotland together but really only served to divide. The medieval world was chock full of symbols of royalty and nobility, of the divine and the humble. Castles, cathedrals, crowns, badges of office. Crispin’s sword is the symbol not only of his past but—yes—of virility, an important aspect of the medieval man’s place in society. It’s the symbols that fascinate us about this period. That’s what draws us back again and again. And it’s what I hope draws you to the Crispin books.

***

You can find out more about Jeri, her books, see a series book trailer, use book discussion guides, and see some keen maps by going to Jeri’s website at JeriWesterson.com. 

A Word of Thanks and Free Books

by Holly West

After my mini-breakdown about marketing and promotion last week, I pulled up my big girl panties, which, incidentally, have become a whole lot bigger since I started writing full-time, and got to work. That's usually the answer for me when I get bogged down by annoying details. Head down, chonies up, and figure out what my next step forward is.

In this case, I started with blurb requests. I made a list of authors that might consider offering blurbs for Mistress of Lies and began crafting my emails. By the way, fellow DSDer Alex Segura wrote a post about blurb etiquette awhile back and it's a good one.

My first request was met not only with an affirmative response, but a whole lot of other valuable information as well. Here's where I need to acknowledge Jeri Westerson, whose latest Crispin Guest novel, Cup of Blood, drops on July 25, 2014. I love the Crispin Guest series because, like my Mistress of Fortune series, it's hardboiled historical fiction. It's called "medieval noir" for a reason.

Having benefitted from the kindness of authors numerous times since I started on this path, I'm still sometimes bowled over by their generosity, and such is the case with Jeri.

Suddenly, asking for blurbs (and reviews) didn't seem like such a terrible task. My fear, you see, was that if I asked my author friends for blurbs and they said no, it would somehow change our relationship, make it awkward in some way. Now I understand that it's an accepted part of the business. Sure, I already knew that on some level, but it never quite sunk in. Now I'm asking for blurbs right and left, so watch out. You might be next.

Really, what Jeri did for me was unravel the puzzle a little bit. Sometimes, that's all I need, just a little push in the right direction.

My next step will be asking for reviews from book bloggers and websites across the Internet. My biggest mistake when Mistress of Fortune came out was relying too heavily on the relationships I'd established on social media to sell the book. Sure, social media is a valuable asset, but it's only a piece of the puzzle (and boy, this all puzzles me much of the time).

And now for the free books.

With beach reading season upon us, Dana King is making four of his books available for free on the Kindle from June 25-29. Here's the rundown:

A Small Sacrifice
Nominated for a Shamus Award for Best Indie PI Novel, it's the story of Chicago investigator Nick Forte, who is asked to clear the name of a man who has been publicly vilified as the murderer of his young son. Forte learns, while Doug Mitchell might not be guilty, he's no innocent, and the circumstances place Forte and his family in jeopardy.

Grind Joint
Named by the LA Review of Books as one of the fifteen best reads of 2013, Grind Joint is the story of what happens in a small, economically depressed Pennsylvania town when someone gets the bright idea of solving their financial woes by building a low-roller casino. The local cops find themselves up against more than they bargained for when the Russian mob takes an interest.

Worst Enemies
The first of the Penns River books, the story of what can happen when someone takes the scenario of Strangers on a Train way too seriously. Detectives Ben Dougherty and Willie Grabek have to solve two murders organized by a person who is close to both victims, yet operates at some distance.

Wild Bill
A standalone tale of FBI Special Agent Willard "Wild Bill" Hickox, who's ready to retire but wants to put the cherry on his career by bringing down Chicago's Number One crime boss. When a gan war re-arranges all the players, Will must choose between duty, experience, and a combination of the two if he is to ride off into the sunset as planned.

That's me out. Have a good week, everyone.