Frankie Blooding: C.G. Powell Hy-JINX

Frankie Blooding: C.G. Powell Hy-JINX: Today, on the blog, we're highlighting author C.G. Powell and her new book Hy-Jinx. It looks like a good mix of smexy, detective-thrille...

C.G. Powell Hy-JINX

Today, on the blog, we're highlighting author C.G. Powell and her new book Hy-Jinx. It looks like a good mix of smexy, detective-thriller and fantasy. She's also the gal who started the Book Swag Shop, which I love!

Being an officer on the Miden District Police Force is not all it’s cracked up to be—particularly when your partner is a total jerk.

When the chance comes along to move up in rank and lose her partner, Armindy Jinx doesn’t think twice about it, especially when she finds out that she’ll be looking for the detective she’s been fantasizing about for the last three years.

 Undercover and in over his head, Detective Afintae Daedrik has spent the last five months trying to take down an intergalactic sex slave ring that’s responsible for a rash of kidnappings in the Miden District. Just as he’s on the cusp of finding out who the big boss is, he’s surprised to find Officer Jinx cuffed to the arrival table. 

Desperate to stop the sex slave kidnappings, Armindy poses as bait to draw out the big boss. Embracing the sexual fantasies that await her, including the ones about Afintae, isn’t so bad—that is, until the head honcho shows up, and things go from fulfilling a curiosity to dangerous in the blink of an eye. Can Armindy and Afintae hold it together long enough to nail their culprit, or will this risky business be the end of them both?

Buy for only $.99 during release week!

Amazon / Nook / Kobo / iBooks / Smashwords

Christine Powell Gomez (AKA- CG Powell) started writing in 2011, after much consideration, she decided that indie pubbing was the direction for her. Since then she has never looked back, Christine has written books and short stories in the paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and erotica genres all with a twist of romance. 

Before self-publishing, she worked a plethora of jobs that only enforce her love of the written word such as: her adventures in the Navy, working for the USDA in the sugar cane fields of south Louisiana, Cisco Networking (CCNA), working for the French Air Force as a technical advisor on electronic parts and becoming a (GIA) Gemologist. Christine has taken her vast knowledge and insatiable appetite for learning and applied it to the stories she writes. 

In 2012 Christine opened The Book Swag Shop, which caters to indie authors looking for unique swag items for their fans. This venture has helped her to understand branding, time management (still working on this one), and business management. It has also enabled her to meet other authors outside her usual circles.

Lessons Learned: The Importance of Tags

Tags. Whew. Okay, unless you’re what I would call a super geek of the Internet, you probably don’t understand the full importance of these darned, pesky little things!

I published The Hands of Tarot on Aug 7. Technically, it was published the week before so I could get a buy link to send out with my promotions. Between July 30 and August 7, I had sold (1) copy. Now, part of me was going, “Great! The launch didn’t leak!” But there was another part of me going, “Wait! Can anybody find me?”

It wasn’t until a fellow author emailed me and said they couldn’t find me on Amazon that I started getting concerned. I mean, I can find me with ease! But I search for SM Blooding and/or The Hands of Tarot. If people don’t already know about me, how are they going to find me?

This fellow author, Caroline Clemmons, also said something about needing better tags. She said I needed my name, the book genre, and things about the book. I kinda knew what she was talking about, but the full impact of those pesky little buggers hadn’t hit home for me yet.

When you publish with Amazon on KDP Select, there’s a little box in Section #3: Target Your Book To Customers. I chose my genre and didn’t pay a lot of attention to the tags. What did I have in there? YA Steampunk, Tarot.

So then I was thinking. How do I find books I want to buy? I might type in a keyword, an author I like, and then I scroll around in the “similar works” area, or “people who bought this also bought that” area.

So what might people be searching for if they were stumbling onto my book?

Steampunk. Not YA steampunk because there aren’t many who actually type in YA Steampunk.

Tarot. Sure. Why not? It’s a fun element.

What about author names of some of the other hot steampunk authors out there right now? Would it be wrong? No. My book is similar to a few key authors.

Airships. I have airships. Will people type that in when searching for a book though? Hmm. Probably not.

Science Fiction. Huh. That’s a genre I could choose, so maybe that wouldn’t be the best tag. I only have 7.

So…Steampunk is a definite. Tarot is a maybe. Who is going to type in Tarot and be excited to find my book? When I’m looking for tarot, I usually want something specific to reading tarot, but it could work. Other author names and a few key book titles seemed the best route to go!

I’ve updated my tags, and my sales have improved! We’re not talking huge numbers, but they have improved! I’m being seen!  So apply some thought to those pesky tags!

Lessons Learned: The Series Bible

There has been a lot of talk on Twitter lately of Series Bibles. When reading series,  readers can tell the authors who use them and those that don’t.

So what is a Series Bible?

A Series Bible is what you, the author, use to keep things straight in your head. It’s a dictionary of characters, descriptions, cars, locations, terms, plot threads that didn’t quite get closed, foreshadowing thoughts that didn’t bloom.

So how do you keep all that straight?

I’ve tried journals.

The problem with journals for me, was that they lacked organization. There were lots of sticky notes and tabs and highlights and taped-in pages. It was a mess for me!

This could work for you, though! If you need a paper journal to jot down your notes, do it! I would recommend having different sections and keeping it as organized as you can!

I’ve tried story boards.

This worked out really well! I could organize it, re-organize it. It was color-coded, which is important for me, and I could easily find what I needed.

Except when I was out. This approach worked well if I were at home all the time, but I’m not. I write when I can, which means it happens at lunch, at supper if I’m treating myself to fallafel, or to a coffee.

I tried a Word document.

That helped me with my mobility, but I had a hard time organizing it. It was just a jumbled pile of pages. I have a lot of details in some of my series; a lot of characters to keep track of, names, places, dates.

When you’re writing, and you need that one piece of information right then, you have two options. You can blow through it and catch it later, or you can pause, dig for it, and continue.

The problem with blowing through it and “catching it later” is that you don’t always remember what you were supposed to catch unless you flag it. Highlight it, put a comment on it, something! If you do that, then blowing through it is a great option.

I don’t do that because it reacts adversely to to my OCD. I keep seeing it and I just can’t IGNORE it!

So I needed something that was mobile, but something I could organize well.

It finally tried an Excel doc.

A lot of people are afraid of Excel, but for this, you’re not doing anything that’s scary. There are no formulas…*thinking*…and that’s really what scares people about Excel.

I have several tabs. My first tab is my Quarter Outline.

First off, I set up my columns.

I look at what needs to happen in my structural plot and my character plot and jot down where it’s going to happen.

This helps me keep track of what came up during my brainstorming events.

Then I start on my chapter outlines.

These are filled in and completed after I’ve written the chapters. As you can see, it’s set up very similarly to my quarter outline, but at the left, there are some additional columns with ratings.

I keep my eye on flow this way. When things are dropping down to 1 – “I’m asleep!”, I get concerned. However, this is a romance, so it’s kinda okay that there isn’t immediate plot. The characters and the setting are rated pretty high (I feel excited and engrossed), so those structural elements are carrying the story through the first chapter. By the end of the first chapter, though, the plot jumps up to a 5 because I land a foreshadowing of the inciting incident.

Next is the character tab.

This tab is so important. I always forget what color of eyes my characters have. Hair, sometimes, too, but eyes…always!

If there are other elements you need to keep straight – maybe they wear one jacket all the time – jot this down here. You may remember that detail in book one, but as soon as you enter into book two, trust me, you’re going to forget.

Next is my definitions tab.

I do a lot of world-building because I write a lot of fantasy. There are some series that have very little here, like the Demon Talker Series, but most of them, this tab is very busy! You should see the one for The Hands of Tarot!Wow! That one was amazing!

Even if you just have “Granny’s grimoire”. Whatever. If you gave it a name, put it here and show how you emphasized it, spelled it, and used it.

Last is Notes.

This can be anything. I throw in things that need to be carried over into the other books. As you can see from this snippet, I’m keeping track of how different characters curse.

But further down, I’ve also listed a few things that need to be carried through from The Dustman, which had NO Series Bible. Recreating this is painful! I literally thought I’d remember everything in this one, and there’s a lot that I do!

The things I’ve forgotten? How old is Nali? What is Nick’s favorite color? What subject is Nali struggling in? What color are Telfgar’s scales?

These are just silly things, but digging through The Dustman to find these simple answers is ridiculous.

There's no limit to what you can have, though. For Devices of War, I have a tab for each language because we speak in those sometimes. I also use that as the place to put Arabic names in case I get a new character. Also, ship lingo. It's hard to keep it all straight, so I have a tab for that.

Conclusion

You can use whatever method that works best for you. But I recommend you do it! Stay organized and on top of your Series Bible! It’ll help you be a more productive writer!

2015 In Review . . .

Well, as far as 2015 goes, it didn't suck. It really didn't. My writing kinda did. Oops. I didn't get a lot of writing done and then I launched a failed experiment and a dud, trying to get it out too early. Yeah, as far as writing goes, 2015 was kind of a crap year for me. I struggled. 

Hard core.

But I was getting the rest of my life together and that has to count for something. I have a better job. I'm succeeding at as well. I'm in a relationship that's adding a lot of quality to my life. My finances are in better order and things are being dealt with. Finally. Because writing makes Frankie less bitchy. No joke.

Going into 2016, I've got to get back on the writing and succeeding at publishing bus. I have to. Right now, it's kind of a really expensive hobby, and that's not acceptable. I don't suck at this writing thing. I'm just not awesome...enough to matter. I have to figure out a way around that. And I will. I have a writing schedule that allows work time--because paying the bills is a must--and family time. I've also trained the new family to allow writing time

I have a publication plan that's not nearly as aggressive as I'm used to. That kind of killed me this year anyway. Can't write aggressively with a 50+ hour a week job and a family. Sorry. 

Some people can. I'm sure. Not me. I'll get more books out there. Get them promoted. 

Hopefully, they don't suck and people can actually enjoy them. That would be awesome. I want to keep doing this. I want to keep writing. I want to keep publishing. But...I've seriously got to figure out how to be good at it, or at least, better. So...that's what I'm going to be working on next year. Well, starting on this week. Whatever. Anyway.

So, that's the 2015 recap! It didn't suck. 2016 shall be better!

Creative's Too Creative: Be Consistent

You should never fear being creative. There are challenges to it. It confuses the crap out of your readers for one thing. When they finish reading one book, they're notorious for wanting to pick up something similar to curb that "Good Book Hangover."

One of the things that helps when you find yourself eccentrically creative is to be consistent.

Keep all your information straight. 

This should be a no-brainer. Really. When you're doing anything, you should keep all your facts straight. But let's face it, when you're writing a story, there's a LOT of stuff to keep straight, and that's if you don't change anything major!

When you're writing something creative, you're usually building a new world. Not always, but a lot of the time. Some readers--and by some, I mean a lot of them--have a really hard time surviving outside of their buckets, their comfort zones. So, being consistent is imperative.

This includes how you describe unique elements in your world.

Take Dream Killers for example. We teleport via Place and sometimes we use the other person's Who as our destination point. Not always, though because not everyone can follow a Who, and a Who can only be traced if it's been collected.

My error was in defining Place and Who in different ways before the initial definition took roots. I failed to make a consistent foundation before branching out.

Some people got it. Some people really, really got it and loved it. But out of 25 reviews that were originally promised, I received 7. I was IM'd 5 times by people telling me that they were confused even though it was well-written. The world building elements and the "lingo" were too confusing. And I had 3 people IM me to let me know that it was "beautifully written, but too unique."

I can't ignore those numbers. Something went wrong, and I think it was the fact that I didn't sit down and define my lingo at the get-go well enough for them to feel I was consistent with it, even though I was.

Keep your launches coming and timely. 

I gotta say. This is one thing I struggle with. I've started my own publishing company. I have a business plan. I need to update it with a few changes I've made at the end of the year, but 

I'm taking this serious.

The thing I can't allow myself to forget is that after a reader finishes my books, especially if they liked them, they're going to want something similar. I don't know anyone out there who writes the kinds of stories I do. I'm sure they're out there. I can't believe in a world this big that I'm the only one. I'm not. It's mathematically impossible, I'm sure. But I haven't found them.

That means I have to provide those books. That means I have to create a schedule and stick to it. I have to plan it into my budget (which is something I have to do anyway with the fact that this is a business, not a hobby). The readers have to be able to count on me, especially since I'm a nobody in the book business. I actually had a review--great review, btw--tell me I was a nobody in the book business. Kinda of a reminder of how small a fish I am in this giant ocean of books. I digress.

If I say I'm going to launch a book in October, I have to do that.

Otherwise, what few readers and fans I have will leave no matter how much they enjoyed my books.

This is probably why several of the big authors that are household names became well-known after they'd had a few books out. This part of the consistency is tough.

So, what are you going to work on? 

For me, I have to figure out how build the foundation (without info-dumping, which I loathe) before throwing my readers into the pool.

Being Unique is Like Being Space Junk

In the last post, we discussed if there's such a thing as too creative? The answer, apparently, is yes. But why? Why wouldn't readers want something wildly different? Why wouldn't publishers jump on incredibly unique stories? Why is it that when a unique, wonderful, beautiful book hits the market, we don't get MORE of them?

A majority of them simply don't survive.

Being wildly unique is a gamble for the author/publisher. 

While it's awesome that the author was able to find that odd niche that makes them unique, it's hit or miss on whether or not people are going to get it. It took J.K. Rowling how long to become a hit? I don't even remember hearing about the books until, oh, I don't know, a couple years before the first movie came out. And then, it was one of my friends who mentioned them and was like, "Yeah, it's a kids book, but it's cool. Not something I'd typically read, but we're a few books into it now and the kids have grown a lot. I like it." But she said this with a shrug and a frowny face, so I wasn't really sold.

In J.K. Rowlings' case, she wrote a series of books in an age group I didn't read. My kids did, so I might have gotten into it through them. As it was, I...well, I think I did pick them up once, but put them down because there weren't dragons, dogs, horses, or princesses in them and my girls weren't "into boys" yet, or even acknowledging they existed.

Ms. Rowlings' gamble was that her type of story would most likely appeal to children. The world she created, the characters she shared, even the plot as dark as it got, was perfect for kids. Her writing style made it highly palatable.

Of course, it made it highly viable for readers--and a few non-readers--of all ages to slip into her stories as well.

But for a long time, I'm willing to bet Ms. Rowling was sweating it. What we forget is that time when she was still an unknown name and her sales really weren't that awesome. She had to pick up speed and readers, and get people talking about Harry first. And that took time.

Genre's are buckets where readers reside, a little like planets out in space. 

The thing to remember about the market is that it's filled with buckets. The reason being unique is a gamble is because your story usually falls OUTSIDE all the buckets. If you have an "interesting approach," you're still inside the bucket, but you discovered one little thing that makes you at least a little different than everyone else. That's a good, safe place to be.

The only thing is, it's easy to disappear there because everyone else is there with you. You never really shine unless you're lucky or really, really awesome, but it's hard to whine when you're at least selling books. When you're selling books, people are, in theory, reading your work. So you're not truly invisible. You...blend in, more like.

However, when you're flailing in the world outside the buckets, it's a struggle. Why?

Imagine the buckets are actually planets. That's where the people live. Now, every once in a while, the people will get into spaceships and travel to other genre planets. Typically, the people on the planet Western don't travel far, but the people on Planet Fantasy or Planet 

Sci-Fi will go to many planets.

What you don't typically see are the spaceships stopping along the way to look at the stuff floating in space. Why, do you ask?

They assume you're space junk.

Space junk is out there. If you're a reader--and if you're reading this, you probably are--you've seen the space junk. Those really weird books with the horrible covers, that are at the really just odd-ball prices, that have three reviews that are all over the place, with the blurbs that leave you feeling dazed and confused. Hell, I'm still not entirely sure I'm not the space junk.

When you're floating in space, it's hard to be seen or even taken seriously.

Readers are people--of the assuming and judgy kind. 

This isn't a bad thing. We learned to judge. It's a survival instinct. We need to judge.

However, we can take things a bit too far. Look at the world of politics, race, and religion if you disagree.

Sometimes, when you're wildly unique, people assume you lack the ability to tell a real story. 

A real story would fit inside a bucket. They'd be able to pick up the book and gauge what they'd be forced to suffer through.

It's Survival 101. Don't invest your time in a waste of time. We're short on time. We were born with a clock ticking away our time, so to err would be...well, detrimental, really. Once a moment has been wasted, you can never get it back again.

So now, a truly unique book is a gamble on the reader as well.

There's a lot of gambling going on.

So, why write unique in the first place if it's just a waste of time? 

It's not! It's just not a sure thing--not that anything in this industry is. You simply have to know what you're jumping into.

You're jumping OUT of the life-saving buckets of genres.

You're FLOATING with space junk, trying to twinkle at just the right moment to be seen by a single person, then maybe another.

You're WAITING for people to talk about you and your amazingly brilliant story--that's hard to describe or button up in a single sentence.

Although, when you're IN the life-saving buckets of genres, there are hardships there, too. 

That's where the money is, but EVERYONE's trying to grab for it.

EVERYONE is there with great stories that are just as good as yours, but once the light of your story sizzles, then it's a race to see who's going to the light next.

Lastly, EVERYONE is waiting for people to see them, even though EVERYONE's there--readers and authors alike.

So either way, it's tough. Not impossible, though! Don't give up the good fight! No! But understand the challenge you're taking on. You're paving your path! Next post, we'll discuss how to take this insight and apply it to creating a bucket of your very own.

When is Creative TOO Creative?

I wrote not one, but two unique series. Each one gets picked up by several people, but the number of readers who actually complete the books and then review are few. It's actually pretty common for me to get a message that reads, "I really wanted to like this, and it's beautifully written, but it's just too unique."

Seriously?

It's not rare to find an author who is unique anymore. The market is flooded with ideas that are no longer being squelched  by the marketing machines who truly understand the market. There are a lot more fresh voices and ideas out there now than there was a decade ago. 

Personally, as a reader, I LOVE that! I don't see the point in shelling out $5-20 for a book that I've read before. Especially not when I previously invested that money the week prior on the same book, just a different name, different author, and different character names.

Understand I'm over-simplifying. I know that. I'm doing so to make a point, knowing full well that each story is truly different. Romances all have the same purpose and can sometimes feel like the same book, but they really are different. Same thing goes with paranormal/urban fantasy. They might have similar main characters, similar settings, similar plot elements, but they're all different. 

I, however, want something TOTALLY different on a regular basis. So, that's what I wrote.

Funny thing, though. Those marketing machines that squelched new ideas and fresh approaches and stories understood one thing very well. The ravaging reader, that mass of people who ingest books like a drug addict, enjoy reading things that fall within their niche.

Each marketing book I pick up starts with, "Know your reader." That means, find your genre, that box that has already been set up for you, and get to know what those readers want. And, people, it works. It works. But what happens when you write something that sits next to that box, but doesn't quite fit in it?

In future posts, I'm going to explore marketing trends and how they work. I'm also going to explore how to make truly creative, unique and new ideas more appealing without having to repeat repetitiously--which drives me NUTS! And we'll figure out how to create your niche...without losing your resolve or drive.

Because...oi. That's tough.