Learning a Little Lemurian

In the excerpt on Monday, the kids found a record in Ancient Lemurian. As part of my all things Lemurian this week, I thought I'd share with the world what Lemurian looks like and how you too can type phrases in Lemurian.

At this link here, you can see examples of actual Lemurian texts and download a font that lets you type in Lemurian. Now I realize that most of you who read my blog are a little old for this kind of thing, but it's really popular with kids. They like to give each other messages in code.

This would be an example of a relatively easy marketing tool. Since I already had Adobe Illustrator, I merely had to get a fairly inexpensive font creator. What's even better is that now I can make all sorts of fonts for all sorts of projects.

Once the font is made, it's then really easy (and free) to distribute. You just stick it on your website. And like I had mentioned before, kids (and some adults) love these kinds of playthings. It's another way to link people to your book.

Another way to use this font as a marketing tool, is to use as part of a contest. In October, we'll be giving away book sets based on kids' abilities to decode messages posted around the web.

A Promised Preview

Last week I promised to provide everyone with a preview of some of the books coming out this year. This week, because it's the one I've been working on, I'm going to show off The Navel of the World and all things Lemurian.

To read the first chapter, click here.

Intrigued by what you read? The Navel of the Worldcomes out in October.

And if you aren't already acquainted with Benjamin and his friends, look them up in the first book of the series, The Emerald Tablet.

Something else I've been doing

One of my goals for this year is to relaunch my personal website Madeline Smoot.com. As you probably saw if you just clicked over, it's horrendously out of date and awfully childish. I want a more mature, adult look for the site I present to the world.

So, I'm thinking of going with something more like this.

Now that page is just a test. The links go nowhere at the moment (except for my blog), and I still haven't gotten my posted excerpts from my blog to show up. Oh, and you might have noticed that there isn't any actual information in the text block for the middle. However, it is something of visual interest to look at.

I would love to get feedback on the new look, especially if it does something wonky in your browser. Of course I've tested it in my browser at different screen resolutions, but I don't have every browser ever made. If you do comment, please let me know your browser type and screen resolution (if you know it). My stat tracker can tell me the number of people who use what, but they won't link it to an individual comment.

I appreciate any and all comments. And since I'm doing this myself, I can directly incorporate the stuff you give me to think about without having to involve a designer. -- One of the few benefits of doing everything yourself.

Things I've Been Up To

I said in my earlier post that I'd been busy working on stuff, and I didn't lie. One of the things I've been doing is working on covers for the fall books. A while back I showed you the cover for the Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate. Here are the new covers for the sequels to the 2 books from last year.

For The Book of Nonsense, the sequel's cover:

The Book of Knowledge

For The Emerald Tablet

The Navel of the World

I still have one cover to go, but I'm going to leave it as a surprise.

Conference Report

I have had a busy past few months. So busy, that I was unable to even pretend to try to keep up with blogging. There were book covers to design, interiors to layout, text to edit, text to have copyedited, and a NBN transition team to head. And all with only half a brain available.

(There is a horrifying rumor that my brain will never return to pre-pregnancy efficiency. I'm trying to chalk this up to urban myth told to new soon-to-be-mothers to scare them. Kind of like a hazing ritual. At least I'm hoping this is what is going on.)

And one of the other things I've been doing has been preparing for the conference held by Blooming Tree Press and the local Austin SCBWI. I spoke at two different break out sessions, one on online marketing, one on critiquing. So, like always, I'm now making the handouts from the conference available.

For the handout from the online marketing session, click here.

For the critiquing session, I haven't posted the handout. Instead I've put up the little article I wrote a few years back that the session was based on. The checklist for critiquers is at the very end of the article. To view it, click here.

And in the next few days I'll start posting some of the stuff I've been working on these last two months -- this includes excerpts from some of the upcoming books.

What Kind of Marketing Does an Author Do?

Yesterday, I mentioned some of the kinds of things that publishers do on the marketing end of the publishing process. Today seems a logical day to discuss the kinds of things that you can (and often should) do to help market your book.

Many first time authors erroneously believe that they shouldn't have to do anything. They figure that they did the work of writing the book, now the publisher can do everything else.

Personally, I think this is flat out daft. Publishing a book is a business. You enter into a partnership with the publisher when you sign your contract. In no other business partnership would a sane person then just hand over all control and power and then hope for the best.

Besides, your book will never be as important to your publisher as it is to you, especially with your first book. Your book is most likely the only one you have coming out that year. Even at the smallest of presses, this is unlikely to be the case. With the big houses, you could be literally one book out of dozens being produced that month, much less over the year. And even at the small houses where your editor may have read the manuscript dozens of times, he/she still has not put in the kind of time, effort, or love that you have. And the house publicist may not have read the book at all. You are the best advocate for your book. You should take this responsibility seriously.

So, here are some things you can do to market your book:

• Participate in your publisher's marketing efforts.
  If your publisher arranges an interview for you, a book tour, etc. participate if humanly possible. Granted, if they want you to go on an international 9-month book tour for your debut chapter book two weeks after your triplets are born, feel free to say no (after you recover from the shock of the extravagance your publisher had been willing to go to.) But for reasonable requests, try to be accessible. In the past I have worked with at least one author who I later heard from other staffers was completely unwilling to participate in any marketing efforts. The marketing person offered to help set up booksignings, send the author in question postcards to mail out, and other marketing assistance. The author said it would be a waste of time and money because he/she would rather die than have anything to do with the public. This and similar sentiments were not exactly the response we had been hoping for.
• Build your brand.
  This is the number one thing you should be working towards. You need to create your public persona -- your author brand, if you will. One of the easiest way to build interest in your books is to already have people interested in you. The cheapest way (as in free) to do this is to blog. Since you are reading this, and therefore most likely also blog, congratulations, you are on your way to brand building. This is an excellent venue for telling people all about your book. Other good places are websites, joint blogs, newsletters, and enewsletters, speaking engagements (which can actually generate additional income), panels, and any writing you do for magazines, journals, or their electronic counterparts.
• Build your mailing list.
  Regardless of where you are in the publishing process, you should be working towards building the most comprehensive mailing list of your life. This should make that wedding invitation list or holiday card mailing (the one you thought impossibly massive) look like a quickly jotted grocery list. Every person you know, your parents know, your spouse knows, or your children know should be on that list. Every business card you receive should be added to it. No one, not your dentist or your kid's preschool teacher, should escape. By the time your first book comes out you should have a list that would make a junkmailer jealous.
• If your publisher doesn't do it, produce some of your own marketing materials.
  Bookmarks are more likely to be kept if the person receives it directly from the author rather than a random publisher representative. Also, tshirts that authors and their families wear are great advertising. With no design experience at all, you can upload your cover to places like Cafe Press and have a tshirt printed for the same price as a store-bought branded tshirt. On the other hand, as a publisher, printing up several dozen or more tshirts for giveaways is very expensive and does nothing if the people they're given to never wear them. And there's no way to force people to wear them.

This is becoming a phenomenally long post, so I'll stop here. This is a good, brief overview of stuff you can do. If you have questions, let me know, and we can always devote future posts going into greater detail.

And if you're going to be in Austin April 25, one of the break out sessions at the conference I mentioned in earlier posts will specifically deal with online marketing and blogging. I personally believe that these two things are the most important weapons in the marketing arsenal, so I'll be telling you all about them for that hour or so.

What Kind of Marketing Does a Publisher Do?

The other day I was indirectly asked by an author what kind of promotion does Blooming Tree do vs. what was expected from the author. Now, I am not in charge of the marketing and promotional work over at Blooming Tree and never have been. I can only answer with 100% confidence for CBAY Books. However, what I do at CBAY is similar to what is done at Blooming Tree which is similar to what is done at most other presses (big or small) for a mid-list book.

(The marketing done for a blockbuster or potential blockbuster book is radically different. Most authors never see the kind of marketing dollars that books like the later Harry Potters, Brisingr, Twilight sequels, or even Audrey, Wait! get. So, we're going to discuss the marketing done for normal books with normal authors.)

What the Publisher does:

• Pitch the books to chains, independent bookstores, and libraries.
  This doesn't guarantee sales to the end consumer, but availability always helps. (In the case of CBAY and Blooming Tree, this will soon be done by our new distributor, National Book Network. However, I can't say with absolute certainty when this transition will take place since the whole process is taking 6-9 times longer than I expected. I will freely admit to feeling frustration over it all.)
• Produce advance readers for most hardcover books and some paperbacks.
  These readers can then be given to the sales force to be given to potential buyers, sent to reviewers, handed out at trade shows and generally create buzz over a book.
• Send books to reviewers and award programs.
• Produce marketing material.
  This can include, but isn't limited to: posters, bookmarks, TIP sheets for the sales force, stickers, postcards, websites, dumps, storytime kits, and any other random promo type item you can think of (pens, tshirts, etc.) I personally think that pretty much all of these items except for TIP sheets and websites are a waste of money, mostly because most promotional items end up in the trash.
• Have or hire a publicist.
  Most of the large houses have staff publicist. How much time or effort they'll spend on your book depends on the book's budget, the publicist, and your relationship with him/her. Most small presses have to hire a publicist by the project. At CBAY, I will (and have) subsidize a publicist on a book by book basis.
• Physical book tours for your book.
  First off, these are rare for first time authors unless its a book the publisher is really standing behind. Even then, the tour is going to consist more of trade show dinners and talks rather than bookstore signings. I have never subsidized a book tour, partly because I have never been given a proposal for one, and partly because I know how depressing a poorly attended book event can be. However, I would consider helping an author do one that was geared more around school visits and places where the author possessed truly masterful mailing lists.

These are some of the main highlights of what a publisher plans to do with its marketing dollars. Tomorrow, I'll discuss what the publisher expects the author to be doing.

Interesting New Blog to Look At

I recently found out about a new blog devoted to all you fantasy and science fiction writers. At The Spectacle authors of midgrade and teen speculative fiction chat about their genre. Definitely worth a peek.

April Conference in Austin

The official announcements have been made, and the registration has opened up. The conference I am speaking at in Austin can now be signed up for. It is being sponsored through the local Austin SCBWI on April 25, 2009.

I will be speaking at both breakout sessions and doing critiques. Apparently the critique spots are already starting to fill up quickly so if for some reason you are deadset on working with me, you'll want to go ahead and get your registration in. A downloadable copy of the registration packet is available here.

See you all in April!

Getting by With a Little Help from Your Friends

One of the many things I love about Austin is our strong, active children's writing community.

I'm very lucky to live in a city where we have a concentration of social children's authors. Whether it's panels or meetings hosted by our local SCBWI or the Texas Writer's League, we have many opportunities to get together and share writing war stories.

Just last night I attended a panel on first drafts -- I wasn't on it, I just went to listen to other people discuss the craft. After the panel, the Leitich Smiths (one of the most social writing couples I think I've ever met) rounded up all the children's writers and herded us out for drinks.

(And before I'm bombarded with emails on the evils of drinking and pregnancy, rest assured, I had three glasses of water and chicken nachos. I have witnesses.)

While out, I had the chance to catch up on industry and local gossip, and I was able to meet some newer (to me) members of the writing community. I had a wonderful time just sitting and talking books with all of these people. I'm greatful for the adult, non-baby related conversations I was able to participate in. It was nice to get out of the house and away from the computer, even for a few moments.

I would like to encourage everyone to get out and mingle with your fellow authors. Writing can be a very solitary pursuit -- just you and your keyboard or pad of paper. Interactions like these help you maintain perspective. Having trouble with a first draft? Get Cynthia to tell you all about how she deletes every first draft she ever writes. And I don't mean throws away the hardcopy. No, no. She makes every copy, paper or electronic, disappear. Forever. When your hear the tale, it's both liberating and heartbreaking at the same time.

And best of all, hanging out with your fellow authors is the best networking you can do. You'll find out who's agent is looking at work, what school has the most lucrative school visits, etc. So, get out there and start talking. Break that stereotype of the wan author locked in a dark windowless room working feverishly on a manuscript. You can do that when you get back.

And, if you do happen to be lucky enough to live in Austin, the SCBWI has a meeting tomorrow at BookPeople. See you all there.