e-Book Topics

Welcome to the world of e-books! Like myself, many of my friends are working on a shorter e-book project, while at the same time working on a (usually) longer major book project. Why do we do this? For me, is gives me short breaks from working on my WIP, allows me to research new material (which for me is fun!), and will hopefully bring in a bit of extra money.>p> Sooooooo … how do we go about picking a topic for this e-book that is going to bring us money? There is all kinds of advice out there on this. One piece of advice is never to focus your book on a specific holiday, or even on the holiday season, as this was limiting. It is limiting, yes, but it will sell during the time period that it is focused on, and will more than likely stay in your readers mind (MHO – no facts to back this on e up!).

The advice that I did feel worked was to focus on genres that sell well – romance, fiction, mysteries, and, to some extent, the paranormal. Go see what people are buying, then decide what in those categories you would like to write about. Writing should be fun – picking a topic and writing about it just because you think it will sell could very well turn out to be not so much fun. So pick a genre that sells, and find a topic that you resonate with.

How do we find topics to choose from? Like most things, e-book topics tend to trend. You need to know what people are talking about, and focus on that. Remember, though … pick a topic that you yourself can relate to! That will make you and your reader happy! An easy place to find ideas, and see how they are trending, is Clickbank (http://www.clickbank.com/index.html ). You can also use CB Engine (http://cbengine.com/ ).

Cheat a little … check out the Amazon.com Kindle bookstore (http://tinyurl.com/btjrodq ) and see what is there. Cheat some more … do a keyword search! Jot down a few topics off the top of your head that you think might sell. Using a keyword search tool, such as https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/ , put your topics in one at a time. You will be able to find out how many people are searching for that keyword each month.

The sky is the limit on topics for e-books. Winnow your topics down to ones that are relevant, that people want to know about, and that you can connect with as a writer. Your passion for writing, combined with knowledge of what people want to read, will open up a whole new world for you!

© October 2012 Bonnie Cehovet

Recreational Reading

Writers are encouraged to read as much as they can, in a wide a variety as they can, so that they have something to put into their own writing. I am going to use today’s blog to chat about a few cozy mysteries that I have read. I chose them for the pure joy of reading, and no other reason. These are just my thoughts, and are not intended to be taken as reviews of any kind.

“Dying To Read”, Lorena McCourtney, Revell (Baker Publishing Group

I loved this book for so many reasons! The main character is indeed a character – an unemployed twenty-something who goes to work for her uncle as a PI. (He even prints her up an Assistant PI license!) She falls in love, has all kinds of trust issues. Finds a dead body while trying to confirm the location of a young woman who looks just like her, and adopts the dead woman’s deaf cat (who then proceeds to take over her house and her life!). Aside from a great storyline and well defined characters that work, McCourtney adds the spice of religion. Real life religion – the main character prays, and truly believes in a Higher Being. Her belief is woven into the story, and never overshadows it.

“The Big Cat Nap”, Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown, Bantom Books.

This is Rita Mae Brown at her finest! (Athough, I must say, I have never seen her not at her finest!) We are in Crozet, Virginia, seeing life through the eyes of Mary Minor “Harry” Harristeen, and her crew of talking animals – her Corgi, Tee Tucker, her cats, Pewter and Mrs. Murphy, the opossum Simon, the large blacksnake Matilda, and the Owl Flatface. They are investigating the deaths of mechanics working for the ReNu auto shop, and how they might or might not be connected to the robbery of expensive tires from a local tire dealership, and an up and coming local racetrack. Plenty of local color, with interesting information on life itself woven in. Great reading, and enough reality to make the reader stop and think.

“The Body In The Boudoir”, Katherine Hall Page, William Morrow (Harper Collins).

This is the type of book that I really like – a series with an established character (Faith Fairchild) that takes a trip back in time. In this case, a trip back to the time of her wedding. Based in New York City, Faith owns and runs her own catering business, and leads quite the glamorous life. She meets her future husband at one of the events that she is catering. Then come the issues of his family (not all of whom seem to like her), her great-uncle Sky, who offers the use of his mansion on Long Island for the wedding, her assistant, who seems to be harboring a few family secrets of her own, and Faith’s sister Hope’s up and coming financial career … a career that someone may be trying to derail. Well written, and quite sophisticated for what I would place as a cozy mystery. (I love cozy mysteries!)

“Murder By Mocha”, Cleo Coyle, The Berkley Publishing Group (The Penguin Group).

I love a murder mystery, and I love mocha, so this book was a no brainer! The primary character, Clare Cosi, is manager and head barista, at the Village Blend coffeehouse. In a very avant garde storyline, Clare’s Village Blend beans are being used to create a new java love potion being promoted as an aphrodisiac. (Whatever floats your boat – I just love my coffee!)

Expected to make millions of dollars, the potion will be sold exclusively through Aphrodite’s Village, a popular online destination for women. Slight pause in the process … one of the web site’s editors is found dead at the launch party! Unfortunately, more deaths are to come to the Sister’s of Aphrodite.

Logical conclusion – Clare thinks someone is trying to steal the recipe! I loved this book, and its up to date, realistic nature. It didn’t hurt that Coyle included coffee making tips and recipes too!(Amongst the recipes is one for European style hot chocolate!)

“No Way To Kill A Lady”, Nancy Martin, Onsidian (New American Library, Penguin Group).

We get not one, but three main characters – the Blackbird sisters. Nora, a former debutante that is now a well known society columnist, Emma, very pregnant with an unknown gentleman’s love child, and Libby, divorced and on the make. Then there is Nora’s best friend, Lexie, who is serving time for pushing a man out of a window, and Nora’s mobbed up boyfriend, Mick.

Then there is her great Aunt Madcap Maddie, who may have recently died in a volcano eruption in Indonesia … or she may be the body that was found in the elevator of Madeline “Maddy” Blackbird’s neglected house, Quintain … located on an estate that is supposedly worth millions, and has been left to the three sisters.

Of course, MadcapMaddie’s stepson, the society rogue Sutherland Blackbird, is threatening to put in a claim for the estate. And Maddy’s little black book – something her questionable lawyer searched for, but never found. However, Nora did find it, with her sister’s help.

Who was Madeline Blackbird, exactly what is her little black book all about. And where have all of her famous jewels, paintings and other artwork gone to?

This book is part comedy, part mystery. Not something that would generally draw me in, but it is v ery well written, and I love the east coast society background!

This is my destress book list … what is yours?

© October 2012 Bonnie Cehovet

Planning Your Writing Time

Let’s talk about time … and how writers can get a handle on their time! I get sidetracked very easily, but I don’t like to have to follow a strict schedule either (although that sometimes does happen when I procrastinate!). The first thing that I do is to write my schedule down for a full week – I mean, I write down what I actually do, not what I “should” be doing! (Sometimes) there is a difference. ;-) This gives me a heads up on where I might be (ahem) wasting time, but also on what I might be avoiding doing. If I recognize that I am avoiding doing something, I know that I need to look at that and find out why. Perhaps it is something that I just need to let go of, or perhaps it is something that I need to face down. Shadows show up in all kinds of guises!

Some people do well with a set schedule – they block out a certain amount of time each day, and sit down and write/edit/market during that time. I need to be a little more flexible – if I want to have a cup of coffee and watch my fur kids play for a while, that is what I will do. If I want to write for t here or four hours straight, then that is what I will do. And for those of you that are screaming “life balance” … I can assure you that my life does have a balance. LOL

One of the things that helps me reach my goals for each day/week/month, is to use a written planner. I like e-files too, and make use of them, but I love my written planner. And I love marking each task off as I do it. On Sunday of each week I write out what I want to do each day of the coming week. I combine any personal appointments and errands with calls that need to be made, people that need to be contacted, and writing that I need to get done. Currently I have a short self-help book going as a WIP, along with four blogs that I do once a week each, and an astrology blog that I do each new and full moon. No, I am not an astrologer, butI do like to take the basic info and show people how it can be made to work in their own life. Any day planner or diary can be used for this purpose. I use Karyn Easton’s “Tarot Lover’s Diary”. It can be found at http://paranormality.com. I hope that she is coming out with one for 2013!

Here are a few links to how other writer’s organize their time:

http://unclutterer.com/2010/10/12/organize-your-writing-j-k-rowling-style/

http://dailyroutines.typepad.com/

http://mywebwriters.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/writers-organize-yourselves-tools-and-tips-for-productivity/

http://www.squidoo.com/writersnotebook

http://tumblemoose.com/the-organized-writer/

http://thedabblingmum.com/writing/general/organize.htm

© October 2012 Bonnie Cehovet

Are We Shooting Ourselves In The Foot With Our Blogs?

As authors, are we prone to shooting ourselves in the foot? I would say yes, in some ways we are. Creating and keeping up a Internet presence is one thing that we can tend to put up because we are told that we need to, so we do, but we may not know exactly what to do with it.

That Internet presence, in my way of thinking, consists of our web sites, our blogs, and our presence on social media sites, such as Twitter, Face Book, and Google +. This is all time intensive, and, quite frankly, somewhat confusing. Several of my friends are backing out of one or more social media sites, so that they can focus on one or two sites that they feel comfortable navigating, and that they feel they have a foothold in. I think this is a good idea – they can always recreate their presence on whatever sites they have chosen to leave.

We are told that to develop an Internet presence, and a following, we need to blog. And we need to blog on a consistent basis, creating content that is relevant to what our work is, and to the audience/clientele that we wish to attract. It is not hard to get a blog up – there are several free blog Content can be created in several ways – by talking about what we are working on, by talking about the process we are going through to get our work out there, and by adding small tid bits of personal information that make us seem more real, more approachable.

Blogging helps us to build our platform, to firm up our “voice”, and the brand image that we wish to project to the public. Blog under the name that you want to be known by, not some cutsie, made up front that you look like you are hiding behind. Include a bio, with a pic that people can relate to. Include information on where people can contact you, and include it in a place where it is easily accessible. If people cannot find what they want right away, they will move on to someone else’s blog!

Make best use of your blog page, and include information about the work that you already have out there, as well as what you are currently working on. Back this up by placing links to wherever site visitors can go to purchase your work. Remember to place a link to your professional site – you want your site, blog, and any published work, to be connected to each other for easy access to site visitors.

Allow your visitors to comment on your blog. Moderate the comments if you want to, but a better idea, IMHO, is to allow people to post, and to remember to check your comments frequently. You do this so you can respond to whatever comments are left, and to delete the infrequent comment that just does not belong there.

Last, but not least, make your blog clean and easy to read. I hate the word “monetize”, and I will not stay to read a site or a blog that has been “monetized” with ads. I am getting older by the day, and do not want to waste my time on that!

Have fun creating your online presence. Make sure it represent who you are, the work that you do, and that it will appeal to the audiences you are trying to reach. Life is too short to have to keep redoing things!

© September 2012 Bonnie Cehovet

Conferences - Yes Or No?

I love conferences! I really do! I like the travel involved, I like meeting new people, and I like learning new information. I have been reading recently about what effect the Internet might have on conferences. At first I was irritated at this thought, and didn’t see why one would not want to attend a conference, and meet people face to face that they have known on the Internet. Then I read more, and thought more.

The pro’s as I see it are:

• You get to meet people in person that you only know online. • You sometimes get the chance to pitch your work to an agent. • You get a more personal feel for the writing industry through conversations with other writers, editors, and publishers. • A short time away from the people and issues in my life.

The con’s as I see it are:

• The cost – of travel, lodging, food, and the conference itself. • Time away from family, and perhaps from a 9-5. • The pitch sessions to an agent can be an added fee.

Each writer as an individual has to determine for themselves whether a brick and mortar conference is for them. Some things to consider are:

• The cost – can you afford it. • What do you hope to gain from the conference? • Is the conference relevant to the work you are doing? • Is the agent pitch session worth it? • Is going to a conference in any way going to help you get published? • If you are going Indie (self-publishing your own work, or going with a small press), how relevant are conferences? • How do you learn best? Can you learn from a book, a video, or a webinar? What is the best use of your time and money?

Where do you find conferences? Through national writing organizations (usually by genre), through strategic locations in big cities, regional conferences, and specialty marketing conferences.

I plan to do a combination of the above – attend webinars, local conferences, as well as big city and national conferences – if they are relevant to the work that I am doing. I will plan where I want to go at the beginning of each year (actually, I will probably do t his the year before, as soon as the information about a conference is out to the public)., and make sure that it fits into my budget. I will have to prioritize the conferences, but that is what life is all about!

Continuing education … meet and greet … networking … however you look at it, while we write in solitude, we do need to get out there and mix to hone our craft!

© September 2012 Bonnie Cehovet

Author Bio

Words that I hate to hear – “We need a short bio with that.” Now, I have bios written – long and short. Different bios reflect different parts of my life. It doesn’t matter – I hate to write about myself! So … where do we begin with these lovely bios? We do need them to be done well, reflective of who we are, and interesting to the reader. We need to come across as knowledgeable and accomplished, because we want our readers to have trust in us, and in our work.

Even if you don’t have work ready to go to an editor at the moment, take the time to write a bio - actually two or three. A long version (for editors), and short version (for bylines), and a version (long or short) for your Internet site (yes, you should have an Internet site!). You can fine tune them as you go along, until it reads as well as your written work. It is also a good idea to have a professional photo taken to go with your bio’s.

The first thing to consider when writing your bio is the correct tense. To avoid the appearance of talking about yourself, write in the third person, using your name, rather than saying “I”.

Keep the short version to under 300 words. You want the style to read like that of a book jacket, something that will peak people’s interest. List where you live, perhaps any organizations you are associated with, any previous work that you have published, and something that sets you apart, something that makes you unique. You have one paragraph here to create a vibrant you!

If you are creating a bio to be included in a query letter, the rules change a bit. Write in the first person, stick to the facts (leave out the personal history that makes you unique), and list only significant professional credits.

Things that you might want to consider adding into a longer bio include work history, schooling, life experiences, hobbies, writing credentials, contests or prizes that you have won, and your online presence.

Still at a stalemate? Look at other author’s bios. What do you like about them? What don’t you like about them. What makes you relate to specific author’s? How do they inject humor into their bio’s so that they seem more human and approachable? What is their “voice”? (Above all, you want your bio to carry the same “voice” as your work. You need to essentially “brand” yourself so that your readers have something to follow.)

Remember, your bio is your chance to let people get to know you. State the facts, but remain humble. Choose you best, most relevant publications/achievements to list in your bio. For me, writing my bio’s is an ongoing process. They evolve as I evolve. You may find that this holds true for you as well.

© September 2012 Bonnie Cehovet

Cozy Mystery Defined

I thought that today I would muse about what a cozy mystery is, since this is the genre that am writing in, and hope to make a living from! The mystery part is a given – mystery stories are made up of puzzles that need to be solved. So … what sets a cozy mystery apart from other mysteries? No blood and guts. No violent scenes. No explicit sexual scenes. No cursing. The character solving the crime is an amateur sleuth, not a professional. They often stumble across the crime, or become involved for personal reasons – to help a friend, family member, or even a mentor.

The main character is almost always a likeable person, someone the reader can identify with in some way. They are often part of a community, with secondary characters coming in as friends or professional acquaintances. It is easy to build tension, or refer to issues or events from a long time ago, because generally the characters have known each other “forever”.

The victim in a cozy mystery can be anybody – from someone who is highly respected to someone that has a list of enemies a yard long. The reason behind the death (or incident, if there is no death) can be quite simple, or quite complicated, and often involves the surrounding community.

The setting can be anywhere – from a small town to the biggest city. Remember – big cities are made up of individual sections that often act like “small towns” on their own. The murder (or incident) can be placed before the story starts, or a couple of chapters into the story. What matters is that the murder (or incident) is meaningful to the characters. If not, then why write the story!

The plot can be anything, but it usually revolves around the human condition – the issues that we face, and the frailties and insecurities we reveal when dealing with them.

My favorite part of a cozy is that in the end, justice is done. Peace is restored, and while not everyone lives happily ever after, there is generally speaking no big cliff hanger, and the community returns to its normal state.

© September 2012 Bonnie Cehovet