ISSN: 1554-0804
Issue 212
February 5, 2009Featured Product
How to Write for eHow
by Janet Ford
Visit Our Sponsors
In This Issue:
- This Week
- Fabulist Flash Recommends
- The Forum Phenomena
- Submission Call
- 18Q
- Upcoming Events
- Living Now Book Awards
- About the Editor
- About The Fabulist Flash
1. This Week
As I continue to meet authors, writers, and others in the publishing industry, one thing has become very clear: those who enjoy success are those that produce the most. Audiences are fickle rascals. They expect new material. If we fail to give them new information they quickly move on to others who do.
I think this is the reason that series are so popular with readers. They love installments and over time develop relationships with the characters. Did you know that most of Charles Dickens' works were first published as newspaper serials? The popular Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City books also started out as a weekly, newspaper serial series. New authors finding success seem to be introducing readers to serial characters. There are of course the Plum novels from Evanovich and Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels which went from popular books to the HBO series True Blood. Victoria Laurie is growing her audiences on three different book series now and Randall Platt found early success with her Fiasco series. This list of series books is incredibly long.
Some of this success points to brand loyalty. Readers become invested and want more. In the world of nonfiction, this same brand loyalty extends to series as well. My own bestseller is part of the Fabulous Places to Live series. The Lonely Planet guides quickly come to mind and of course there's the For Dummies series.
The success of works in series also has me thinking that publishers love it, too. After all, the larger the series audience grows, the more books that will be sold with less marketing. That seems rather win/win for the writer, publisher, and readers.
As you're contemplating your next writing project, ask yourself, can this be a series? Can this new idea become a long running series? If the answer is yes, brainstorm away. If the answer is no, think about how you can convert it into a possible series format.
Keep Moving Forward,
Gregory
=================================================================
2. Fabulist Flash Recommends
Advertising Opportunity
Fabulist Flash Publishing is sponsoring an exhibitor booth at the Clark County Fair & Rodeo (April 9-12). Published authors can have their books displayed, be included in a digital catalog that will be given away to fair-goers, plus have an advertising page on the Association of Local Authors website for the next year. If you're interested in participating visit AssociationofLocalAuthors.com
=================================================================
3. The Forum Phenomena
The Forum Phenomena: WHY OWNING YOUR OWN FORUM IS THE NEXT *BIG* THING!
by Michael Green
It seems like every Tom, Dick and Harriett now owns their own Ezine or Newsletter. So where are savvy marketers looking to gain their next competitive edge?
Here's the answer...
... They're setting up their own Discussion Forums!
Almost overnight discussion forums have become an essential weapon in the armory of every successful online marketer.
And that's no surprise when you consider that some of the big marketing forums are now attracting 4 million page visits per month.
Just before Christmas I set up my own forum and within a matter of weeks was receiving thousands of visitors per day.
BUT HOW DO FORUM VISITORS EQUATE TO PROFITS FOR YOU?
Okay I hear you say... so forums can drive a massive amount of traffic, but how does that help me make money through internet marketing?
Actually in pretty much the same way as owning a credible Newsletter can build your wealth and, over time, generate a healthy income for you.
You see, as the owner and moderator of a forum, your credibility will grow fast and before you know it...visitors will be hanging on your every word.
From that point onwards, it doesn't take a massive leap of the imagination to appreciate how this kind of POWER can lead to increased profits for you.
All you now need to do is quietly talk about the right products and services and others will likely pile in. If you like, it's a subtle form of product placement.
Plus of course, since you own the forum, you have the opportunity to include your own banner ads or text links to every thread or page. You can see how this is done on my own forum http://www.howtocorp.com/forum
BUT... just like the responsible newsletter editor, you MUST ensure that you are recommending only the BEST products and services. Otherwise you'll quickly lose all your credibility . Oh and your forum audience and regular posters will disappear too.
OWNING YOUR OWN FORUM CAN HAVE OTHER SPIN-OFFS
* WITH A FORUM YOU CAN ANSWER ANY QUESTION JUST ONCE If you find yourself in the position of repeatably being asked the exact same question about your product or service, then a forum can provide a place for you to post the answer once and for all. After that you'll just refer people to your forum thread on the subject.
* OTHERS WILL ANSWER QUESTIONS FOR YOU A bunch of enthusiasts will most likely gather at your forum and act as an external customer services facility for you. Your forum can cut your workload dramatically.
* SHOWCASE NEW AND UPCOMING PRODUCTS I often release information about my forthcoming projects to the folks at my own forum before anywhere else. It's a trusted community where I can get valuable thoughts and feedback before launching a toolkit to the public at large.
SO WHAT ARE THE DOWNSIDES TO RUNNING YOUR OWN FORUM?
Well you'll need to devote a certain amount of time to monitoring the posts and ensuring that SPAM isn't turning up on your forum. Naturally it will, so you'll need to delete it. Ignore your discussion board and you'll quickly discover that it has been filled with worthless JUNK posts and this will immediately devalue the board.
Newsgroups have been around since before the dawn of the internet - so you may well be asking yourself: "Why are they really *hot* now?"
Traditional Newsgroups used to require special software to access and even though they have been popularized through Google, they're gradually losing their importance.
At the same time anyone who can set up a website can now set up their own forum - so they're here to stay and naturally "switched-on" internet marketers are taking full advantage.
I look forward to posting in your discussion forum soon!
The author has created the web's first ever eGuide tutorial
which shows you precisely how to establish your very own
online Discussion FORUM. Discover everything you need to
know in order to create and draw visitors to your very own
FORUM today at http://tinyurl.com/c9u7hp
=================================================================
4. Submissions
Patchwork Path: Friendship Star
Choice Publishing Group is seeking stories and essays about friends and friendship.
Submission Deadline: March 31, 2009.
Submission Guidelines: PatchworkPath.com
Patchwork Path: Wedding Bouquet
Choice Publishing Group is seeking stories and essays about weddings.
Submission Deadline: August 31, 2009.
Submission Guidelines: PatchworkPath.com
Presenters & Programs 2010
Advertise to 30,000 meeting and event planners in this full-color, glossy catalog from Fabulist Flash Publishing and Turning Point International.
Deadline: October 31, 2009
Details: PresentersandPrograms.com
=================================================================
5. 18Q
Colin Galbraith takes the Eighteen Questions
1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you?
It grabbed me early on, but I chose to ignore it for a while, not realising quite how hard a pull it had on me. I used to write poems and short stories as a kid, but then my life went in a more technical direction. I only came back to writing in the late nineties after a friend bought me Hand to Mouth by Paul Auster. It ignited the flame and I suddenly found myself in the reality that I had chosen the wrong Degree course and followed a path that didn’t suit me. That book made a lot of things clearer for me.
2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.)
I took an I.T. Degree at the University of Paisley in Scotland, which has served me well as far as paying the bills and providing for my family goes. Then I did a Creative Writing course at the Open College of the Arts (OCA), and I got more out of it than any other type of education I had received up until then. Since taking that course I’ve moved further away from I.T. and further into the world of the writer.
3. When did you ‘know’ you were a writer?
I’ve always known I could be writer, and successful at it, but it wasn’t until the release of Fringe Fantastic, and the sale of my first novel, Hunting Jack, that I felt I had reached the point in my life where I could comfortably say, “I am a writer.” Just saying those four words to people was a hard thing to get used to at first.
4. How would you describe your style of writing?
Spontaneous, darkly humorous, and representative of the insanity of every day life.
5. What is your writing process?
Both novels I have written so far have been written entirely differently. Hunting Jack was total fly-by-the-pants stuff. I only had a vague idea of the plot but hadn’t a clue how I was going to reach the end – or what it might be. The characters were so strong though, I think that’s the main reason I got away with it.
Slick, being a complex crime novel, was planned in much more detail, but not so restrictive I wouldn’t allow myself to stray when the urge came or the story needed to divert. I’m about to embark on the hunt for a publisher for this work so I’ve yet to see if it worked!
My poetry ebbs and flows differently again, it’s much more inspired and dependant on my mood and emotion of the piece.
I guess it looks like I have no definitive process other than the fact I get up at 5am everyday to write. That seems to work best for me and is my main constant.
6. What was your path to publication?
I started off on an accredited course in Creative Writing at the OCA. From there I just wrote and wrote and wrote and kept submitting until finally I became good enough that my work began to be accepted. Hunting Jack was accepted for serialisation, which was my first sale, and there my novel writing career began.
At the same time all of this was going on I was dabbling in poetry but getting nowhere. It felt like it was something out of my reach and that it belonged only to the echelons of intelligent society. Then I discovered a bunch of poets that wrote about observational humour, politics, day-to-day events, the mundanity of life, and so forth. I realised poetry wasn’t stuffy after all and I began writing a book about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Fringe Fantastic was published in December 2005 and I’ve never looked back.
7. What is your favourite self-marketing idea?
Filming skits on the streets of Edinburgh while the Fringe is running to promote Fringe Fantastic is one of my more advanced and newest ideas, but my favourite has to be posting copies of my book to famous people. I once sent a copy of Fringe Fantastic to Jonathan Ross when he said on his radio show that he had nothing good to read. He never mentioned it on air (which was supposed to be the point), but I know he enjoyed the book immensely in his letter. I think it was the BBC’s advertising standards committee that put the damp squib on it.
8. What are the biggest surprises you’ve encountered as a writer?
It always surprises me how supportive most writers are towards each other, no matter how many books they may have sold. Whether best sellers or beginners, a writer is a writer, and we all seem to have the same insecurities and worries.
9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity?
I just keep thinking, “what if?” I source ideas by watching people and events around Scotland. I live in Edinburgh and I find it hugely inspirational, but other places in the UK are just as motivating, though in other ways. The grittiness of Glasgow and the sheer mass of human life in London are both locations I have uses in my novels and poems.
Writing crime does involve a lot of “creative murder” ideas, which I develop from newspaper cut-outs and every-day observations. There’s no end to where creativity comes from – you just have to train your “writer’s eye” to pick up on it all.
10. What is your proudest writer moment?
The publication of my first book, Fringe Fantastic: The Poet’s Experience of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and having it picked up by the national press was pretty good. More satisfying, and what makes me more proud than anything, is when somebody sends an email or tells me how much they enjoyed something I have written. It’s that moment, above all else, that gives me the most acute feeling of pride.
11. What’s the best advice you were given about writing?
I have a thick skin so rejection and criticism is something I’ve always been able to handle. So I would have to say the best piece of advice I’ve been given is that a writer can’t do enough research, that although you may fill a dozen boxes with research for a single novel, you will probably end up binning 95% of it in the search for the perfect sentence or twist of a plot.
12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment?
I don’t really have one. That’s not because there are none, merely because it takes a lot to embarrass me. I’m the sort of guy who would walk through the street wearing a thong and a simmet if I believed it would get a laugh. The answer to your next question is “yes”.
13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer?
Promotion and speaking in public are the most vital to me, but also the toughest. I discovered it is vital to get over the barrier that success won’t just come to you; that you have to go after it. Speaking in public is all to do with confidence, and confidence breeds good writing and promotional skills. The whole thing is intertwined. Adapting to the business side of publication is a lot of fun, but managing it and the time it takes up to allow you to continue writing, is a delicate balance.
14. What is your writer life philosophy?
Don’t take no for an answer.
15. When you’re not writing what do you do for fun?
I’m Scottish and I’m male, so naturally a lot of my free time revolves around the pub. I like visiting my friends and family who are scattered all over the UK; we usually go to the pub to catch up. I like animals, fishing, going on holiday, and the cinema when I get the chance.
16. Who do you like to read?
I enjoy reading contemporary and crime fiction, so authors like John King, Ian Rankin, Irvine Welsh would all rate highly. Paul Auster is my favourite author who I aspire to most. I read a lot of poetry; not sticky, elitest, unfathomable poetry, but poetry that can be spoken aloud and will make people laugh and muse over a pint of beer. People like Rick Lupert, Brendan Constantine, Anita Govan and Frances Macaulay Forde are all excellent poets.
17. What’s your advice for new writers?
Keep writing and keep submitting. Don’t take no for an answer and be prepared to listen, learn, and push yourself outside every comfort zone you ever created for yourself. Be prepared to grow with it as it carries you along.
18. What are you currently working on?
I’m working on the completion of my second novel, Slick, and am about to start writing my third. I’m currently in the middle of an intense promotional campaign at the Edinburgh Fringe and Book festivals.
Bibliography
Hunting Jack (2004)
Fringe Fantastic (2005)
Poolside Poetry (2007)
Read more 18Q interviews
=================================================================
6. Upcoming Events
February 25
Writer's Pen & Grill
A social evening for writers in Las Vegas, NV
April 9-12
Clark County Fair & Rodeo
Fabulist Flash Publishing hosts an exhibitor's booth for published authors. Details
April 16-18
Las Vegas Writer’s Conference
Gregory will present Internet ACE: Online Self Promotion
April 29
Meet the Authors
(Clark County Library, NV)
Gregory, and members of Laudably Tarnished: A Poetry Workshop, host a Q&A panel on poetry.
July 29
Meet the Authors
(Clark County Library, NV)
Gregory and the production/publishing team for the Patchwork Path anthology series host a Q&A panel on getting publishing in anthologies
=================================================================
7. Living Now Book Awards
Honoring newly published books that help us live healthier, more fulfilling lives.
Created to bring increased recognition to the very best lifestyle books and their creators, the 2009 Living Now Book Awards present gold, silver and bronze medallions in 28 different categories of books for readers who seek more productive lives.
Deadline for entry is February 21, 2009.
The new book awards program is accepting entries until February 21st, 2009 for books with 2007 or 2008 copyrights or that were released in 2007 or 2008. Among the 28 categories are Green Living, Health/Wellness, Gardening/Landscaping, Mature Living/Anti-Aging, and five Cookbook categories.
List of Categories
- Cookbooks/General
- Cooking/Nutrition
- Cooking/Ethnic
- Cooking/Natural (Organic, Vegetarian, etc.)
- Cooking/Entertaining/Holiday
- Collecting/Hobbies
- Crafts (Scrapbooking, Stamping, Beading, etc.)
- Knitting/Crochet
- Sewing/Quilting
- Etiquette/Traditions/Wedding Planning
- Gift/Specialty/Keepsake
- Gardening/Landscaping
- Pets/Livestock
- Green Living (Alternative energy, Conservation, Cleaning, etc.)
- Outdoor Recreation (Camping, Hiking, Paddling, etc.)
- Home Building/Remodeling
- Home Improvement/Decorating
- Family (Parenting/Health/Safety)
- Family Activities/Travel
- Finance/Budgeting
- Social Activism/Charity
- Style/Fashion/Shopping
- Personal Growth/Self Help
- Exercise/Fitness
- Health/Wellness
- Meditation/Relaxation
- Yoga/Pilates
- Mature Living/Anti-Aging
Open to all books written in English and intended for the North American market, the Living Now Book Awards bring participants the credibility and publicity they need to further their book marketing and sales success. Winning a book award extends your publicity campaign, gets you a whole new round of attention from the press, and opens new doors to distributors and vendors, royalty publishers and rights agents.
To learn more visit www.LivingNowAwards.com.
=================================================================
8. About the Editor
Gregory A. Kompes
Gregory A. Kompes (www.kompes.com), The Writerpreneur, is the author of the bestselling 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live, and the Writer’s Series that includes Endorsement Quest, Your Online Media Kit and Should You Write an eBook. He is also a contributor to The Complete Writer’s Journal, Writer’s Bloc I, Writer’s Bloc II, Chopped Liver for the Gentle Spirit, and Chopped Liver for the Kindred Spirit. Gregory speaks frequently on internet marketing and publishing at writer and speaker events and conferences. He also teaches an interactive, ten-week, online course: Internet ACE: Online Self Promotion. The author is a monthly columnist for Writers on the Rise, Production Director for Presenters & Programs, and editor of The Fabulist Flash, an informative newsletter for writers, and the award winning Eighteen Questions, a Q&A series that collects and shares the experiences of published authors. Gregory is co-founder of the Patchwork Path anthology series, Presenters & Programs (the Premier Catalog of Speakers), and the Writer’s Pen & Grill, a writer’s social evening held monthly in Las Vegas, NV. Gregory holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Columbia University, New York, a Certificate in Online Teaching and Learning, and a Masters of Science in Education from California State University, East Bay.
=================================================================
9. About The Fabulist Flash
ISSN: 1554-0804
The Fabulist Flash is dedicated to helping writers find resources and inspiration.
When you forward The Fabulist Flash to your friends please do so in its entirety.
If someone forwarded you this copy and you'd like to begin receiving The Fabulist Flash in your own inbox go to FabulistFlash.com to join the mailing list.
-------------------------------
The Fabulist Flash thinks your privacy is important. We NEVER lend, sell, or distribute our email subscriber list to anyone.
Contact The Fabulist Flash:
Online
www.FabulistFlash.com
Email
Editor@FabulistFlash.com
Snail Mail
Gregory A. Kompes, editor
The Fabulist Flash
PO Box 570368
Las Vegas, NV 89157
=================================================================
Thanks for reading The Fabulist Flash. Please forward it to all your writing friends.
A member of the Fabulist Flash Publishing family.
