How to get around a slow opening

All of my novels are previewed by a reading group. Its members are well-read straight-shooters who tell me what doesn’t work. These people are “no” men who will say “no, man, that’s not a good idea.” I carefully consider their advice.

Yesterday, one of them called the opening to my new book slow. The jury is out on that.

But if it’s true, do I change the fabric of my novel because of it?

Stephen King said Stephanie Meyer can’t write. Thirty percent of the Breaking Dawn reviews are poor on Amazon. But Meyer’s book is ranked #1 in several categories and the movie adaptations have a rabid fan base. She did not change a thing about her writing.

I asked what makes a solid opening in a Facebook group thread. One member posted “something compelling that makes the reader care” has to happen on the first page. Another sent me to a blog post advising the author to “do it and hope it works.”

So what’s the key? Though people claim to know the key and offer to sell it to you, the reality is there isn’t one. You can’t satisfy everyone, and you don’t have an audience of everybody. Whether or not an audience embraces your novel is completely dependent on rapidly-changing market factors. Publishing is a gamble; it’s never a sure thing.

There are well-written books you will never read because they are poorly-marketed. Likewise, there are poorly-written, well-marketed books that will sell. Writing a plane crash in the first line doesn’t guaranteed it’s compelling.

Here’s my advice: To thine own self be true. Write well, know your audience and satisfy it. Have well-placed confidence in your writing ability. Otherwise, a negative comment from your “no men” or others will have you
running back to your manuscript.

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of acclaimed Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

Build a speaking platform to sell books

According to Phisco Marketing President Kemya Scott, marketing via self-publishing companies are "smoke-and-mirrors" techniques. In other words, as an author, you should have a speaking platform if you want to sell books.

Postcards, business cards, and bookmarks do not sell books. Even if they did, they are methods you can't track, and if you can't track it, it might as well not exist. How do you tell if it's working? How do you tell if it's not?

While non-fiction authors have a built-in audience, fiction writers like me have to pluck a topic from our books on which to build our expertise. For example, my novel The Revelation Gate, has to do with aspects of African culture and war. Couldn't I speak to a group about African culture? Or, what about the types of weapons and military strategy available in the early-A.D. period? At the end, I don't hard sales pitch my book, but I've talked enough about it to build audience interest.

Go back to your book and find one topic that particularly speaks to you. Write a speech and/or complete a PowerPoint on it, and pitch it to someone who's honest enough to tell you the truth. When you're finished, take it to the streets! Be blessed.


Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of the Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

Author events & which to attend

I attended the Decatur Book Festival for the first time this past week and had a great time. For $175, I potentially exposed thousands of people to my name and work, spoke for five minutes in front of a small crowd, and had the opportunity to sell books.

Was it worth it?

If we're talking immediate return in dollars and cents, no. But never evaluate whether or not to attend an event solely by an ROI formula. To make my $175 back, I would have had to sell more copies of The Lost Testament than I was allowed to bring (there was a 20 copies per title restriction).

So, how do you evaluate an event? Which ones do you attend and which do you skip? I consider a number of things, including:

1. How long has the event been around? If it's in its first year, proceed with caution. First year events are crapshoots. More often than not, they have poor turnout and the kinks are still there. If you have to pay to be a vendor at a first year event and your money is tight, I would skip it and sign up next year.
2. How much money are you comfortable putting at risk? If you're operating on a shoestring, stick to book signings and appearances offering free vendor tables because there's no out-of-pocket costs besides gas.
3. The intangibles. If you're not getting paid, can you speak? If you can speak, can you record it? If you can record it, can you sell DVDs of your performance commercially? Who's in the audience? Someone who needs a service you, by chance, happen to sell? (I met two at the Festival). Share the love! Make the magic happen!

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of the Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

Virtual Blog Tours: Who Should You Go With?

I searched the keywords "book blog tour" a few days ago and came up with Tywebbin Book Tours, Book Blog Tour Guide (who then referred me to Premier Virtual Author Book Tours) -- Diane Saarinen, who runs BBTG, was booked up and does not do Christian fiction -- Lit Fuse Publicity Group, Christian Fiction Blog Alliance, and Book Promotion Services.

I approached each as an author seeking information about a book blog tour, which I am: I have a 2012 release I'd like to schedule. . .just not right this second. I stuck to the first page of my search results because, let's face facts: most people don't go beyond the first page anyway. I used Tywebbin for my latest release, so to be as unbiased as possible, I put them last.

Here are my results in no particular order:

• Litfuse Publicity Group: "not accepting any new, self-published clients." ARGH. No offense if you've gone through a vanity press. To a degree, I can understand how an indie author can be considered "self-published" if your press is a sole prop, like mine. But seriously, it's not the same thing. I digress. If you're an indie author, you're as good as self published to them, so. . .

• Christian Fiction Blog Alliance. Cost: $500. What you get: a three-day slot, "respect and undivided attention" (???), they distribute your contact info for possible interviews (plus an interview on their blogtalk radio station), link to the first chapter, banner ad space.

I didn't get a response to my questions. However, upon closer inspection of the blogger review list, I found a few tidbits.  Reviewers need to have an "established blog with active readership." It doesn't say anything about the size of readership, though that can be misleading. Also, the reviewers don't have to read every book, and they don't have to discuss it if they don't want to.

Remember, you've gotta count the cost of mailing the book to people who may not read it or review it. Let's say you're really eager and do 20 paperback books at $8 a pop. That's $160 + the $500 you've paid CFBA = $660, or $33 per blogger. That's a decent amount of money for mixed results.

*What I would do: see if you can get your CFBA bloggers to commit to do reviews in writing, or do an online search for respected book clubs that will review your book for free. Some of them, like Only One keyStroke Away Book Club, will even accept electronic copies. Your review dates will be scattered, but you'll have them. 

• Premier Virtual Author Book Tours: Doesn't handle Christian Lit, and doesn't know who does.
• Book Promotion Services: Cost: $697 (lowest cost option). What you get: a 4-week, 15-20 blog tour; Leigh's “Insiders’ Guide to Virtual Blog Tours” (HINT: You can download it without the tour :); blog visit promotion on social media; a dedicated tour page at the BPS website, a press release, and archived links.

I spoke to Nikki Leigh, who's very helpful. She even read up about the book blog tour that I just finished! She claims that she "reaches out to a wide range of bloggers" specific to the individual title. Leigh also said that she asks the blogger to commit (review, radio interview, written interview with a character from the book -- extremely cool- - guest post, etc.). Very personable. 

*What I would do: Count the cost. 20 stops over 4 weeks is five stops per week. 20 books = $160 + $697 = $857. I would probably do a mix of radio interviews and reviews, and ask Nikki that she only book people who commit to either. THEN, it would be worth it IMO. 

• Tywebbin Book Tours:  Won't be doing any more tours until 2012.  Cost: $250. What you get: a flexible tour that can be stretched over as little as a week or a month or more for up to 25 books. Bloggers do some a HTML post of your book's general info, Q&A's and/or interviews, and radio and Skype interviews.

I used Ty Moody's firm for my book blog tour for The Revelation Gate. She books in three different tiers. Out of the ones I've seen that would cater to Christian fiction, hers is comparable to that of Book Promotion Services.

*What I would do: If I'm not in a rush, I wait for Tywebbin. For 20 books, $410 is the lowest price option of all the blog tours, but the service doesn't drop off at all. If I need it this year, and I've got the cash, I go BPS. Hope this helps!

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of the Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

Virtual Book Tours: The Good, the Bad. . .the Ugly

I don’t like to “assume” that people know things. You know why :)

So, let’s be real about book tours and accept a few truths about them.

1. If you are self-published, no major chain bookstore or discount store will shelve you, much less host your signings. I know, it SUCKS. You may not have known that before you signed the dotted line. Let’s remember that next time.
2. If you indie publish, you’re not going to get rich doing book tours alone. Let’s say “rich” is $500,000. Bookstores take between 48%-50% of your retail price at signings. At a $12 retail price (you’d get a little over $6 max), to get “rich,” you’d have to sell 83,000 books. Forty books per signing (for an unknown author) is GREAT. But, at that rate, you’d have to visit 2,100 cities. Mainstream published authors get no better than 15% per copy. You’d have to sell almost 300,000 books.
3. You can book your own tour, but it’s A LOT OF WORK. You need: a.) a PR person or adequate substitute, b.) a press kit (headshot, media release, synopsis), and most importantly, c.) a proven tie to the area for a regular tour. To solicit a book blogger, you will have to submit to them, not unlike what you would do for an agent. And there’s no guarantee you can be successful without some sort of prior established relationship.

There are many benefits to virtual book tours. No travel expenses helps if you’re on a tight budget. You’re reaching out to a different crowd than your “warm market.” Promotion can be entirely online and for free.

You can do it for a wide range of costs. And, if someone google searches your book title, the SEO results will be lovely, which adds to your credibility as a writer.

Kick the tires, though, before making a commitment. In evaluating an opportunity to go on a virtual tour, there are factors to consider.

• Extra cost. You have to pay for the shipping materials, the book itself, and the postage. For me, this ran about $8 for every physical copy I had to produce. And most book bloggers still prefer them that way. If you do 20 bloggers, that’s $160 in addition to the fee you pay the book tour people.
• Prominence of book blogger. How many people follow the blog of the reviewer? Read through their blog archives. Is there author-reader interaction?
• Timeline. Will the reviewer commit to having your review by a certain date? If not, are you OK with that?
• Commitment. What is the reviewer volunteering to do? Post a review of your book? Post a Q&A with you? Both? You don’t want to pay for a blog tour expecting one thing and then receive another. Remember, they’re voluntarily reviewing your book. Even if they don’t do what they agreed to do, there’s not much you can do about it.

Next time, let’s evaluate a few companies and see what they have to offer you.

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of the Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

Review of B.J. Robinson's Last Resort

Last Resort by BJ Robinson

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


Last Resort in 140 characters or less: Girl meets boy. Girl denies obvious interest. Enter abusive ex, girl’s rival 4 boy. <3, shots, property damage. Co-conspirators? Suspense!

In Last Resort, the debut title on Desert Breeze Publishing from B.J. Robinson, Faith Roussell settles in a small, fictional Florida town after leaving a broken and abusive relationship.

Faith’s best friend, introduces her to Matt: a clumsy cowboy destined to win Faith’s heart. But the flirtatious Lilly, who rivals Faith for Matt‘s heart, makes her affection for him known while Faith openly denies her own.

Meanwhile, Fred, Faith’s jilted ex, pursues her with a vengeance. He wants Faith back at all costs -- enough to threaten her life on numerous occasions. But is he acting alone? Maybe, maybe not.

Last Resort is written in descriptive language that paints the picturesque southern backdrop well. Yet, it is not so thick that it makes for dragging exposition.

The romance, well-penned sensory details, and build-up action sequences are where Last Resort shines. Matt and Faith’s repartee is believable and light on the syrup. I easily bought into their courtship.

But elements of the book’s dual plot were lacking for me. It’s credible in spots, not so much in others. But Robinson baited my hook REALLY WELL in the book’s final acts.

If I sat down with B.J. and had three questions, I would ask the following: Why wasn’t Fred a prime suspect at first? Why did he willingly let Faith go in the first place? And if she “escaped” from him, wouldn’t the first place he would think she went is her old hometown?

For a story rich in southern charm, romance, and a redemptive Christian message, Last Resort fits the bill.



View all my reviews

DIY Publishing versus Self-Publishing: Good and Bad

I’ve changed book religions. I used to believe mainstream publishing (manuscript+query=agent; agent+publisher = SUCCESS!) was the way for me. It is not, at least not right now.

I advocate Do-It-Yourself (DIY) publishing over self-publishing. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

The DIYer’s trump card is that, while he did publish himself, he is not considered a “self-publisher.” He uses the same printer of a self-publishing company. He totes books around everywhere he goes. His books are Print-On-Demand — just like that of the self-published.

But he is not self-published.

When you self-publish, no major brick-and-mortar bookseller will carry you. Even in your book was the next great American novel, who would know it? If a reader can go to a building and see your book, it adds trust to your name.

The only difference between DIYers and mainstream publishers is that you put out one title a year and
they crank out 20. Because of that distinction, brick-and-mortar bookstores will carry you.
This Friday, let’s talk a little about how simple DIY publishing really is and how much the investment is worth.

Be blessed,

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of the Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.