Kindle Vella Live!

 

Kindle Vella - the new serial medium for storytelling - went live this past week. As someone who made the decision to submit a story, this was great news! Truth be told, there is not a lot of money to be made there, but I found the process to be interesting, and it is another way for a writer to get their name out there. Another plus is that, as I understand it, once a story has been live for a month it can also be published in other venues. 

I found it interesting, and at times exasperating, to write in episodes, as opposed to chapters. I did not plot the story out at all (I am basically a pantser as a writer, but I do usually set out some idea of where I want each chapter to go), I simply allowed it to write itself. My protagonist was fairly well-formed from the beginning. She is an antique shop owner, having left a career in New York City and returned home to take over her Grandmother's antique shop. She has a black cat by the name of Midnight that seems to have some powers in his own right.

Her boyfriend, Tom Hargrave, won't tell me what he does for a living and did not disclose his last name until almost halfway through the book. He has excellent taste in both coffee and wine and gets along well with Midnight. He seems to take everything in stride when Anne's antique shop is broken into, and a local person is found murdered in the alleyway on the same night.

Check out the wide range of stories being offered on Kindle Vella here.

Check out my story (with about eight episodes to go) Anne's Antiques. If you likely story, please say so! And feel free to leave comments. The first three episodes for all stories are free to read, the remaining episodes are paid for through the purchase of tokens,

Enjoy!

(c) August 2021 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction is prohibited without written permission from this author.

Character Worksheets

 

Character worksheets give a bit of boundary to writers like me who are "pantsers" (we write by the seat of our pants, as opposed to writing from a script). Most worksheets include the character's full name, where they were born, DOB, where they live, where they went to school, their age, and their hair color. This can be expanded to include just about anything, such as what they like to eat, what they like to read,  and how they are related to other characters.

I am in an interesting place - halfway through my first Kindle Vella book, and I don't have anything written down (outside of the story) about my characters. I have had to refer back to previous chapters to keep names and what happened when straight. So my next project, before I write any more episodes (Kindle Vella is episodes, not chapters) is to go back and start a bible for this book.

The type of worksheet I have described here builds each character separately. We can take this one step further and create a worksheet that reflects the ongoing relationship between different characters.  We might want to ask questions such as:

• What is the history between these two characters?
• Do they like each other?
• Are they frenemies?
• Are they armed combatants?
• Does one or both of them hold a grudge?
• Do either of them feel "entitled"?
• How do they see each other?
• Are they working at cross purposes?
• Are they supportive of each other?
• Are they telling the truth?
• Does one (or both) of them have a secret that they cannot afford to have known?

We can look back at this list as see how our characters are changing as the plot develops, how they are growing, and what new things we need to know about them.

Have fun with this!

(c) July 2021 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.

Do You Have A Plan For Marketing Your Book?

 

Do you have a marketing plan for your book? I have a heck of a time with marketing and do not have a plan. I am very hit and miss, promoting through my newsletter (which has a very low readership), Facebook (through posts, not through paid advertising), Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. So I am semi-organized, but yet to see results. My goal is to support myself through my writing, so something has to give here. There has to be some kind of "Aha!" moment that allows me to move to the other side with promoting my work, to make it part of my overall plan for my books, and to have my promotions be supportive of me, So what should I be looking at?

The first thing that you need (aside from a book or books to promote!) is a website. I use free templates, you may choose to have someone do your website for you. It all depends on what your budget is. What do you want to include on your website? 

• A signup link for your newsletter. (Yes, you need a newsletter! I use Mail Chimp.)
• An updated author's bio. (I hate writing my own bio!)
• A page where you list your books, with a short synopsis, and a link for purchasing.
• Your social media links.

Make sure that your social media on all platforms is branded - that it all works together, that you are using the same headshot and bio. Include a link to your newsletter, and to your blog. (My blog is separate from my website, many people include a blog on their website.) 

When working with your newsletter you may want to send a sequence of automated e-mails that act as autoresponders to new subscribers. Provide some kind of sign-up incentives, such as a PDF or other form of downloadable content. 

You can also promote through podcasting, although this is an area that I am not currently making use of. You can also do live broadcasts on Facebook and Instagram. 

Make sure that you have an Amazon author's page, and that it contains all of the information on your work, including links. You can also include your blog and Twitter feeds, and videos.

Get sneaky! On the last page of your book (whether e-book or hard copy) include a link to your website and promotions for your other books. 

This is just a start, but I think that it is a fairly good start. Make a list of what you want to do, and organize that list by priority. You are a writer, and writing is a business. Make your business flourish!

(c) June 2021 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.

Creating Characters That Jump Off The Page!

 

How do we create characters that simply jump off the page? As you know (well, maybe you didn't know, but you do now!) I am diving off the deep end and writing a Kindle Vella book - the kind of book that comes out in episodes to constitute a series. I had no clue how I was going to do this, so I just started writing. I was pleased to see the plot developing as I wrote, and the characters basically writing themselves.  

My protagonist, Anne Devereux, is the owner of Anne's Antiques. After a twenty-year career in New York City, she is back in her hometown of Fairfax, VA, running her deceased grandmother's antique business. Part of what defines Anne is that she is now back in a mid-sized city environment, where she knows many of the people. She is part of the downtown business community and has a committed relationship with Tom. Just "Tom". No last name yet, and no occupation. And the series is almost halfway finished! 

What I do know is that the characters of Anne and Tom understand each other, and work well together. There is another character that will play a small part in this series. He is a police officer and has the air about him of being a very caring person, one that is knowledgable about his job, and one that deals with people well. These are all characters that the reader can see and feel. They can see them in their minds doing their jobs. They understand why they make the decisions that they do.

What is important to me about a character is that they are believable, that they act consistently, and that my readers will want to read more about them. I find myself having conversations with my characters, and I let them write their own dialogue. 

If you want to see your characters more in-depth you could use the Myers-Briggs personality assessment. This will give you insight into how they will act, and why they will act that way. There is an online Myers-Briggs assessment available here - Myers-Briggs Assessment. 

Give your characters skills and the opportunity to use them. Let them be themselves, let them talk for themselves. You will have to do a lot less rewriting!

(c) June 2021 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.

Kindle Vella - I Have Begun!

 In my previous blog, I introduced Amazon's new baby - Kindle Vella! Today I actually started using it. I added the information on story title, story description, story category, and story tags. I still have to find an image to use and upload it, then I can go "live" with that, and start writing my story.

I have a name for my protagonist - Anne Devereau. She lives in Virginia and is the owner of an antique store (Annie's Antiques). she is also mother to a psychic cat named Midnight. The bare-bones story in my mind is that she has an object that has tremendous value, and she is not even aware that she has this object. Strange things will start happening, including a very unusual customer, and her store and house being broken into.  

Now I get the chance to flesh out my characters and their environment. I ran across a very interesting article earlier today that talks about creative ways to craft amazing characters. You can find the article here. 

Wishing you all happy writing!

(c) May 2021 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author,

Kindle Vella - The New Way To Publish!

 

Kindle Vella is a new and quite exciting venue from  Kindle Direct Publishing that allows authors to self-publish in a serialized fashion. I cannot wait to get my toes into this water! Stories will be available in the Kindle iOS App and on Amazon. 

Authors will earn 50% of the Tokens that readers spend to unlock episodes. Wait ... What? Tokens? Readers will be able to read the first three episodes of any story for free. After that, they can purchase tokens and redeem them to unlock episodes. The number of tokens needed to unlock an episode will depend on the episode's word length (episodes can range from 600 - 5,000 words). Authors will be eligible for a launch bonus based on customer activity and engagement.

Readers will have access to Kindle Vella stories within the next few months. I certainly am going to have a continuing story up there! This is so 1920'a noir to me - only then the serial stories run in magazines, and the authors were paid accordingly.

The Beta version of the Kindle Vella library can be found here - Kindle Vella library. This is where authors can start to share their stories. The format is very straightforward: add in the story title, author's name, a 500 character description of the story, an image for the story, a primary category (with an option to add a secondary category), and up to seven tags. Story details can be edited up until the time that the story is published. 

At this time it appears that this serial publishing option is open to U.S.-based authors only. The Kindle Vella store should be available within the next few months.

(c) April 2021 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.

Pantser Outline For My First Christmas Mystery

 

I have had my first Christmas mystery book running around in my mind for "forever". I know the physical setting - Minnesota, where I lived as a child. I know that the action will take place in a mid-sized town, where people know each other. I know that the protagonist is a reasonably well-off mystery writer and that the victim is a successful lady in her forties who is engaged to a wealthy local gentleman with a secret from his past.  I know that the opening chapter will focus on a Tarot reading that the victim gets from a local reader. 

I need to form an outline so that I don't stray too far from the "facts", and so that the story takes a plausible form that is tightly woven (no holes allowed!). Speaking of which, I would be digging myself into a hole if I tried to write a "step-by-step" type outline. As a writer, I am a "panster" - I write by the seat of my pants. 

Here is what I am looking at so far:

Chapter One: A very elegant lady (the victim) comes into a local tea shop for lunch and a Tarot reading. The reader is very uneasy, as she sees cloudy energy around this lovely lady. The cards show death. The lady leaves, never to reach her destination.

Chapter Two: That evening, the reader learns of her client's untimely death. She sees her client with her hands outstretched as if asking for help. She feels icy fear all around her - this story is not over yet! She calls the protagonist, who hurries over to her house to calm her down.

Chapter Three: The victim was engaged to a mysterious, wealthy local. She was on her way to his mansion when her car drove off the road, and she died. The police found out about the Tarot reading, and want to talk to the Tarot reader.

Chapter Four: The protagonist calls a meeting of her friends, to discuss the death, and to see why the victim is asking for help. Was this not the accident that it seems to be?

Chapter Five: The protagonist attends a local board meeting, which is also attended by the victim's fiancee. He tells her his story and asks for her help. His dead fiancee has come to him in his dreams asking for help too.

Chapter Six: Introduce the assistant to the victim's fiancee. Portray them in a good light. Bring in strange missives that have been coming in through the mail.

Chapter Seven: There is a large Christmas party, where a prominent local woman is poisoned and dies.

 Chapter Eight: The protagonist and her friends meet to go through clues and share information.

Chapter Nine: What the victim saw just before she died.

Chapter Ten: Showdown between the victim's fiancee and his assistant.

Chapter Eleven: Conclusion.

There it is - a bare-bones, pantser outline! 

(c) March 2021 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.