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

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

06/19/2011 • 1:58 AM 2

Robert Chazz Chute: Literature hater & narcissistic bastard!

I realized something about myself the other day. I’ve been writing since I was a kid. So why haven’t I published a string of books yet?

Narcissistic Bio (Feel free to skip this paragraph to get closer to the point arrived at below): I went to journalism school. I wrote for newspapers and magazines. I worked in book publishing for five years in several positions, making books, editing books, selling books and promoting books. I’ve written a column for a magazine for three years. I submitted to and won writing awards or honorable mentions. And yet…I never pushed to get a book written. I have written several books, but I never got to the point with one where I was satisfied enough. For  a long time I thought this was just laziness or perfectionism or both. Even as I edited other people’s books, I still had my own cooking in the background. But I never sent out manuscripts or pestered agents or got anything really done, except short stories and feature articles, speeches and presentations. I’ve written about writing extensively, attended publishing conferences and writing workshops, chewed through publishing issues and edited several books this year for Five Rivers Chapmanry. I’m proud of all these things and enjoy them.

But everything I’ve accomplished centered around tasks with a short deadline, stuff that paid up front, stuff that required short bursts of intensity. I wasn’t working on my personal long term writing and publishing dreams. I wasn’t digging in to do the long hail work. It’s as if I’ve been mixing dough, letting it rise, shoving it in the oven and letting it bake…and never eating any bread.

I used to think that I wanted to be a writer because I love literature. I read and read and read and still can’t get enough, it’s true. (At least some of the above headline is supposed to be ironic, folks!) Obviously I don’t hate literature, but I don’t love literature as much as I thought I did. If I loved it all that much for its own sake, I would have either settled for reading tons of books without thoughts of my own. Or I’d have finished those revisions and delivered my stuff over publishers’ transoms. I would have added to slush piles and wallowed in rejection slips until I finally started breaking through. I didn’t do that. I raised kids, did piece work, indulged another career, dabbled around the edges and did other stuff.

So why self-publish now? I was disillusioned with the failures of traditional publishing when I worked within it (another post for another time.) I loved reading, still do. I love that floaty feeling you get when you write, go deep and a story comes together.

But these loves weren’t enough on their own.

I’m self-publishing now because ebooks have finally arrived. I can finally indulge my loves as well as my need to remain independent. Clearly, I’ve got a problem with authority.

My motto is Question authority before authority questions you. I do not wear a tie and I’m the kind of dog who pulls out of his collar.

 Love of literature wasn’t enough. Love of literature plus love of self plus digital opportunity was the ticket.

Embrace independence:

Control freaks! Unite! 

(Ahem…well, do what you want. Far be it from me to tell you what to do.) 

The revolution

(I didn’t know I was waiting for)

has arrived. 

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Filed under: e-reader, ebooks, Rant, self-publishing, What about Chazz?, , , , , , , ,

06/16/2011 • 1:05 AM 22

6 Effective Ways to Promote Your Book

ReunionToday’s guest post is from the author of Reunion, Jeff Bennington! I forget how I ran across Jeff, though it could have been a lot of places since Jeff is a powerful experimenter in the realm of book promotion. His site is The Writing Bomb. He’s also blogged here before on CreateSpace versus Lightning Source–a very popular post, and for good reason: Jeff’s generous with what he learns. Here’s what he picked up from his book campaigns:

In the world of publishing, authors have found many ways to promote their work ranging from book signings with a 3-piece orchestra to dressing up like their characters. After publishing two novels, I’ve tried some of those crazy stunts, but from my experience, there are a few affordable and effective ways to promote your book online that won’t leave you looking like Barney the dinosaur. In fact, online marketing has been touted, and likely is, the best way for an author to promote his or her work.

However, authors have to approach marketing differently based on their genre and subject matter. And let’s be clear, when you promote your book, you can’t always expect immediate gratification and you’re not guaranteed sales. Your premise will drive readers to read a sample and the excerpt will determine your sales. And so, the quality of your writing is ultimately the best sales pitch.

The best promotion for me has come from the following:

#1 Goodreads.com: Goodreads “giveaways” are an incredible tool to publicize your book. I recently posted Reunion in a giveaway and had 787 bites in 5 days, beating out bestsellers that have been on the list for months.

HINT: Don’t post more than one book to give away and do it in one-week spurts. You’ll have to trust me on this.

I also like what my ad on Goodreads is doing. The thing with Goodreads is not how many clicks or sales you get, but how many folks “add” your book to their “to be read” list. When they do that, they are more or less planning on buying your book when they get to it, and they will, because most readers on Goodreads are avid readers and love talking about what they read, so they will also rate and review your book, which is another benefit of that site.

Another secret here is that if you spend X amount of dollars on an ad, you will likely get a lot more “adds” than clicks, which is good because it is a pay-per-click system. But if folks add your book without clicking on the ad then you have effectively extended the life of your ad immeasurably.

#2 Blog: If you don’t have a blog or you’re afraid of starting one or you think it’s too much

Jeff_Bennington

Jeff Bennington

work, then plan on writing your book solely for your mother to enjoy because blogging is only the beginning of what it takes to market your book…and it’s the easiest. It’ll only get harder and more expensive from there.

#3 Kindlenation.com: This is a very good site but you’ll have to plan months in advance to run an ad. It will definitely make your money back and more because they have a lot of readers who buy what they advertise. Programs run from $119 to $349. Kindle Nation reaches from 7,500 to 15,000+ opt-in readers. I paid $99 for an ad that ran in mid May and sold over 200 copies that day. So if you make $2 or $3 a book and spend $119…do the math.

#4 Twitter, Facebook, email lists: These are the most obvious and basic starting points. I’ll put it this way, I got all four of my book blurbs through Twitter connections, two of which are bestselling authors. If you can get that elsewhere, go for it. Basically, you have to tell your social marketing pals about your book.

And, this is important, you have to share their work too.

If you blast your friends and followers with your personal spam, they will retweet and share less and less the more you do it. Share what they are doing and chat with them and you’ll notice a marked difference in how receptive they are to spreading the word about your book. I’ve experimented with this and I can tell you without a shadow of doubt that cross promotion helps.

Strict self-promotion hurts.

However, I have found that tweeting short blurbs, such as “A Riveting and Incredibly Powerful Story of Pain and Triumph!” grabs reader’s attention more than, “Check out my new book, REUNION”. Try both methods and see which works better. Be sure to include a “tiny url” to allow room for your #tags.

HINT: Use the twitter share button on the right side of your Amazon sales page. It has the shortest “tiny url” I’ve seen yet.

#5 Ereadernewstoday.com: I’m on the schedule, so I don’t know for sure, but I’ve heard that Ereadernewstoday.com is a good site to advertise on. This program is $25 a day. Emails will reach about 10,000 book readers through opted-in email blasts.

#6 Blog Tour: Plan for a lot of work. It can be nearly free, but will be the most time consuming. However, if your book sucks, I think a blog tour can backfire. I’m just sayin’.

If you go this route, you better get your book professionally edited and proofed and have a great cover and good formatting because that’s what book bloggers and reviewers expect.

Basically, when it comes to promoting your book. You better make sure it is a damn good book or you’ll have a 7-digit Amazon ranking within a month. I know. I’ve seen it. But don’t get overwhelmed. I’m a newer author and I’m not breaking any records, but I believe these six methods of promotion will help you tremendously, especially if you are in the process of building your platform as I am.

Thanks for reading. What methods have you used to promote your book? How did it turn out? Let me know.

Jeff Bennington, author of REUNION & other thrillers

CLICK THE COVER TO BUY REUNION NOW:

Reunion

And here are more of Jeff’s links:

The Rumblin’ 

Killing the Giants

The Writing Bomb 

www.jeffbennington.com

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Filed under: Books, Guest blog post, Publicity & Promotion, Writers, , , , , , , , , , ,

06/15/2011 • 3:24 AM 3

Writers: Get mixed up

Last week I ran across a guy on YouTube who had a great talent. He could impersonate a lot of great actors. His Al Pacino was off, but his Heath Ledger version of the Joker was bang on. His reel went on and on, and they were often astounding. As great as his talent was, there was something missing. I soon realized that it wasn’t the impression. It was the material. He was giving out the movie lines, just as they were handed down from the movies. There was impersonation. There was technique, but no transcendence or fresh invention. There was nothing of him in the characters he imitated.

Art has pretty much all been done. Sometimes artists go to absurd lengths to be different, like putting a crucifix in a jar of urine, for instance. Different isn’t the point. Mixing old elements into something fresh is how new art is created. So, what if this guy, who is an amazing voice talent, changed things up. Do that great Heath Ledger doing Joker impression, but now he’s a psychopath slinging fries at your local Wendy’s drive through. Suppose Christopher Walken explained his take on particle physics to you. Great impressionists are often not dead on, but take a well-known character somewhere new: look up Kevin Pollack’s impersonations of William Shatner on YouTube. Try the Hollywood Babble On podcast with Kevin Smith and Ralph Garmin. Ralph does Pacino, but it’s not Pacino. Pacino’s a great actor. Ralph’s version is a hilarious take on Pacino if her were a crazy ham who only spouted nursery rhymes.

Mixing things up is what writers must do, too. I once read a manuscript sample where the writer had imitated too much. She thought familiar was a safe bet for gaining publication. However, it was all too familiar to anyone who had seen a commercial for any of the Twilight movies. Too predictable. This went beyond homage and just short of plagiarism.

“Make your vampire a nerd,” I said. “Give him a weird hobby or fascination or at least a geeky name and a parent or sire who embarrasses him on prom night. Take the material somewhere new.” It’s not just about twists (though you should strive for the logical surprise.) It’s about a new take on old material. I’m sick of publishing professionals who should know better saying the vampire is finally dead. They’ve said that too many times for too many years to be listened to anymore. It’s probably all the scripts that ape old material that squeezes editors and agents into making those silly pronouncements. If you love vampires, write vampires. But do something different. (Not a Stephanie Meyer fan, but I must admit, she went a different way with vampires sparkling in sunlight instead of bursting into flames.)

We are writers. We do not work on an assembly line. We do not imitate. We innovate. 

Filed under: Writers, writing tips, , , , , , , , , ,

06/13/2011 • 3:50 AM 0

Regret: In your life and on film

You have to (must, must, must!) see this film trailer.

Get out your hankies.

Here’s the background: My friend Christopher Richardson was a journalism student with me 25 years ago. (He’d say I was with him, but this is my blog so I set the dynamic and bugger the facts!)

Chris is the big-hearted genius behind the documentary Where’s My Goat? Now he’s working on a new film about regret called (wait for it) Regret. The hub of the film is the valedictorian speech he gave to our class in 1987. Things went awry. Having no respect for institutions myself, I loved his speech, but a lot of people hated it and went out of their way to make Chris feel bad about it. Twenty-five years later he still feels bad about it. And now he’s on a journey to our reunion that will take him to dark places that make you think seriously about the inevitable clash of our hopes versus our experience. You think you’ve got it rough trying to lose a little weight before you hit your 25-year reunion? This amps up the anxiety and depth times 1,000.

See the trailer at www.regretthefilm.com.

If you have regrets to share, contact Chris Richardson at

Ihavearegret@RegretTheFilm.ca. 

I think Chris is already working through his valedictorian regret because he’s making lemons into lemonade and sharing the sugar with the rest of us. We all need to reflect on our mistakes and learn from them. This film will help us all on that path.

If your skin doesn’t crawl, it’s on too tight. If you don’t have a tear in your eye, you have no heart. If you aren’t thinking about what you should have done when you watched that guy drown, your mother was right. You’re soulless.

And it wasn’t just “some guy”! It was your baby brother, you monster!

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06/12/2011 • 2:48 PM 0

Writers: Defend your writing time

Defend your writing time.

Defend your writing time. Make children understand you have needs.

 

Filed under: What about Chazz?, writing tips, , ,

06/12/2011 • 3:58 AM 3

Life & book marketing update shouted from a speeding car

Happy Sunday. Things are moving somewhat quickly as I start making transitions to writing full-time. I have a marketing plan: It’s important to be prolific. I believe in being available across as many e-platforms as possible (and zero DRM). Having just one ebook up won’t cut it. Being prolific allows cross-promotion (e.g. You like this? Then you might like to buy that, too!)

Over the coming months I’ll be offering individual short stories (at 0.99 each), a collection of short stories ($1.99 or 2.99, haven’t decided yet), a novella ($1.99) and another collection of short stories with a quirky hook I can market effectively ($2.99). At some point I’ll package the aforementioned individual stories—there are six—in another book (conveniently priced at $2.99 probably.)

There are several full-length novels that are written and need revision before they’re ready to be swallowed by the masses, but most of them are for next year.

A few things about the slingshot launches:

1. I’m doing a soft launch until I have a bunch of ebooks available. Then I’ll be carpet bombing (more details to come in another post on what that means.)

2. I will be launching another website in addition to this one. Chazz Writes is all about writing craft and publishing and I intend to continue. However, I have broader plans for the new website that will expand my mandate and goals. I’ll be talking about a lot of different things on the new site.

3. And I do mean talking. I’ll be incorporating video and podcasts. Fancy plans with pants to match. More on that closer to the new website launch.

4. I want to do  a hard launch of the first novel in my line, but I’m not sure if I can pull it together for Christmas. There are more than the usual variables. For instance, I need to get permissions to use the names of a major Hollywood star and a major porn star. (Yes, I’m familiar with the rules of fair use—and both characters as they appear in the novel are adored by the hero. However, this isn’t a fair use issue. It’s a Smashwords rule issue.)

5. I’m not in the least interested this year in printing books with which to assail bookstores. It’s a lot of work for less reward. It’s an exciting venture I do not, at present, have time to pursue. (And yes, I’ve looked at the numbers.)

6. However, I will need printed Advance Reading Copies (ARCs) for promotional purposes when the hard launch takes off. I’ll be using CreateSpace to print a few sample copies since there is no punishing fee for each revision. For bigger print runs, once the formatting is solidified, I’ll switch to Lightning Source.

If you’re wondering how I’ll get it all done, sometimes I wonder, too. Then I remember that I’m severely underemployed. (Except for the soul-crushing poverty, it’s a fantastic advantage and a real time saver.)

There’s more to the book marketing and promotion plan and I’ll share it with you as soon as I can. In the meantime, back to my editing suite in the batcave beneath the bunker under the Chuck E. Cheese.

Thanks to my buddies Jeff Bennington, author of Reunion, and author Rebecca Senese (look her up, she’s a fountain of short stories), for clarifying my strategy on the issues in #6. Both these lovely people have guest blogged here. You’ll remember Rebecca did a great job summarizing the workings of Smashwords and Jeff compared CreateSpace with Lightning Source. (If you don’t remember their posts, search this site in the search box top right. Sorry! I’d link it for you but I’m in a huge hurry just this minute. I bet you can guess why when you see this tiny portion of my to-do list.)

Jeff tells me he will do me the honour of another guest blog soon. I think the discussion will be about book promotion and what he found effective for his massive push for Reunion. 

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Filed under: authors, blogs & blogging, Books, DIY, e-reader, ebooks, getting it done, Publicity & Promotion, publishing, What about Chazz?, Writers, , , , , , , , , ,

06/09/2011 • 2:33 AM 3

The Author Selects the Agent Scam

Writers’ magazines occasionally run stories on “how to select an agent” or some such nonsense. Sure, you can check Preditors and Editors and ask around about particular agents, but the power differential between authors and agents is, well…the word “egregious” comes to mind. (In fact, that’s the same word that came to mind for Kristine Kathryn Rusch. See below for that most excellent link.)

When you submit work to an agent (note you’re already in submission and they are in dominance from the get go) it’s kind of like applying for a job. You send out a resume (your manuscript proposal) and agents say no. And more agents say no. Repeat until doubt and self-loathing kicks in.

When you do finally get the call, you’ll say yes to anybody.

Pick your metaphor: 

1. It’s the end of the world and don’t you want to experience the act of physical love just once before you die?

2. You’re a serial killer/diabetic and the warden says they’re fixing the electric chair and would you like your first and only chocolate éclair before they electrocute your ass?

3. The vampires have risen and this is the last sunset before Dracula’s armies of the undead close in on you, the last human survivor on the roof of The Mall of America. Suddenly Carrie Moss shows up piloting a helicopter. Do you jump on the rope ladder to safety? Or do you negotiate so she wears an even tighter leather outfit like the one from The Matrix?

Answers:

1. Of course, devirginize!

2. Eat that éclair. The sugar won’t have time to migrate to your rotten pancreas.

3. Board that helicopter and maybe you’ll live long enough for the sequel!

If you’ve run the long gauntlet of trying to find an agent, or just heard a few horror stories to that effect, you sign that contract as fast as you can. You’re closer to publication than you were, so an agent calling must be good, right?

“Must” is a strong word. In fact, read The Passive Voice  and you’ll be running to publish yourself after all. It’s about enslavement via contractual obligations that go on forever. This is scarier than anything Stephen King could possibly dream up. 

Passive Voice also links to Kristine Kathryn Rusch, which you should also read before you do anything. Don’t even poop before reading this.  

Before you put on that electric collar and tie the leash around your genitals, read your contract carefully. Make informed choices. Show contracts to a lawyer. Negotiate the egregious. Take responsibility so you hire the agent, not the other way around. And always be willing to walk away from any deal. Walking away may be the only way to get a decent deal.

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Filed under: agents, authors, DIY, publishing, queries, Rant, Rejection, Writers, writing tips, , , , , , , , , , ,

06/08/2011 • 4:26 AM 2

How we’re all a little like Sarah Palin: The Dumb Dumb Double Down

The quick jab is that Sarah Palin doesn’t know anything about Paul Revere. Not even what they got wrong on Schoolhouse Rock.

Of course what she was reaching for, and fumbled so badly, was a crack at gun control. No matter that the Democrats haven’t given gun control a thought, not even after the Gabrielle Giffords assassination attempt when they could have pushed a ban on ridiculously large ammo clips. Palin was trying too hard to make everything that comes out of her mouth an anti-Obama soundbite and ended up spouting nonsense.

Now she claims it was a gotcha question from the lamestream media. But all questions for Palin are gotcha questions. “What’s for breakfast?” There’s a landmine. (The actual gotcha question fired at Palin was, “What have you seen today and what do you take away from it?” Yeah. I know.)

Things got worse when she tried to revise history. Instead of saying she got it wrong (which she is incapable of doing) she doubled down on the dumb. She went on FOX and asserted that she got it right. Revere wasn’t just warning John Hancock and Samuel Adams that the British were marching to arrest them. He was also apparently  a treasonous swine, taking time to “ring bells” and warn British soldiers that they weren’t going to take away anybody’s arms.

Sigh. Oh, for the love of God, pleeeease! Politicians need a thick hide, just like we, as writers, need to resist the urge to leap to our own defense when we encounter criticism. It’s hard though, isn’t it?

We often deny wrongdoing. Yes, even when we know we’re wrong. It’s sub-optimum, but people do that. Nobody likes to be wrong. Everybody wants to be the smartest boy or girl in the room. But the smart thing to do is admit we are human. Otherwise we  come off terribly unlikeable and simian. Go for forgiveness, not infallibility. Infallibility is unreachable, especially for the incompetent.

My favorite was the guy who called me up and asked for Josh.

“You dialed the wrong number,” I said.

“No, I didn’t!” he said, petulantly.

“Uh…okay… What did you want to talk to me about then?” I said.

Click!

Next question: How is it that Sarah Palin still has any base left for all that silly pandering? That’s a deeper, more disturbing question. I admit, I have no idea why anyone still likes her, let alone why anyone thinks she should aspire to office (above visiting the post office.) I’m not smart enough to even speculate on that one.

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Filed under: Rant, ,

06/07/2011 • 4:23 PM 1

Making a Living Writing Fiction (via Self-Published Author’s Lounge)

This is a good read. Recommended!

When I went into my dashboard, I noticed the more people were searching for this topic than any other, so I thought I’d make a post about it.  Is it possible?  Yes.  I didn’t always think so, and from the agents, editors, and traditionally published authors I’ve talked to, they didn’t think so either.  But if you self-publish, I think you have a good chance.  Besides writing a good book, having a great cover, and polishing up your book the best y … Read More

via Self-Published Author's Lounge

Filed under: publishing, , , ,

06/06/2011 • 1:05 AM 2

DRM: The Digital Rights Management Scam

At the Writers Union of Canada conference, an author stood to ask a panel the question:

Should authors fight to keep Digital Rights Management?

DRM:  is a term for access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to limit the use of digital content and devices.

Someone from the panel replied that, yes. Authors need DRM to keep the pirates at bay.

I disagree. DRM has two major disadvantages. It keeps customers from enjoying your writing on whatever devices they choose so savvy readers won’t read your book if you’ve slapped the locks on it.

But the panel missed the most important problem with DRM on books: It doesn’t work. If you’ve got a work out there, it’s already cracked. It’s already distributed to pirates. However, it’s not all doom. Pirates were never going to buy your book, anyway. They’re pirates and it’s the pirate life for them.

If you want to protect your work from illegal copying, don’t bother with DRM. Make your book cheap, so cheap it’s not worth a pirate’s time to even think about cracking DRM.

Self-publishers putting out ebooks are 

in the impulse buy, couch change business. 

Pirate 1: Let’s disrespect the author’s work and steal his book! (Editor’s note: Because pirates these days talk like that and rarely say Ar! That’s cliche.)

Pirate 2: It’s like $2.99, dude. Why bother? Why risk a virus to download it from a pirate site?

Pirate 1: But we could read it for free, matey. (Editor’s note: Yes, they say matey. A lot.)

Pirate 2: Look, I’m okay with being a hosebag about enjoying somebody’s work for free, but I’m not going to waste my time. Just one-click it and own it.

Pirate 1: But free’s always better. If I like it, I’ll blog about it and publicize the book. (Editor’s note: I expected more swashbucklin’ talk, too.)

Pirate 2: And if you hate it, you’ll blog longer about it, right? You’ll complain and troll about something you got for free. Pathetic. Listen, order the pizza and we’ll look in your couch for change. You’ll find enough coins under the cushions to buy that book and still tip the pizza delivery guy.

(Editor’s note: This concludes Pirate Unlikely Verbalization of Argument in Conversation Form Theater for today.) 

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Filed under: Books, DIY, ebooks, self-publishing, Writers, writing tips, , ,

Bestseller with over 1,000 reviews!
Winner of the North Street Book Prize, Reader's Favorite, the
Literary Titan Award, the Hollywood Book Festival, and the
New York Book Festival.

http://mybook.to/OurZombieHours
A NEW ZOMBIE ANTHOLOGY

Winner of Writer's Digest's 2014 Honorable Mention in Self-published Ebook Awards in Genre

The first 81 lessons to get your Buffy on

More lessons to help you survive Armageddon

"You will laugh your ass off!" ~ Maxwell Cynn, author of Cybergrrl

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Fast-paced terror, new threats, more twists.

An autistic boy versus our world in free fall

Suspense to melt your face and play with your brain.

Action like a Guy Ritchie film. Funny like Woody Allen when he was funny.

Jesus: Sexier and even more addicted to love.

You can pick this ebook up for free today at this link: http://bit.ly/TheNightMan

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