C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

Ooh! This Plague of Days on the Authors Showcase at Venture Galleries! Yay!

But wait, there’s more!

You guys know that This Plague of Days is my serialization experiment. What you don’t know, until now, is that authors Caleb Pirtle and Stephen Woodfin have invited me to serialize another book at Venture Galleries! Holy crap! So happy to be on a site with so many awesome authors serializing such interesting fiction. And they get a ton of well-deserved traffic.

More on the Venture Galleries serial soon. 

In the meantime, think on this: What new opportunities can you create to connect with readers? What can you do in a cooperative with other writers to reach new audiences? We need to work together to get over the wall. 

Big things are on the way.

~ Chazz

So that’s who the Passive Guy really is! If you don’t folllow The Passive Voice already, you definitely should. Read his interview at the link below.

If you needed another reason to subscribe to his blog, I just found out minutes ago from The Passive Voice that JK Rowling is secretly the author of a detective novel. It was received well when they didn’t know it was her. Now I suppose the snark and knives will come out.

I read the article to She Who Must Be Obeyed and quoted Rowling (with a few edits.) So this quote from Rowling: "I had hoped to keep this secret a little longer because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience,"

became this quote when I read it: 

"I had hoped to keep this secret a little longer because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience from the nits and pricks  who unfairly criticize any of my books that aren’t about a wizard. They can piss right off."

Of course, Ms. Rowling is a classy lady, so that’s all me projecting. However, some of the reviews of A Casual Vacancy suggested to me that they’d have preferred to intimidate Rowling into silence after harry Potter ended. Some critics are wait in the weeds to attack when any author challenges convention or tries something different or writes anything else  after a huge success. You’ll recall Harper Lee never wrote anything after To Kill A Mockingbird. Tragic. I think the literary media can take a bit of the blame for that.

Stephen King expressed similiar disappointment when his secret identity writng as Bachman was exposed. Look, I know these folks are nigh-impossibly rich so we aren’t supposed to feel bad for them for anything. However, I do feel bad for any author when nasty reviews are unleashed for bad reasons. (Note: Rowling and King are two of the most generous rich people on the planet. Not all of our betters are equal.)

It’s like when reviewers talk about a $200 million dollar movie and debate about whether it’s worth that big budget. What I want to know is whether it’s worth the price of admission and a medium unbuttered popcorn. I suppose Ms. Rowling will have to brace herself. Yes, the detective novel’s gargantuan increase in sales will be a quantum of solace, but critics who go after the author instead of the book still suck.

I have spoken.

~ Chazz

(Tomorrow on the blog, Hugh Howey! Also, Episode 5 of This Plague of Days by yours truly is released. In the meantime, go read Lynne Cantwell’s interview with the Passive Guy at the link.)

This article by Jonathan Gunson from Bestseller Labs cuts through some issues and slaps many of us across the face. It’s a good wake-up call.

As writers, many of us are introverted and so busy, we don’t interact with book reviewers enough until we need them. We spend time on social media too aimlessly. We write in too many genres.

Okay, it’s confession time: By "we" I mean me. I do a lot right, but Mr. Gunson’s post irritated the crap and lymph out of me because it hits too close to home on those three points.

(Ahem…so…yeah, if you’re interested in a review copy of This Plague of Days, email me at expartepress [at] gmail [dot] com.)

What planks in your platform do you need to shore up? Learn at the link!

~ Chazz

PS This is Part One with 11 points to work on. Be sure to subscribe over there so you don’t miss Part Two and get 11 more points to make our book marketing course corrections.

This article by Kimberley Grabas at Your Writer Platform is solid. Even as I struggle with questions about how effective social media is and isn’t, I see value among these strategies.

As you look through the list, undoubtedly something useful will jump out at you. Some items may never have occurred to you. (I hadn’t thought of Google authorship.) I felt righteous when I saw YouTube on the list. You may have noticed I’m using more video in my book promotion for This Plague of Days. Between Vine and video, my work is more animated lately.

Maybe PicMonkey will be the revelation you needed today. Finding new ways to monetize is always good. A chance at a new partnership has just fallen into my lap and I’m pretty excited about that. (More on that later.)

Kimberley Grabas’ first action item on the list is "why". She’s absolutely right. We have to identify our unique selling proposition and operate by an defined philosophy. Once you have your Why, you will overcome any How. Number 1 is Priority One.

Enjoy the article at the link below. You’ll undoubtedly find a plank in your platform that needs shoring up. I did.

~ Chazz