If You Don't Have an Author Newsletter Yet, You Really Should

There are a lot of tools out there for authors to try to reach readers, and it can sometimes feel overwhelming. Most of us are on a handful of different social media platforms, we're usually running our own websites, and trying to maintain networks of reviewers and contacts, so adding even one more thing to juggle can feel like it's overwhelming.

With that said, I'd highly recommend all authors start a newsletter of some variety. Because while it does take time, effort, and energy, it can generate some pretty positive results when you're on a shoestring budget.

Don't spend money if it won't make you money, after all.

This is a piece of advice that I resisted for a long time, because it just felt like so much work for a minimal amount of return. Now, of course, you can sign up for my weekly newsletter to make sure you don't miss any of my fresh releases!

Why the change? Well...

It's a Free Way To Avoid The Algorithm

At its core, a newsletter gives your readers a way to earmark your content, and to get it sent straight to their inboxes. This helps you form a supply line from your keyboard to their eyeballs, ensuring that they don't forget about you, or miss anything that's going on with your new releases, your convention schedule, etc. Because whether I've released a new book like my short story collection The Rejects or a novel like my cat noir mystery Marked Territory, or I've written a new article like 5 Tips For Creating Better Fantasy Towns and Cities, everyone on my newsletter finds out about this shiny new content in my weekly wrap-ups.

At least 4 releases a week, every week.

While my newsletter isn't the only place I talk about these things, it is the only place that's a direct line from me, to the audience. Social media and search engines are good tools to use to get discovered, but when you're at the mercy of the algorithm and random page refreshing you might find that only a small percentage of people actually see the posts you make. Which means either the posts fall through the cracks, or you need to repeat yourself pretty often. Whereas those who opt-in to your email list get a clear message right in their inbox to be certain they didn't miss anything.

I use Mail Chimp for my newsletter, and I'd recommend it as a good starting spot. It's free up to the point where you have several thousand people on your list, and at that point your newsletter should be generating enough revenue to more than pay for itself.

The Key is Growing Your List

As with anything else meant to boost your signal, the key is to get people to actually sign up. Sounds easy, but as we all know it can be anything but.

So how do you do it?

I don't have ALL the answers... but here are some of them.

First things first, promote that list on your existing platforms. If you scroll down the page, you'll see I have a static sign-up box below. I also linked the subscribe feature above in this very post, and it tends to show up in most blogs I write. If you have a blog, a YouTube channel, or anywhere else you share content, put this front and center so people can easily sign up. You can offer them an incentive as well, like a coupon or short-term perk, if you really want to drive your numbers.

Something else you can do from the comfort of your own home is that when you send out an existing newsletter, you'll get a link to display it. Share that link far and wide on your social media channels, and remind people who see it they can just hit the Subscribe button to sign up from that page. This is basically treating your newsletter as a piece of fresh content, and you'd be surprised at how often it works to bring new readers into the fold.

With the end of the pandemic in sight, you can also take your sign-up list to conventions and similar events once more. So if someone comes to your table and buys a book, or gushes about your setup, get them to leave you their name and email address. After a few days of networking, it's pretty common to have half a page to a page of new subscribers just waiting to be entered into your list.

Why You Need a Big List

You're going to need a big list. First and foremost because the more people you can reach out to, the further your signal travels, and the more attention your work gets. However, another reason is because while some folks are going to be active readers who devour everything you put out, others won't be. Some folks will honestly forget why they signed up, finding it easier to just delete your messages unopened instead of unsubscribing. Some will get caught in the spam filter, and go unseen. My personal experience is that 25-30 percent of folks on your list will be active readers, with a few folks getting caught by various shots as time goes on.

There doesn't seem to be a way to target only the rabid fans with this method, either. So cast that net, catch as many fish as possible, and understand that there's going to be occasional tires, license plates, and plastic bottles in there along with all the fish you were aiming for.

It might be frustrating, but the fish you did catch are still good. Throw that net enough times, and you'll soon have a hold full of readers ready and eager for more!

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

You're Not Beholden To Other People's Magic Systems in Your Book

Making up worlds is hard. Creating fantasy worlds with a bevy of made-up creatures, magics, legends, and more can be a challenge that will leave your mental muscles shaking from the effort of putting so many bricks in place for it. That's why a lot of us lean on existing tropes; they help us take care of some of the heavy lifting, and they let us put real focus on the areas that are going to be right in front of the audience.

However, there are times that we forget these established elements of storytelling are meant to serve us. Nowhere is this more common than when it comes to magic systems. As such, I'd like to take a moment to remind everyone out there of something very important. It's your story... make the magic do whatever the hell you want it to do!

Abra Cadabra! Now do whatever the hell you want.

As always, if you haven't signed up for my weekly newsletter yet, consider doing that. And if you want to help grease the wheels so I can keep this operation going, consider becoming a Patreon patron today!

Magic Must Serve The Story (Not The Other Way Around)

To get the obvious disclaimer out of the way, this advice is only applicable if you are creating your own story, and you are not beholden to an existing setting and its canon. Whether it's a book series you're contributing to as a ghostwriter, or an RPG setting your stories are set in, if you want your story to fit the existing rules of that world then you need to make sure you don't defy the already-established physics.

Now, with that out of the way, too many of us will act like our magic has to follow the same rules as other worlds, other books, or even other games, because we never stop to question it. However, if magic is going to be a big part of your story, then it's a good idea to examine the blueprint of the system you're using, and asking if it's the best fit for the story you're trying to tell.

Have we considered just doing away with ritual magic entirely?

For example, if you're used to thinking of magic in tabletop gaming terms, it might not occur to you that a fantasy story is not required to use Vancian Magic. And honestly, unless I were writing a fantasy story set in a place like my fantasy cities of Ironfire: The City of Steel or Moüd: The City of Bones (both of which are part of a gaming setting that runs on Vancian Magic), I would never use that fire-and-forget style of spell.

Because the idea of pre-packaged spells of a certain number, and of a certain power level, that achieve a specific purpose is a great mechanic for maintaining challenge and fairness in a game... but it is awful for smooth and interesting storytelling.

So whether your setting uses ritual magic, in-born magic inherited from supernatural sources, some variant of willpower-made-manifest, an unexplained awakening of the mind more akin to psychic phenomena, or just an ultra-soft, fairy tale style magic system where there's little rhyme or reason about how it works, you can use any (or even all) of these different methods in your story. But you need to actively choose how magic works in your story, and you need to make sure you're doing it as a conscious choice.

And if the magic system you initially went with becomes more of a hindrance than a help? Toss it out, and do something different. It's your story, and everything in it answers to your will. Remember that, and make no assumptions about how things need to be, or should be. Especially when it comes to your hocus pocus.

While we're here, you might also want to check out the following:

- The Pros and Cons of Using Tabletop RPGs as a Writing Tool

- Remember, Fantasy Can Be Anything You Want!

- Authors, Remember, You Don't Have To Reinvent The Wheel

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

"Write What You Want" is Often Terrible Advice

There are a lot of misconceptions about what it's like being an author. From how much money we really make, to the hours we work, to just how much of the job is promotion to how much is actually writing, those are all things that can be corrected (if people listen to those of us who actually do this for a living). However, there is a piece of advice I keep seeing that I'd like to address today. Because it is both unhelpful, and it can actually be harmful to both your career and your mindset if you embrace it too hard.

The idea is, in short, that when you sit down at your desk to start up a new project that you should just do whatever your little heart desires! No matter the genre, no matter the length, no matter the style, you are the master of this ship, and it will sail wherever you want it to go!

Just grab an idea! I'm sure they're all good ones.

Before we get too far into this week's topic, remember that if you sign up for my weekly newsletter you'll get all my updates, releases, and news sent right to your email! And if you want to help me keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron... even a small donation makes a big difference.

Why This Advice is Misguided

To be clear, there are two circumstances where this advice is relatively harmless. The first is if you are here primarily for the experience of writing, and if your only real goals are to finish a project and enjoy the ride. The folks who just want a book out there who wouldn't say no to a juicy royalty check, but for whom that is a bonus, not the goal. The second is if you are an author who already has a dedicated fan base that will read anything you put out, so you can basically guarantee there's going to be a certain amount of support for your book no matter what it is, or where it goes.

For the rest of us, though, this phrase plants an idea that I've found can be toxic; it's the idea that you are always right, and it's your readers who need to get on your level.

The crowd decides... not you.

The advice Maximus was given in Gladiator is perhaps the best advice you can take to heart as an author. It isn't your skill with a blade that matters. It's not how fast you can complete the task. It's the show you put on, and whether you can win the crowd to your side.

Now apply that to your books.

Because you might be a proficient author with a flair for drama... but if you don't turn that skill toward telling a story people actually want to read, then nobody's going to buy your book. And to add insult to injury, someone who may lack your technical skill as a writer will probably have more success than you have if they are better at pandering to the mob.

Because at the end of the day, once you cut through all the faff and chaff, that's what your job is. Entertaining the masses, plain and simple.

So I'm Supposed To Hate What I'm Writing?

To get out ahead of the bold, italic text here, there's a big difference between working on projects you don't enjoy, and tempering your enthusiasm with an understanding of where the market is going, what drives reader interest, and how much energy it's going to take to turn what you're working on into a reliable seller.

As an example.

To be clear, I had a lot of fun working on Marked Territory... but it was not my first pick for my next project when I sat down to sketch it out. At the time I was considering working on a sequel for my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or perhaps writing a modern-fantasy story where a recently-reanimated Chicago detective has to solve the mystery of his own murder (while simultaneously allowing the readers to explore the bizarre underbelly of the world of the undead).

But then I brought copies of From A Cat's View to Windy Con, and that basically decided me.

For those not familiar with the novel, Leo is my heavy with a heart of gold who ends up getting his whiskers involved in other people's problems in New York City. But I debuted him in a short story titled Stray Cat Strut in the anthology of cat stories. I brought 10 copies or so to the con just because it was the newest book that I had, and within a day they'd all been sold. I didn't even have a table at the con, but they were out of my hands faster than I could say, "Film noir cats."

That's what I'm talking about in this case. My sample size was pretty small, but I asked around in writing groups, various social media groups I was in, and tried to read the room. The amount of interest people showed not just in the short story, but also in hearing more about Leo, his adventures, and the weird world he inhabited, meant that the smart money for me was to focus my energy on writing stories about him. Lo and behold it was that rather unique genre mash-up that got me noticed by a publisher, and at time of writing I've completed a second tale (pun very much intended) following our bruiser through the mean streets of NYC.

So while I still have other ideas and projects trying to catch my eye, it's important to hold your ideas at arm's length, and examine them critically. Don't just ask what would be fun to work on; ask which of them is going to get you the results you want. Because it's a lot easier to work on passion projects once you have an audience listening, and enough earnings rolling in that the next book doesn't have to make a massive splash in order to help you keep your lights on.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Why is Your Villain Needlessly Exposing Themselves To Danger?

A long time ago I edited a manuscript whose author I won't name, and whose title I won't give. However, the plot summary was that a young noblewoman and a merchant prince were planning to run away together, until her uncle intervened. A sorcerer who was bartering her hand in marriage for an item of power key to a ritual, her uncle used a spell to transform her lover into a ring. Then, for some reason, explained to our protagonist that should this curse ever be broken, and she and her lover stand against him, it would be the only way to defeat his power.

This is literally the description given for the transformation, as well. Seriously.

Fast forward a few hundred years while our female lead has lived a dozen different reincarnations, her lover has been imprisoned in a gaudy piece of jewelry, and her "uncle" has made himself the next best thing to immortal with the powers at his command. Then (because there would be no plot otherwise) the current incarnation of our protagonist awakens her ancient lover from his prison, and breaks the curse. The lovers are confused, but reunited.

For a bit of context, the lovers are in Australia when the curse is broken. Our villain is in Thailand.

Despite having absolutely nothing to gain from confronting the two lovers, and everything to lose (as was previously mentioned, the two of them are now empowered in some unspecific way to stand against him now that they're reunited), our villain hops a jet, and flies for hours to a nation halfway around the world to find these two people who don't remember he even exists. He then confronts them, repeatedly taunting them with who they actually are, only to get himself killed due to hubris, and lack of imagination.

This sounds stupid (because it is) but this is something I've seen writers do time and time again.

The Villain Needs Goals, Too

In the scenario presented the villain has precisely zero reason to get involved in this situation. Even if we acknowledge that putting this dire curse on the man centuries ago was better than, say, just cutting his throat for some reason, confronting our heroes now is all risk and no reward. The villain could have paid a hitman to off them, keeping himself completely out of danger. He could have worked a dire ritual (or at least tried to) to slay them from afar. Or he could have just moved on with his life and let time kill them, because he was still immortal, and neither of them were now that the man was no longer a metal finger decoration.

Time, my friends, is one thing I have that you lack.

Breaking the curse did not, for example, cause the villain to age at a rapid rate, requiring him to kill or re-curse the original victim in order to maintain his immortality. The villain didn't have some great slight on his pride that still burned hundreds of years later that he needed to humiliate these two over. Hell, he'd completely lost track of the ring not an hour after the original curse was laid down, and he hadn't bothered in the slightest about the condition of his niece's soul moving from one life to the next.

He was there for one reason only; because the protagonist and her lover-out-of-time needed some threat to face together to add drama to the story.

The problem is, of course, that if a villain's presence seems pointless, then it causes the reader to start questioning why they're doing anything. And once they've stepped back to start questioning the narrative like that, it makes it easier to notice other flaws they might have been overlooking before. Which is why it really pays dividends to make sure the ballistics of your plot (the direction shots are fired from, and the purpose those shots were meant to accomplish) make sense.

Try To See Things From Their Perspective

Villains need to be just as organic and believable as any other character in your story. Perhaps more so, as people need a concrete reason why they're opposing the villain's actions and goals. And when you just sort of leave them on the back burner (or worse, make them arbitrarily evil just because that's easier to do) you end up with a bad guy who's carrying an idiot ball.

Which is to say, you have them taking certain actions or making certain mistakes that only an idiot would make, because if they didn't there would be no book to read, movie to watch, game to play, etc.

Seriously... just step back and question things for a moment.

This is not to say your bad guys should huddle in bunkers or remain entirely hidden in the shadows all the time. However, they should have a compelling reason to step out into harm's way, and that reason should do something to fulfill their needs, or achieve their goals. Maybe it's a thirst for vengeance, and wanting the protagonist to know who it was that killed them in their final moments. Maybe it's a special skill set that only the villain possesses, so they need to be present at a certain place at a specific time in order to do their thing. Whether it's purely practical, or something to feed their ego, make sure your villain actually has skin in the game before you put them in front of the protagonist's fist.

Because if they stand to gain nothing whatsoever, it makes no sense for them to risk everything.

Lastly, if you haven't signed up for my weekly newsletter, do so to get all my shiny new updates sent right to your inbox! Also, if you're having trouble dealing with villains in your story, consider checking out 5 Tips For Playing Better Evil Characters. It's meant for tabletop gamers, but it's also useful for writers to think about.

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Self-Promotion, Capitalism, and The Unreasonable Demand of "Community Spirit"

If you are an author (or really any kind of creative professional) you have to hustle 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in order to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. While there are some of us who've managed to build a big enough audience that we don't have to stand on the equivalent of an Internet street corner like a carnival barker, the exception very much proves the rule in this case. As folks say, even Dickens had to host public readings and hand-sell his books in order to keep his belly full.

Which brings me to today's topic... the double-edged sword of the Internet, and how so many people on it treat creators who are just trying to pay their rent.

Flame war? Oh, that's gonna make this an easy month...

And as always, if you want to get all of my fresh news, content, and more, sign up for my weekly newsletter!

ABC... Always Be Closing

I mentioned this back in How Do You Sell Books? Alec Baldwin Has The Answer, but I thought I'd repeat it for folks who missed it. His famous scene in the film Glengarry Glen Ross, where Baldwin plays a hotshot salesman violently berating a team of underperformers who aren't making their quota, lays it out one of the central tenets of successful salesmanship; Always Be Closing. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, no matter who you're talking to, keep your eyes on that prize and do what you need to do to make that sale. Soft sell, hard sell, whatever you have to do you get them to sign on the dotted line, and close the deal.

It's a powerful scene, and even though it's Baldwin's only appearance in the film it got him nominated for an Oscar. It also illustrates the point quite neatly for anyone who is not an author who's wondering why it seems like every post we make is trying to get someone to buy our books... it's because we have to do that. Most of us do not have publicists, legions of adoring fans, or publishers with massive marketing budgets... we have ourselves, and however far we can project our voices.

And because we are struggling under capitalism, we usually don't have a safety net we can rely on. No regular monthly check, no health insurance, no housing vouchers... and that means we sink or swim based on our work, and how many people we can get to read it.

Conflict arises, though, because the very places we go to get traction (subreddits, forums, Facebook groups, or MeWe for the truly desperate among us) usually don't understand the nature of this hustle. So while we're trying to offer them the products of our imaginations, they're shouting about how we need to, "do it the right way," if we're going to promote our work in their space.

I will say this right here. Nine times out of ten when someone says, "I don't mind if you do it, but you have to do it the right way," what they're really saying is they don't want you to do it at all. Because as soon as you start discussing what the "right way" is they start getting angry and defensive, saying that if someone needs to explain it to you then you don't belong here anyway.

"Community Spirit" is Basically Just Demanding Free Labor

The most common requirement you see from these groups is that you need to be an "active participant" in the community. What they mean, of course, is that you have to make posts that are completely separate from your actual work in order to balance the scales.

To put it another way, they expect you to take time, effort, and energy to create free content for their community in exchange for allowing you to share a link to your book, your article, your blog, or your game. That's time you often don't have, and word count that would normally be worth money, just so that you can maybe, potentially find a follower, sell a book, etc.

Authors die of exposure every year, friends.

As a quick example, say that I went to a FB gaming page, and shared my post The 5 Awful Paladins You Meet in Your Gaming Career. It's a pretty long article that I spent a lot of time writing, finding the right photos for, etc., etc. Not only that, but it's free to anyone who wants to read it... all you have to do is click the link and bam, the content is right there in your hand.

Even in this situation, where the content is on-topic to the group, and where it's free of charge, people complain. They complain that they have to go to another site to see it, they complain that you didn't copy-and-paste all the content onto the post itself, or they complain that you're just there to make money... as if somehow you could devote your entire career to creating in a certain genre and not also be a fan of that genre.

And that's the point where my bullshit detector starts going off.

Because that's what the complaints boil down to more often than not if you learn to read between the lines. It's not that what you're sharing is off-topic, or that it doesn't apply here. In fact, if someone not you was sharing it, that would be fine and dandy with them! The problem only arises because you're the author, and you will make money from the activity surrounding this post. Which to their minds means you are feeding off the life force of their community... because they're here for the "pure" enjoyment of genre fiction, tabletop gaming, fun history facts, etc., but you've been tainted by your need to make money off of what (for them) is something they do for enjoyment.

So until you "prove" yourself to them (usually by making a lot of posts to show that you are totally willing to make content for free) you will never be truly part of the community in their eyes.

If You Don't Want Promotion, You Won't Have Creators

To be clear, here, I am not saying that all self-promotion should be allowed from all creators at all times. That is how you open the floodgates. However, it is far more reasonable to set limits on type and number of promotional posts (post no more than once a week, don't post about the same project twice in a month, etc., etc.) than it is to have some vague, amorphous, "Well, when we have deemed you are an 'active participant' in the community, then we will allow you to occasionally stand on your soap box and share your work with us," standard.

If you don't want creators talking about their projects and posting links to their work, bite the bullet and say so. Just understand that we are busy people, and we don't have blocks of time set aside every day to make unrelated social media posts to prove to strangers that we're genuine fans of the things we make for a living. You can't have your cake and eat it, in this case, because no matter how welcoming, how friendly, or how engaged a community is, you cannot pay rent, buy food, or keep your heat on with the positive regard and admiration of others if it is not, in some way, translated into enough earnings to pay your bills at the end of the month.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!