Hail the Traveler and Farewell

Today, we pause to wish fair winds and following seas to a friend and author who was a member of the SFF Brigade for a good long while. This week, James A. Moore passed away. 

James wrote over 50 grimdark fantasy and horror novels, games, and comic book scripts. He was a three-time nominee for the Bram Stoker Award. He, in conjunction with good friend Christopher Golden, won the Shirley Jackson Award for editing horror anthology The Twisted Book of Shadows. He delighted in supporting and mentoring other writers. 

Here on the blog, James was a kindhearted contributor who always had encouraging words for the rest of us. He challenged a few of us to write outside our comfort zones. He will be missed. 

Because authors in the United States do not always (or even usually) have anything approaching adequate health insurance, James's illness took an enormous toll on him and his family. As a result, James's friend, Christopher Golden has organized a fund raiser to help offset Memorial Expenses and to support James's widow. The family requests memorials there in lieu of other condolences. 

If you remember James, or even if his name and books are new to you, you can also support his surviving family by picking up his books. 

Striking Social Gold

Oh trends, what fickle things they are. 

If that sentence doesn’t tell you where I stand…then I guess I need to elaborate. This week we’re talking about TikTok. Technically we’re talking about Tick-Tock trends, Jeffe decided to keep the typo and I kinda like it. 

I also like what Jeffe said: only do the kind of social media you enjoy. I’m paraphrasing, so check out her post for the direct quote AND you’ll see some gorgeous book covers! But back to that author social media stuff. If you don’t enjoy it then you’re not going to do it well. Or often enough. Which means it’ll be difficult to reach readers through it. 

Videos aren’t my creative outlet, so TikTok doesn’t appeal to me. Yes, I get sucked into watching the feed on Instagram, who doesn't, but I limit the amount of time I spend on there. As for TikTok, I long ago decided if I’m not actively participating by posting my own content on a social, I’m not going to spend my time using. So this week’s topic got me curious about the positives that surround trends, specifically BookTok.

There have been a number of books that began as a concept or gainted a pre-pub following on BookTok take off successfully. One that I read and thoroughly enjoyed was Assistant to the Villain. There have been others I DNF’d. I didn't know Assistant to the Villain or the ones I DNF'd were BookTok books until after I'd read them and some because I looked up BookTok books to write this and found out their origin. Maybe I haven’t read enough BookTok-spurred stories, but I don’t feel they’re any better or worse than books I find in other ways. However, I acknowledge it’s a new avenue to reach publication and readers. 

It’s sort of like BookTok is the new Twitter-fest for books. #pitmad and #pitchwars were golden opportunities for savvy writers to craft 35 word hooks for their books. I know authors who landed publishing contracts that way. It was exciting and thrilling—the Twitter pitch-fests ushered in a new way to connect authors with agents online. It blew attending conferences in person for pitch sessions out of the water. Twitter provided authors a way to find publishing contracts and/or promote books from the comfort of their own homes—pantless! I'm sure there was a small percentage of people who were pantless. It seems to be a thing people crow about. 

What it really boils down to is our social media usage evolved and so did the way writers use it. And it’s not going to stop changing.

There will be another new social that people glom to and authors will find a way to sell their books and book ideas with it. And after that new shiny there’ll be another, and another. So it really goes back to: make sure you have fun with whichever social you choose. (if you read between the lines it says: don’t do them all, you’ll burn out) If you’re one of the lucky ones and you find an open door on a social—congrats! And I hope you remember what it was like when all you had were dreams and reach a hand back for someone else when you’re able. 

Trendy? Eh, no.

 This Week's Topic: Tik-Tok Trends: Have I Tried Any Reading or Writing Trends?

Oh, y'all, no. Not even when I was in middle school--when being fashionable was a social life or death necessity--was I trendy. These days, I'm vaguely aware of what's what, and even then only the hype in my genre. I'm aware of the Fourth Wing phenomenon and the rise of Romantasy as a marketing category (romantic fantasy and fantasy romance have always existed, it's just that Publishing didn't want to acknowledge it, because ewwww Romance cooties! {eyeroll})

As a reader, I'm interested in the on dit because big sales numbers means the gatekeepers will shepherd some really good books that were previously rejected because "there wasn't a market for that." Admittedly, I usually wait for the second or third wave of the trend, so I reap the benefit of the hidden gems finally getting their due.

As a writer, I pay attention to trends for the sake of my advertising but not for my creative process. I don't write fast enough to release to an ephemeral trend. Ah, if only!

As for using Tik-Tok itself, that'd be a hard nope. Ain't nobody needing to see the disastrophe on this side of the screen.

New Covers for Sorcerous Moons!

 Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is "Tick-Tock trends—have you tried any reading or writing trends?" 

I'm leaving in the misspelling, just so you get how clueless we are. ~ Shakes cane at kids on lawn ~

Regarding TikTok - lol! - a social media property that originated in China, no, I don't follow or attempt the trends. I sometimes feel like I should. I do have a TikTok account - https://www.tiktok.com/@jeffe_kennedy - and I even have over a thousand followers there, even though I almost never post anything. The followers are due to very kind and generous fellow authors who do the Tiks and Toks better than I do. (Shout out to Vela Roth and Lisette Marshall!)

So, I know that I really should post to TikTok, and I sometimes think about it, and even occasionally do it. But I also remind myself of advice I've been giving since the beginning of social media, which is that you "should" do only the kind you enjoy doing. Social media is social and if you're hating it and faking being social and happy and fun, it shows. 

Therefore, instead of discussing reader trends or writing trends or TikTok dances, I'm going to share these beautiful new covers for my complete, six-book Sorcerous Moons series!!! The spine design with all six together is so gorgeous even Taylor is gasping in admiration! The print editions can be ordered via my website store or the usual retailers. 

On my mind: reading older books

 

My To Be Read pile is on my mind. It’s gotten so big that I get choice paralysis when I’m trying to pick a book to read next. I decided to try to prioritize working in books that were published a multiple of ten years ago.

Why? As a reader, it’s easy to get caught up in the constant new release cycle. Physical bookstores have limited capacity, and they want to move books as fast as possible. The best way for them to do this is to stock new books as they come out (which I’m less likely to have bought already) and bestsellers. I often have difficulty finding a book that’s new-to-me on the shelves that’s more than a few years old at a bookstore that only sells new books. Additionally, marketing algorithms prioritize new books (again, because I’m less likely to have read them) when I’m browsing the web.

So I’m making an effort to find and read older books that I didn’t know about. I’m not much for nostalgia, but I am interested in what novels looked like ten, twenty, thirty years ago. I want to know what’s changed in writing conventions and what I can learn from that.

So far this year, I’ve read The Charmed Sphere (2004) by Catherine Asaro, and Undercity (2014), also by Asaro. They are very different books: different genre, different point-of-view, different issues tackled, and I’m glad I read both of them. Next up is Joan Vinge's World's End, published in 1984.

If anyone wants to join me in this activity but doesn't know where to start, ten-year-old books by authors on this blog include The Tears of the Rose by Jeffe Kennedy and Nightmare Ink by Marcella Burnard. 

OMM: Compressing Real-Life Politics into a Fantasy Timeline

This Week's Topic: On My Mind -- Compressing Real-Life Politics into a Believable Fantasy Timeline

Today's an election day here in Ohio. We're mostly voting for who will represent the party on the November ballot. As we spin in yet another face-off between tyranny and democracy, it's too easy to see the hellpit awaiting us. As a citizen, it's horrifying. As a writer, it's enlightening fodder. To have lived through 4 years of a massive and flagrant regression in morals, ethics, and basic compassion only to be threatened (again and again) with another 4 years of it, I'm trying to set aside my disappointment and fury so that I can distill the pivotal moments that enabled The Collapse to figure out where to start The Story. 

There are so many inciting moments in real life over the last fifty to seventy-five years that it's difficult to pick where our protagonist's inciting moment should happen. How do I show an audience the erasure of self-regulating concepts like shame and public censure that once held higher authorities in check? That's something that happened over a long stretch of time, but is there a single moment--or three key moments--that can be built up to convey the crumbling of an institutional pillar? How do I show it without screwing up the pacing? It's easy enough to show capitalistic corruption leading to the downfall, it's been done a lot. Showing the process of the extinction of compassion is harder for me, mostly because it's the reality that makes me the most furious. Putting current real-world events into a fantasy setting with a story that expresses the futile yet desperate fight to revive integrity and altruism has to happen in a compressed timeline yet unfold over a believable blip in time. The pivotal events have to be pushed forward by the actions of the protagonist, when the reality involves a confluence of powerful people over generations.

As I head off to the polls, that's what's On My Mind.

Author Websites

The first hurdle an author has to clear in terms of a website is the fear of being perceived. Don't laugh. It's a whole thing. We've lived most of our lives not being seen or attracting attention to ourselves. It's a bullshit cultural feature of patriarchy. It's pretty ingrained in most female presenting folks to NOT draw attention. Fortunately, an author website, hosted by a professional data center, offers you any number of layers for protecting yourself while promoting your writing. 

The second hurdle is getting past feeling like the website has to be utterly and completely perfect for ever and ever. Literally, the only thing your website needs to do is identify you and your books. It's a communication tool and a landing spot for anyone curious about what you write. The most likely scenario for someone visiting your website is that someone found one of your books and they want to look you up to see what else you have. You can make it as fancy and as involved as you like, but don't think you need fancy for your site to succeed. Your only goal is to create a welcoming place for readers to find out more about your writing and books.

DO:

• Design a site that reflects you. Not just your first book. Or your second. 
• List and describe all your books.
• Include multiple buy links.
• Keep the site up to date with new releases and buy links.

DON'T

• Offer any information that could be used to locate you physically.
• Think you have to build a site all by yourself. You can and should hire out the site unless you're trained or a total control freak. (And then, I'll ask if your time could be more profitably used by writing rather than coding a website.)
• Force yourself to add something to your website that makes you uncomfortable. You won't find a link to a newsletter on my website anymore because my god I hate sending newsletters. Hates it. So I stopped. And Mail Chimp fired me as a customer. So.  

Websites are necessary and help you welcome readers to your work. In a perfect world, the design of the website will reflect your writing persona to some extent. At the end of the day, though, there's no need to spend a ton of money. The fancier the website, the more expensive and time consuming it will be to maintain.  Keeping it Simple Silly has its benefits.

Author Website Checklist

This week we’re talking about one of the business sides to writing: the author website. 

Funny enough, my writing buddy and I were discussing this recently. She plans to turn her website back on since she’s going back in the query trenches and had been checking out a variety of author websites. She said the one thing that stood out the most was that each site she pulled up told her with a glance what genre the author wrote in. 

First impressions, like first lines, are important.

And you have about a second to capture that visiting reader's attention. Uff dah. The pressure! But what better time to do a little website spring cleaning than now! So, how about a checklist?

• The Headshot - do you have an updated headshot? I like Mary Robinette Kowal’s stance on author photos: do it more often than not so you’re recogniable to readers who may run into you IRL. Also, like Mary Robinette mentions here, your headshot is a selling tool. Don’t forget to use it.

• Your Bio - this is one of those necessary evils like a blurb and synopsis. Though hopefully less painful. It may be helpful to have a short bio (100-300 words written in third person) as certain publications have limited space, and also a longer bio, also written in third person, to give people a deeper glimpse into the wizard behind the curtain. Again, this is another selling tool. Drop your hobbies in there and whatever makes you unique as a person. Everyone has something, what’s yours?

• Awards/Publications - If you’ve won awards or your work has been nominated, list it! If you’ve been published in a magazine, print or online, or really any where else your non-novel writing has been published, list it! If a reader is on your website because they loved somethin you read you definately want to make it easy for them to find more. 

• Your Books - this is the given, but there’s a lot of information you’ll want to be sure to include. List the links of your books at all the major online retailors and also your local haunts. The book’s back cover copy, this is usually 200-300 words. The book’s cover in the highest resolution you’ve got. And all the metadata that goes along with a book. If it’s a series don’t forget to say which number!

• Links to your Socials & Platforms - Readers that take the time to check out your website are looking for a conneciton. Let them know where you hang out: your socials. Let them know if you offer subscription access to you: Patreon, Substack, etc. And let them know if you’ll make any in person appearances in the coming year. 

• Contact - Think about this one. If you’re comfortable with anyone having your email, feel free to list it. Or you can use a contact form to help you filter messages. Or if you have a publicist or agent that can happily handle messages, list their email instead of yours! List a contact option that you’re comfortable with. 

There are countless other options you can add to your website. But the most important is to remember it’s a selling tool and you’ll want to convey your genre in the first glimpse. Start simple and add on as you grow as a writer. And don’t forget to update your author headshot here and there or run the risk of showing up at a convention only to be unrecognizable. 

That’s all the wisdom I have for you this week. Happy writing and reading!