Book Marketing, Author Branding and the Long Game

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is reviews: do they really do any good?

Serendipitously enough, this topic dovetails with something I'd already noted on my list of Things to Discuss, which is author branding and the long game. I'd been thinking about it since I was interviewed last week on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Marketing Podcast. Since it aired, I've received a lot of great feedback and appreciation for my "down-to-earth" marketing strategy and advice.

I found that description kind of amusing - because I don't think of myself as "down to earth" in general - but I also get why they say that. I think it's partly because a lot of my marketing strategy is grounded in author branding and the long game.

I'm also thinking, as one does days later with these things, that I didn't say exactly that in the interview and I wish I had.

What does this have to do with reviews and if they do any good? Well, reviews do three things: they increase your visibility (thus discoverability), build your reputation and author brand, and give you a place in the community of readers.

Now, I'm talking about reviews from real people who actually read books. Not the solicited (sometimes paid-for) reviews intended to elevate Amazon ranking. That's the same short-term thinking that leads to spending tons of money on ads to convince people to try your book for .99 cents or "free" on Kindle Unlimited. Authors focusing on that are looking to boost sales for that day or that month, to maximize income before the book becomes stale and no longer makes money.

You may have seen some authors - particularly self-publishing authors who can aggressively track sales or page-reads - talk about how books peak and then trail off to nothing. I can tell you that my books not only DO NOT trail off, they tend to gain sales over time.

That's the long game at work.

I'm also not talking about reviews like Kirkus or Publishers Weekly. I think those can help, but they tend to be aimed at the industry, not actual readers. An exception is Library Journal, which I think a lot of librarians read and then decide to add the book to their collections and recommendations.

I'm mostly talking about the readers and book bloggers. Those who take the time and personal effort - for free and out of love - to review books on their own sites, on BookBub, on Goodreads, and on the retail sites. These are the people who read and discuss books - and recommend them to other readers. We talk about how word of mouth is still the most effective promotion? THIS is one of the key virtual word of mouth marketplaces. Do these reviews do any good?

Yes, yes, and YES.

But, an author has to be willing to build their brand over time, which means putting out quality work that pleases readers. Writers begin their lives as readers (or should, if you're not a scammer), and thus we all know that we associate our reading experience with the AUTHOR. Despite valiant efforts of publishing houses, we don't buy books by the imprint. Arguably, some authors in subscription programs like Kindle Unlimited are counting on the "free reads" brand to bring in readers. But any author who's in the business because they honor storytelling first will know that their reputation as an author is critical - and they invest in making it clear and recognizable.

So, yes - reviews do a lot of good, but only if they build your author brand.

This Difficult Character Drives Other Characters Insane

I think the most difficult character I’ve had to write so far would be the Mawreg, who are the alien Big Bad in my Sectors series. They’ve been present since my first published scifi romance Wreck of the Nebula Dream. I didn’t describe them in too much detail and it‘s been an accepted part of Sectors canon that it drives humans insane to even look at a Mawreg with unshielded eyes. So far, so good.

The Mawreg are the apex predators in the Sectors galaxy and have a number of ‘client’ races serving them, so I’ve been able to describe the Chimmer, the Shemdylann and the Betang as they take part in the action in various novels. The Mawreg remained ominous, mysterious and unrevealed.

But eventually one does need to lift the curtain on the enemy to some extent – and readers had been asking when they might see more of these deadly sentients in the books – so when I had the right plot, in Danger in the Stars, Miriell (who isn’t human) encounters one. Here’s the description:

Miriell swallowed hard and forced herself to endure her first glimpse of a Mawreg.

She could understand why humans might find this creature hard to look at. It was like a hybrid of several beings, or perhaps a group of parasites emerging from a single host. The body appeared to be turned inside out in places, with unpleasantly pulsing, dripping organs and vessels slathered with slimy goo and leaking pustules emitting a foul odor. In another segment of the entity’s structure–the head perhaps?—there were what might have been numerous, giant, faceted eyes, but the components or lenses moved and twirled and morphed so fast Miriell found the effect dizzying and nauseating. She couldn’t get her eyes to focus on the Mawreg’s hindquarters at all. Her vision blurred with each attempt to glance at that part of the alien.

But what fascinated Miriell and drew her away from any thought of the Mawreg’s disconcerting and disgusting physical form were the colors of its being. Unbidden, her power sprang to life and showed her plates of colors in the Mawreg’s aura, sliding across each other to form new hues. Indeed, some of the colors were nothing she had ever seen before, could not begin to name and had no idea what their presence portended. The display, visible only to her, exerted a pull on her senses, and she took a step forward before she’d even realized she was moving.

Later in the book Miriell does battle with a Mawreg in her own fashion, using her empathic powers.

I was satisfied I’d done the best I could to bring these aliens to life. In The Fated Stars I offered a bit more backstory on this issue of humans going insane when looking at a Mawreg.

Larissa swallowed hard. “Another fact you should probably know—most humans can’t even look directly at Mawreg. There’s something about them that can drive a human insane.”

Samell stared at her, even as Pete and Donnie nodded. “When we go on sorties into their camps to rescue people or take the entire operation down, we have to wear helmets with special filter goggles and even then a few guys have lost their minds. Mawreg are bad ass, spooky.”

“And we haven’t got any of those helmets here,” Donnie added. “Not a piece of tech I can whip up from spare parts either.”

“Are you serious? I find this concept hard to grasp—how can merely gazing upon the alien can make a person lose their mind?” Samell’s voice was polite.

“First encounter between our kind and the Mawreg was a peaceful scientific expedition, all excited to have met another spacefaring race,” Larissa said.

“The Peronelle. Learned about it in school, in Sectors history class.” Pete confirmed the tale. “Hundreds of years ago. Luckily the humans already had a few interstellar allies.”

“The Peronelle survivors the Mawreg spared to tell the tale described in gruesome detail how their comrades went insane when forced to watch their hosts. The ship’s AI had vids to corroborate. The vids also showed the Mawreg eating people alive, and conducting horrific experiments on others. Apparently the aliens thought it would frighten us into surrendering and accepting their rule, but all it did was make us determined to do battle every chance we got. No truce, no quarter given.” Larissa sighed. “And the war’s been raging ever since.”

So there you have it – my most difficult character to write. A close second would be Moratiu, the ancient, sentient tree…but I’ll save that for another blog post.

Difficult Characters

Once upon a time, I played a massive multiplayer online roleplaying game. Obsessively. I managed to create a character with what I thought was a silly, throw away backstory. But from that silly backstory, she took on a life and a legend of her own. In the midst of it all, the game company claimed that the race to which my toon belonged had never been intended to be serious characters in the game - they'd been designed to be nothing more than comedic relief.

I was offended. Then I came to believe the attitude from the game company was a grave disservice to the race. I mean, look around our world. Are the funniest people not the ones hiding the deepest, most intractable pain? Maybe not always. Sometimes silly is just silly. But in this case, I really felt like the game writers were stuck in an idea rut that short-changed them, the game story, and the character potential I saw in this character and her race.

Then the game company just HAD to piss me off by taking pains to inform players that the game company, not the players, owned the rights to any and all characters within the game. No matter how much time and effort players had put into actually creating characters to flesh out what had amounted to a collection of graphics files. It was, 'Hey! We drew pretty pictures for you, so now we own all the hard work you put into actually breathing life into those pictures! Thanks! Suckers.' No, it's not your imagination. My eyelid really is twitching over this. My reaction eventually amounted to a far less polite version of, 'Oh yeah?? Guess what, you jerks.'

I based a book on the character they told me I didn't own. Won't get into details because a forlorn vestige of the company and the game are still out there in the world, but yeah, while so much has changed between game character and book character that I doubt I could be successfully sued, I have zero interest in finding that out. The annoying thing is that the character and voice that grew so organically out of a game, became really, really difficult to write in a novel. The backstory couldn't be silly because the story arc wouldn't support it. Nor would the emotional arc of a romance. This novel is still stewing while I work on other stuff because while I think I have a story that's true to the spirit of my beloved toon, no one (me or the hero or the heroine) can figure out the climax of this book.

I think the biggest issue is that in a game, nothing has to make sense. You kill bad guys. You take their stuff. There doesn't need to be a why. In a novel, I need a why. I never thought I'd be the one saying this because I am usually ALL ABOUT the why - but the damned whys of this novel and this character I so love are making me want to slam my head repeatedly in a door somewhere.

Maybe I'll go slip into game for a little while. Just for old times' sake. Depending on where I adventure in the game world, it will be just like slamming my head in a door. So there's that, I guess.

Difficulty of bleeding on a page

Writers are told all the time to write what they know, to write what they love. Lord knows I hear that plenty these days. I'm in the midst of retooling my career, figuring out where I want to go from here, and most of the advice has been a mix of frustrating and meh.

But recently I got a slice of perfect advice from a fantasy writer I really respect. He said that years ago he was at a crossroads and wanted to write a deeply personal book, but he was worried that at the time he didn't have the chops to do the story or character justice. He was advised to go ahead and write it, to bleed it onto the page, so he did. I gather it wasn't easy, but he's a finisher, and he did the work. Even though he can see the craft flaws in that book now, he is happy with it because he learned, through the process, to be vulnerable.

I haven't challenged myself so personally yet. I've said all along, I write characters who aren't me because, dude, I am a really boring person--maybe even a shitty person--and ain't nobody want to read a whole book about that girl.

But, what if that inside person, the vulnerable me, is interesting because I hate her so much? If I can learn to accept her and love her and make her into a hero, would that journey be interesting to readers who also struggle with self-confidence?

Maybe. Maybe not. Regardless, I need to write it anyway. I need to learn how to open my psyche up and let it bleed on a page. Slice, hurt, learn, grow.

Gotta tell you, this is scary stuff, but also kind of ... exciting? Will let y'all know how it goes.

That One Character Who...Gah!

Which of my characters has been the most difficult to write? I could give a Top Ten list from books that haven't been published...primarily because I haven't nailed certain pivotal characters, but that might be cheating.

So, I'll give you the character whose reactions to situations I most often have to rewrite.

Feng, the Phoenix from my Immortal Spy series. Feng is introduced as the antagonist to the protag. Feng is painfully righteous, morally pure, and utterly inflexible. As events unfold, things don't go well for Feng. Things go so poorly that even the most gruesome death would definitely be preferable. Alas, to his great misfortune, he survives thanks to the protag. While his body eventually recovers and he finds common ground with the protag, he suffers from horrific PTSD.

What makes Feng difficult to write is that his PTSD doesn't (and shouldn't) define who he is, but it is a factor in his reactions to situations. It is a question of his reliability in a crisis. What will trigger an episode? How will he respond? How do I responsibly write his management of his mental health without pandering or being dismissive?  Yes, I know, I'm writing fantasy...about a dude who is an all-powerful firebird. Yes, the story is told from the POV of protag with her own mental disadvantages. Still. It is some bad shit when your mind is simultaneously your greatest asset and your worst enemy. Now, I'm not saying I get it right. No, no. I am saying what makes Feng so difficult for me to write is my desire to at least be in the neighborhood of respectful.

Difficult?

Do this week's subject is who is the most difficult character you've written, and why?

Not even a contest.

Jason Soulis, who is the lead vampire in the BLOOD RED trilogy of books that I am finishing up even as I write this.

My first rule with writing a vampire novel was No Sparkles. I wanted vampires who are MONSTERS, not romantic leads.  Why? Because when you get right down to the nitty gritty, they are supposed to be monsters. Spectral or animated, they're dead, and they are not kind. Also, I write horror, and in the case of Jason Soulis, he's just plain a bad guy.

A side note: No, I did not pick the name Soulis because it's a play on Souless. That's just a bonus. The fact of the matter is that there was a Lord Soulis back in Scottland who was quite the bad man, and even had a Red Cap (THE Red Cap) as his familiar. And much as I wanted my vampires to be a little different it's a play on the notion that Vlad Tepes became Dracula for Bram Stoker.

But I also wanted him to be charming and to catch the eyes of the ladies and be the envy of the men. I wanted to make him a major league bad guy, too. Powerful, dangerous and utterly without human morals.

I think I did all right, but I never decide these things for myself.

the other thing I wanted to give him was a slightly different motivation.  There is no attempt to find an old love reincarnated. There is no particular desire to leave his homelands. In point of fact, he did that centuries ago.

So I decided to give him a motivation that is cold and calculating. He is the Mengele of the vampire world he likes to experiment on others to satisfy his own curiosity.

I have pointed out before that I wrote BLOOD RED in a fury. It is literally the fastest I have ever written a novel. The first draft was completed in three weeks. The decision to make him a mad scientist of sorts was a not on the plans when I started the novel, but evolved from the rest of the story.

He was rather elusive at the beginning, but, aga9n, I think I got the basics handled rather well.

Jeffe's Most Difficult Character - Not Who You Think?

So, if you missed it on Friday, we finally had the cover reveal for THE ORCHID THRONE! 

This is the first book in a new trilogy I'm doing with St. Martin's Press. Totally new world, totally new series. My editor there, Jennie Conway, called it:

the magical feminist fantasy romance I've always wanted

Which is now my new favorite tag line ever. You can read more (and preorder!) here. It comes out September 24, 2019. 

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is: Your most difficult character to have written and why. 

This question stumped me. I even asked Assistant Carien what she thought, since she often listens to me whine about these things. She offered a few suggestions, that just didn't "sound" right to me. So, then I went and looked at my publication list.

Yes, I totally use my website to remind myself of my own books, what of it?

Looking over that list, a couple of books stood out. Ones that just didn't come out the way I envisioned when I started. Ones that I'd rewrite, if I could. 

And one heroine, in particular, that I just never felt I really got into her head. 

Ava, from SHOOTING STAR.

The book is a contemporary romance, so I haven't talked about it much here at the SFF Seven. But, people, I rewrote this book SO MANY TIMES. And though the heroine, Ava, was clear to me from the start - in fact, she was one of those characters who plagued me to write her story - I never felt I really got a handle on her. I don't know if I could say why. It could be because she was inspired by a real life person (or, rather, a blend of several) and therefore I couldn't find my way into her head in the same way.

It could be because Ava is simply a very complex person, with many layers and secrets, and she's become adept over time at keeping everyone out. Even me.

I could be I'd have to write more of her to really crack that nut. 

Hmm. 

Back List Moment in Ancient Egypt

I'm busily writing a new paranormal romance book set in ancient Egypt and it's a direct sequel to my award winning Lady of the Nile from 2017, so I decided to revisit her today for the week's topic of backlist love.

The blurb: Tuya, a high ranking lady-in-waiting at Pharaoh’s court, lives a life of luxury, pageantry and boredom. Khian, a brave and honorable officer from the provinces temporarily re-assigned to Thebes, catches her eye at a gold of valor ceremony. As the pair are thrown together by circumstances, she finds herself unaccountably attracted to this man so unlike the haughty nobles she’s used to. But a life with Khian would mean leaving the court and giving up all that she’s worked so hard to attain. As she goes about her duties, Tuya struggles with her heart’s desires.

When Tuya is lured into a dangerous part of Thebes by her disgraced half-brother and kidnapped by unknown enemies of Egypt, Khian becomes her only hope. Pharaoh assigns him to bring the lady home.

Aided by the gods, Khian races into the desert on the trail of the elusive kidnappers, hoping to find Tuya before it’s too late. Neither of them has any idea of the dark forces arrayed against them, nor the obstacles to be faced. An ancient evil from the long gone past wants to claim Tuya for its own purposes and won’t relinquish her easily.

Can Khian find her in time? Will he and his uncanny allies be able to prevent her death? And if the couple escapes and reaches safety, what of their fledgling romance?

Buy Links:

Amazon     iBooks     Kobo     B&N 

I shared this snippet from the book on Valentine's Day:

One of my favorite stock photos ever,
from DepositPhoto