10 Simple Ways To Support An Author

I've been stuck lately trying to come up with ways to market my novels. In the absence of a traditional publisher's budget that does this sort of thing for select books, I'm sort of left to my own devices when it comes to promoting myself. Wizards of the Coast publishing relies on the strong brand name of the Forgotten Realms to sell its titles. This has worked well in the past, actually.

However you don't need me to tell you that things are changing in the world of publishing. People have less time to devote to novel reading, and more novels to choose from when they do decide to sit down with a book (or whatever ereader they've chosen).

This collusion of events troubles me as an author interested in continuing to practice his craft in the part-time fashion I currently enjoy. And the virtuous circle closes--this is why I'm interested in finding new ways to market my novels.

So along comes this great blog post by Jody Hedlund titled "10 Simple Ways to Support the Author You Love." In this post, Jody notes how you can do an author you love a big favor by, in addition to buying and reading the book, by taking your support one tiny step further.

An excerpt:

1. Write a book review and post it on Amazon. If you’ve ever ordered on Amazon then you’re eligible to post a review. It’s very simple to do and incredibly helpful (if it’s a good review!).

2. Copy and paste your review onto other online bookstores. There’s nothing wrong with copying your Amazon review and using it on other sites, like GoodReads, Shelfari, Barnes&Noble.com or CBD.com.

3. Click the “Like” button on a book’s Amazon page. (If you're not sure what this is, head over to The Preacher's Bride Amazon page and you'll find it near the top.)

4. Click on the “Tags People Associate With This Product” on Amazon. If you scroll down on The Preacher’s Bride Amazon page, you’ll see approximately 32 tags. The more tags and the more clicks, the better a book will come up in search results.

Read Jody's full article (and all 10 steps) here:

http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/2011/05/10-simple-ways-to-support-authors-you.html

Tome Show Podcast Appearance

The folks at the Tome Show (a Dungeons & Dragons news, reviews, and interview program) where kind enough to review Plague of Spells and City of Torment, then interview me in the bargain.

It turns out reviews and interviews on the Tome Show are in-depth and far-reaching.

In fact, having just listened to the episode in which I appear, I'd liken it to one of those DVD Criterion extra discs, which delves into the material to provide a deeper level of understanding of both the story and the intent, motivations, and inspirations behind the story.

Which means, if you haven't read Plague of Spells or City of Torment yet, I recommend you just let me tell you Will Wong's "short short version" of the review: They're both good books; you should buy them.

On the other hand, if you've read the two novels or you don't mind learning a couple plot points ahead of reading them for yourself, head over to the Tome Show site or iTunes and download the episode. Few interviews have previously pressed me so closely!

Review of Keep on the Shadowfell

I'm very excited to see positive reviews for Keep on the Shadowfell hitting the net. Here's one from gamingsteve.com. If you're interested in trying out 4th Edition D&D before the full rules are published next month, why not try this module? Not only does it provide quick start rules for the game, it is the first in a series of loosely connected modules.

Though not required to have played any previous module to enjoy a later adventure, discerning DMs will have the opportunity to pick up storylines in later modules that first debuted in Keep on the Shadowfell.

An excerpt from gamingsteve's review:

The module comes with a comprehensive set of quick-start rules for both the players as well as the DM (the DM rules are more comprehensive and cover more topics, as you would expect with a ruleset for DMs). If you are familiar with D&D and the rules to 3.5, then picking up 4th Edition should be a piece of cake.

Jade Tiger by Jenn Reese

I recently subscribed to a blog called SF Novelists. One of the contributors wrote a blog entry that really made me think. In summary, Ms. Reese would prefer if the way a character fights reveals a deeper insight into that character. Check out the actual blog post here, Pushing Your Punches.

Hey, what an interesting concept!

I decided to learn more about this author, and discovered that after joining up just five or so years ago, she has become a very serious practitioner of martial arts. And, using her new knowledge, she wrote a fiction book called Jade Tiger.

Well, this summary describes me, too (started martial arts about five years ago, and in that time have become more and more into it, and I have a fictional character who puts to use the martial arts I learn in reality).

So I couldn't resist buying Jade Tiger to see what the author did with her character. Here's my short and simple review: This book is a fast-paced, modern day pulp. If you want to be wowed by displays of martial art that supersede our own dull world, Shan Westfall is your heroine.

Stop Reading For No Spoilers
I identified with the male lead, an archaeologist, and probably would have been just as much "in worship" of Shan as he instantly was. Some might find the unfolding relationship these two enjoyed too destined, and too rushed. But I submit the whole book was that way—a rush—in the best sense of the word! It was of a piece with the narrative.

I actually quite appreciated that the story didn't explore finding each and every piece (5 total) of the missing artifacts Shane sought—after one such sideline to discover a piece called the Dragon, the characters relatively quickly find themselves in the conclave of the mad martial-artist-villain. Here we get to enjoy several sweet fights in fast succession, a consummation of the building romance, and a demonstration of the fully armed and operational Jade Circle, in the villain's hands.

I quite enjoyed this story and give it an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Bridge to Terabithia

Our friends Greg and Teresa lent us several movies, one of which was Bridge to Terabithia.

We watched Bridge to Terabithia last night. I was expecting a light-hearted fantasy, something along the lines of Harry Potter.

In truth, the film was much more difficult.

I now discover this film was based on a book of the same name written in 1977 by Katherine Paterson. It is not merely escapist childish fantasy; it is something more akin to a book I was given to read in 6th grade for a school assignment, A Taste of Blackberries. Same hollow feeling at the end, worse probably, with this movie. A good movie, but hard.

Realms of War Review on Amazon

I was very happy to notice that the anthology Realms of War got a good review on Amazon. I was also happy to note that my story "Black Arrow" was well received, too.

Successfully Sinister?

As I noted earlier, I've started reading the book Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend. So far, it's a fascinating read.

Here's a chestnut from the book (an oversimplification to be sure, but possibly relevant):

There are two ways to get ahead: be the cream, or be the scum.

Regardless of which you think you are, you probably share some traits with the other. But not all! To be the 'scum' you have to fully embrace ethics first put on paper by Machiavelli.

Try this "Mach" test developed by psychologists to see how closely you resemble Machiavelli's 16th century political screed.

Evil Vs. Good

Often, humans are unintentionally cruel, but sometimes, they are cunningly, knowingly evil. For example: Virus makers are targeting people who are looking up news about the Bhutto assassination (as well as a lot of other topics). This happened after the tsunami as well. [hat tip to Webb Alert]

This display of remorseless, unapologetic evil in humans is sobering. And, apparently, its true existence is now backed by some research, as described in the book Evil Genes by Barbara Oakly. I got this tome as a gift and am looking forward to reading it. The book's contention seems to be that, yes, though rare, some people really are just malevolent, and you may know one.

On the other side of the spectrum, people are doing good things all the time. Apparently, morals are more than something you must be taught--being helpful and cooperating with others is an instinct even babies possess according to one recent study, and I've heard other similar results.

Here's something that is totally good and cool, too: MIT has put up 1800 courses it teaches at its university for free for anyone in the world to download and take. This sort of changes everything. If you have an internet connection and the will to learn, you can take physics, astronomy, economics, so on and so forth. I've downloaded the lowest level physics course. We'll see if I have time to get through it all.

Finally, speaking of something that is 'good' not in the moral sense, but high quality, I want to recommend the book Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge. I downloaded a copy through iTunes (because of an iTunes gift card I got), but you can probably get it cheaper directly through audible.com if you are a member. This near-future tale is well-written, and the audio version is well-read. If you have some iTunes or Audible gift card money to burn, you won't go wrong by trying this.