Tag Archives: publishing

So, I Did A Thing … Because Waiting Sucks

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So, I Did A Thing
Because waiting sucks
Terry Odell

Face of a light brown dog in a blue bed

Waiting Sucks

With Beyond the Frame off to the editor, aside from a few front and back matter details, there wasn’t much more I could do other than wait to see what she said. I haven’t used this editor since she edited Heather’s Chase about six years ago, so the usual “she’s going to hate it” jitters were back tenfold.

My cover designer was on vacation in Ireland, so I don’t have a pretty picture to show off yet.

What next?

Write another book, but I’m not ready for that. We’ve got a major vacation trip in the works this fall, and I’m not dedicated enough to want to work while I’m away, and having a wip come to a halt when I get the edits back for Beyond the Frame to deal with those edits, and having to put a new book on hold as well—let’s just say I’m glad I’m an indie author and can set my own schedule.

Do something totally unrelated to writing?

Brain isn’t going that way.

And then, the brain says “Hey! What about all those vignettes you’ve already written?”

Good thinking, brain.

I took those vignettes—former reader magnets, blog posts, guest posts for others—and assembled them into a single file. Arranged and rearranged in an order that seemed at least a little logical. Each one needed a brief introduction, so I took a little time to add those. Then, I reread them, made minor revisions, and asked one of my critique partners if she’d be willing to proofread, but not edit. (That’s a challenge unto itself.) She did. Thanks Karla!

A book, even a short one, needs a cover. Since this project is designed more to keep me doing ‘writerly’ things than as a major money-maker, I opted to let Canva help me design one. Besides, my cover designer is still busy playing catch up after her vacation.

Here it is.

Cover of Chance Encounters and Other Stories by Terry Odell

With a cover done, it was time to publish. Publishing an eighty-page collection of vignettes is as much work as publishing a 350 page novel. Same steps no matter how long the file.

But it’s done and ready for the public.

Here’s the description:

Where do characters come from? This author advertises for hers.

Wouldn’t it be great to eavesdrop on their interviews?

Chance Encounters is a peek behind the curtain, a tongue-in-cheek collection of twenty vignettes chronicling the author’s job interviews with characters aiming for a spot in her next book. They’ve all got their own lives, and their own reasons for wanting—or needing—the job.

In fiction, “Only Trouble is Interesting,” and some characters aren’t thrilled with the trouble they’ll be walking into. They offer their own opinions. Make suggestions. Does the author listen?

Spanning the Pine Hills Police, Blackthorne, Inc., Triple-D Ranch and Mapleton Mystery series, these light-hearted peeks behind the scenes let you look at where characters really come from.

The biggest challenge, I found, was finding the most appropriate categories in Amazon’s lists. They’ve made their decisions as to what cubbyholes books are supposed to fit, and—in keeping with my not coloring inside the lines personality—nothing about this collection fit well into their boxes. Will people find it? I don’t know. But whether they do or not, I had fun writing these vignettes over the years, and if there’s a new home for them now, so much the better.

What are they like? Here’s the opening page of the first vignette, When I Met Sarah

“Thanks,” I say, my face aching from the polite smiles I’ve been forcing all day. “I’ll be in touch.” I pick up the last yellow file folder from my desk and scan the first page of her resume. Sarah Tucker. Thirty-one. A little old for what I have in mind. I wonder how long ago her picture was taken. I lean across my desk and push the intercom button. “All right, Jess. Send in the next applicant.”

The door opens, and a perfect girl-next-door stands there. Wearing a navy-blue suit with a blouse buttoned above her collarbone. A refreshing change from all the silicone enhancements I’ve been staring at all day. She even has freckles across her nose and cheeks. No problem casting her in her twenties.

“Come in,” I say, my smile a little less forced. “Have a seat.”

She steps into the room. Pumps. She’s wearing pumps. A little worn in the heels, but polished. It’s as if she’s read my synopsis—which is impossible because I haven’t written it yet.

She sits in the seat across from my desk, clutching her purse—which matches her shoes, for God’s sake—on her lap. “Thanks. I’m Sarah Tucker. I’m here for the job interview. For the romance novel heroine.”

“Yes, I have your resume. Tell me why you want a job in a romance novel.” I brace myself, waiting for the canned, I want to bring happiness into the lives of poor, bored housewives speech. But she doesn’t say anything for a minute. She fusses with the hem of her skirt. (Mental note: good nervous gesture.)

“I have to be honest. My business—I have a small gift shop—hasn’t been doing well, and I need a little extra cash. My neighbor—Maggie, she’s the mother hen type—well, she saw your ad and talked me into coming in for an interview.”

“Any experience?”

“Experience with what? I’ve never been in a novel before, if that’s what you mean. But I’ve read a few.” …

If you’re interested, you can find it here.

 

What about you, TKZers? Have you found new homes for older works?

Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Deadly Ambitions
Peace in Mapleton doesn’t last. Police Chief Gordon Hepler is already juggling a bitter ex-mayoral candidate who refuses to accept election results and a new council member determined to cut police department’s funding.
Meanwhile, Angie’s long-delayed diner remodel uncovers an old journal, sparking her curiosity about the girl who wrote it. But as she digs for answers, is she uncovering more than she bargained for?
Now, Gordon must untangle political maneuvering, personal grudges, and hidden agendas before danger closes in on the people he loves most.
Deadly Ambitions delivers small-town intrigue, political tension, and page-turning suspense rooted in both history and today’s ambitions.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

Creating Buzz

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Creating Buzz
Terry Odell

Buzzy Bee toyIn my last post, I talked about how the cover for Deadly Ambitions came to be. I mentioned in a response to a commenter, that with the book in the hands of my editor and an extended period before the book will go live, I need to put on my dreaded marketing hat and come up with ways to generate some buzz.

Unless you can afford to hire a publicist, I don’t think it matters whether you’re indie or traditionally published—you’re still going to have to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Publishers don’t fork over the big bucks for most of their authors.

If you’re working with social media platforms, you’re going to want visuals, be they ads, memes, or whatever you call them. I’m not a graphics designer, so I rely on other programs.

I’ve found two resources that have helped me: Mockup Shots and Canva. (I do have paid accounts at both.) I know a lot of authors use Brush instead of Canva, but I found it too limiting since I create images for a lot more than book promo (like for my blog, newsletter, and TKZ).

Mockup Shots is very easy to use to generate images featuring your book. You plug in your cover, and it creates a huge number of choices. These are just a few.

You pick the ones you like and download them. Here are a few I picked.

Next, I take the mockups, and any images of my own I might want to use, and upload them to Canva. From here, it’s a lot of playing around with all the options and tools they offer.

My go-to design template is their landscape Facebook size, but you can choose your own dimensions. From there, it’s a matter of dragging the image(s) onto the template, and adjusting the size using the “handles” for lack of what I’m sure is a more correct term.

Next, I add the text. I have several tag lines so my projects won’t all be the same. I also have snippets of text from the manuscript. Canva gives you the opportunity to choose fonts, size, color, outline, shadows … more features than I need.

Another handy feature is the transparency adjustment. I tend to use this for my backgrounds so my text is more conspicuous. There’s also a position feature, so you can move your additions forward and backward. You go to the ‘text’ on the left sidebar and play around from there.

Another thing I like about Canva is they have people who will help you. I’ve used them. A lot!

Once I’ve finished, I download the file as a jpg (best for sharing). Rinse, repeat.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

I’m not fond of the marketing side of publishing as an indie, but at least playing around with these sorts of images is something I enjoy. Now, it’s a matter of deciding how to put them to best use. Suggestions welcome!

Oh, and before I forget. I’ve set Deadly Ambitions up as a preorder. The ‘go live’ date is January 14th, so I have plenty of time to work on honing my marketing skills.

What marketing/promotion tools do you use? Likes? Dislikes?

New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Deadly Ambitions

Peace in Mapleton doesn’t last. Police Chief Gordon Hepler is already juggling a bitter ex-mayoral candidate who refuses to accept election results and a new council member determined to cut police department’s funding.

Meanwhile, Angie’s long-delayed diner remodel uncovers an old journal, sparking her curiosity about the girl who wrote it. But as she digs for answers, is she uncovering more than she bargained for?

Now Gordon must untangle political maneuvering, personal grudges, and hidden agendas before danger closes in on the people he loves most.

Deadly Ambitions delivers small-town intrigue, political tension, and page-turning suspense rooted in both history and today’s ambitions.

Preorder now.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

 

What Could Go Wrong?

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What Could Go Wrong?
Terry Odell

As you read this, I’m probably prone on a Long Island beach attempting to take decent photos of nesting shorebirds. (I was going to say I was shooting birds, but that could be misinterpreted, especially in this group.) I’ll try to check in and respond to comments, but please don’t let my absence keep you from expressing yourself.

I normally keep my own blog, my Substack, and my TKZ posts separate, but given that I’ve been trying to prepare for the trip and deal with major rewrites on the current wip, I took the liberty of repeating myself here.

When I learned that it would be better to have my Triple-D Ranch Series published before my scheduled BookBub Featured Deal on July 9th, I set the wip aside while I created the ebook. No worries. I’ve done this many times before.

I had the manuscript put together and used Draft2Digital to create the epub. I downloaded it, and it looked fine, but wanting to make sure I had some time to make sure it was really ready, I scheduled it to release on July 1st, a few days in the future. I use Draft2Digital to get my books onto Apple because that used to be the only route unless you used a Mac. Being lazy, I never changed once Apple allowed PC users to upload directly.

Next, I figured I’d go to Barnes & Noble, which is one of the ‘easier’ places to upload a new book, because they don’t have territorial pricing, which is always a challenge for me. Before I’d gotten more than a couple of steps into the process, they asked, “Does your file include the cover?”

Dang. I’d added the individual covers for each title into the manuscript, but had totally neglected to include the one I’d created for the book.

Back to the manuscript, add the cover, then back to D2D to reupload the file. Checked to make sure no gremlins had crept in, and approved it for publication. Back to B&N, and finished jumping through their hoops. Checked the final review. How had I chosen my Mapleton Mysteries as the series this Triple-D Ranch book belonged in? Probably because I’d just adjusted the pricing on one of the Mapleton bundles, and that was where my brain remained. Edit. Reupload.

Kobo was straightforward enough, although they have a bunch of territorial pricing options, too.

Then, onto Amazon. By now, it should have been easy, right?

I got as far as uploading my manuscript file, which seemed to be taking much longer than usual to load. It finally did, I went through all the other steps, and downloaded the file to make sure their software hadn’t messed anything up.

What? Where was all the back matter I’d added through D2D’s options. My author’s note, all my other books, my teaser? I went back and looked. Somehow, I’d managed to upload my Word file, not the epub I’d created. So, once again, I upload the file, and this time, everything seems to be right. Amazon has territorial pricing, but not as many venues, so it didn’t take as long. But wait. I’d recently changed the pricing on a Mapleton bundle, and I was using those prices, not the ones based on the pricing for the Triple-D book. Go back to the Kobo pricing page, screenshot those prices and enter them at Amazon. Except … Amazon has price ceilings that are lower than Kobo’s for some of the territories, so in reality, most of my prices were already where they had to be.

I’m thinking all is well at last, and I still had a couple of days before the book goes live. But I need to add a page for the book on my website. I’ve done this before, too, so it shouldn’t take too long.

My web designer has things set up so if I create the page by cloning a previous book’s setup, I can just make the necessary switches. The cover and other metadata. All is going along swimmingly … until … I look at the home page and notice there’s something different about the cover for this one.

Check out the first cover from my cover reveal blog post. Then look at my book page. Can you tell what I did wrong?

So, back to Canva, make the changes, and get the website done. Almost. Turns out the cloning process only works properly if you clone a book from the same series. I hadn’t. I’d just used my most recent release, Danger Abroad, which is a Blackthorne title. So, the automatic populating of the page pulled the Blackthornes, not the Triple-Ds. Delete that file and start over, this time with a Triple-D title. Took a little longer because there was a section I wanted to be on the new book’s page that wasn’t on any of the other Triple-D titles, and I had to figure out how that worked by trial and error. (Because I wasn’t going to pay my web designer to change it unless I was totally out of my depth. Money, either incoming or outgoing, is a great motivator for me, and I did manage to figure out how to add that section.)

Only one more thing I had to do—change the cover everywhere—but I couldn’t do that until the book was live, because you’re not allowed to touch things when it’s that close to release.

So, a half day project ended up taking about three days, not counting the waiting for release so I could swap out the cover.

Anyone else have as many brain lapses on one project?

New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Danger Abroad

When breaking family ties is the only option.

Madison Westfield has information that could short-circuit her politician father’s campaign for governor. But he’s family. Although he was a father more in word than deed, she changes her identity and leaves the country rather than blow the whistle.

Blackthorne, Inc. taps Security and Investigations staffer, Logan Bolt, to track down Madison Westfield. When he finds her in the Faroe Islands, her story doesn’t match the one her father told Blackthorne. The investigation assignment quickly switches to personal protection for Madison.

Soon, they’re involved with a drug ring and a kidnapping attempt. Will working together put them in more danger? Can a budding relationship survive the dangers they encounter?

Available now.

Like bang for your buck? I have a new Triple-D Ranch bundle. All four novels for one low price. One stop shopping here.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

Compromises

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Compromises
Terry Odell

cover of The Triple-D Ranch novels by Terry OdellFirst, if you’ll indulge me, I have a new release. Not exactly a new book, but after being away, having family visiting, writing breaks to do research, hitting the 30K wall, and other real life interruptions, I feared the wip wasn’t going to be finished in time for a pre-holiday release.

What did I do? Triggered by an acceptance for a BookBub Featured Deal on July 9th for In Hot Water, book 1 in my Triple-D Ranch Romantic Suspense series, I decided to bundle all 4 books in the series as a box set.

I checked with the marketing gurus at BookBub, and they suggested that a release of the bundle before the featured deal would be a good option. I pulled the manuscripts for all four books into a single file and made the necessary adjustments to front and back matter. Since the first 3 in the series were released in 2016, there were some formatting issues to deal with, but it didn’t take long to have a manuscript file ready to upload.

I went into a lot of the process in a post a while back, so I’m not going to repeat any of that now. If you’re interested, you can find it here.

The new book, brilliantly titled, “The Triple-D Ranch Series” is available for purchase at most popular e-tailers. Here’s a link to one-stop shopping.

And on to the post topic: Compromises

Sue’s post on Monday reminded me of our move from Florida to Colorado way back in 2010. Although this is no longer my path to publication, I know a lot of TKZers are, or are hoping to be, traditionally published. The road to publication, like moving into a new house, can be filled with compromises.

During our renovations and remodels, we found ourselves compromising on a lot of issues. Sometimes it was a matter of money—deciding what things we were willing to cut from our dream plan, and where we were willing to shell out the extra cash. We decided to go with underfloor heating in the bathrooms. However, a custom job, with the heat mat made to order for the bathroom was prohibitively costly compared with the off-the-shelf versions. The compromise meant we were restricted to the sizes the mats came in; we couldn’t get the heat mat under the tile of the entire bathroom, leaving a few areas where the tiles remain cold. But having that extra course of tiles heated wasn’t worth the price differential. It was easier to learn to take a bigger step into the hall bath if you were barefoot, avoiding the first row of tiles.

Another compromise – we had a lot more room in our former house. Finding places for things that went into our wall units and china cabinet meant more furniture. We ended up with a large curio cabinet in the living area. However, it doesn’t have any interior lighting, so as far as displaying treasures goes, it’s not really the perfect system. It ended up being a liquor and glassware cabinet.

We ordered two bookcases for the downstairs, but when they arrived, we realized that one was a shade too tall for where we wanted to put it. (Never thought about the bulkhead ceiling on that side of the room, or how tall the bookcases would be.) So, we found another spot for the second unit, which ate up several feet of wall space, meaning when we get furniture for the room, we’re going to be limited in what will fit where.

When writing, you’ll also learn to make compromises—unless, of course, you’re writing strictly for yourself. Everyone says ‘write the book of your heart.’ But if you want people to read your books, you’re going to have to consider what the readers want. The book of your heart might not be marketable.

Somewhere along the line, you have to decide which battles are worth fighting and which aren’t. Some, you’ll never win. If a publisher wants humor, and you’re not a funny person, maybe that’s the time to realize that your efforts might be better spent elsewhere. Or maybe they want deep, dark suspense, full of serial killers and psychopaths, and you prefer lighthearted mystery. Are you capable of writing what they want? Will you feel like you’re struggling to get each word on the page? Assuming you’ve done your homework and submitted your work to a publisher who publishes what you write, and it’s accepted, what’s next? You’re going to have to deal with an editor who works for the publisher, and knows what they’re looking (or not looking) for.

For example, my editor for When Danger Calls, one of my early traditionally published novels, told me the publisher would nix any use of the word ‘penis.’ She said their readers didn’t like to read it. Was there a point to arguing with this one? No. Easy enough to change.

Another publisher didn’t like the use of brand names. Sometimes, a brand name serves as an immediate image for readers. I had to fight (and contact the companies) to use Knob Creek and Denny’s in a book.

On a grander scale, some genres have their own reader expectations and publishers have their own guidelines.

Once you’re aware of what your publisher and editor expect, you’ll find that you’re compromising with yourself during the writing process. Just like you learn to avoid that first course of tiles in the bathroom, you won’t use those ‘forbidden’ words. If you’re writing a contemporary series romance, you’ll learn to get your hero and heroine on the page and involved immediately, because that’s what readers of that genre want, and the publisher expects you to meet their expectations. If you’re writing a mystery, your readers will assume it’s a “murder mystery” and they’ll want to see that dead body right away.

Even indie authors might have to compromise to meet reader expectations. I’ve written almost 35K words in my next Mapleton mystery, and there’s no dead body. Yet.

How about you, TKZers? Have you had to compromise to keep your submission or book marketable?

New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Danger Abroad

When breaking family ties is the only option.

Madison Westfield has information that could short-circuit her politician father’s campaign for governor. But he’s family. Although he was a father more in word than deed, she changes her identity and leaves the country rather than blow the whistle.

Blackthorne, Inc. taps Security and Investigations staffer, Logan Bolt, to track down Madison Westfield. When he finds her in the Faroe Islands, her story doesn’t match the one her father told Blackthorne. The investigation assignment quickly switches to personal protection for Madison.

Soon, they’re involved with a drug ring and a kidnapping attempt. Will working together put them in more danger? Can a budding relationship survive the dangers they encounter? Available now.

Like bang for your buck? I have a new Triple-D Ranch bundle. All four novels for one low price. One stop shopping here.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

The Unexpected Sells

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In the March/April 2025 issue of Writer’s Digest, there’s an interesting article titled The Unexpected Sells. The subtitle is Why Agents Want Genre-Defying Stories. It opens with, “In an industry built on tradition, the rise of genre-blending and trope-defying manuscripts is not just a trend but a potential goldmine for aspiring authors”.

There may be some truth to this statement. A year or so ago, I posted a piece on the Kill Zone called Slipstream — A unique, Hybrid Fiction Cross-Genre. It opened with “…I’m intentionally breaking all the rules.”

There was definitely some truth to that statement, but that’s okay as the film rights to my City Of Danger project are secured, and it’s moving toward production. Now it’s a matter of waiting till the delivery technology is in place. That might be two years away.

I moved from the true crime and crime fiction slots where I’d been working. Part of it was a urge to try something new, and part of it was a hunch not to play it safe and maybe, just maybe, reinvent the wheel. God knows I’d be a disaster in writing romance or erotica, but I went down a road filled with bumps of hardboiled & noir detective fiction, lumps of futuristic sci-fi, potholes of 1920s nostalgia, and a dangerous curve of time travelling thriller/suspense.

It was weird enough to catch, not the eye of a publishing agent, but the ear of a film producer. However, they have similar interests, and that’s finding new material they can sell – hopefully, safely. “Something different, but not to different,” are words I have heard. City Of Danger seems to have met the “different” test.

Writer’s Digest goes on to say, “Clearly defined genres have long dominated the publishing landscape, each catering to specific audiences. These days, a shift is underway. Readers now yearn for stories as intricate and multi-leveled as their lives—stories that refuse to be confined to a single category. This thirst for originality has paved the way for genre-defying narratives to shine.”

The WD article gives examples of recent successful stories that shun predictable formulas. These are authors and titles I’m not familiar with, but they’ve “balanced innovation and execution”. Helpfully, WD addresses the challenges of writing hybrid narratives and principles of positioning the work.

In closing, WD says, “It’s time to take the risks. The unexpected sells because it surprises, delights, and connects. So, dare to be different. Today’s market isn’t just ready for genre-defying stories—it’s hungry for them.”

Here are two shots of the article. You might be able to save them to a larger screen or you might want to buy the magazine if you already haven’t.

Kill Zoners — Thoughts?

It’s Banned Books Week

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Banned Books Week
Terry Odell

display of banned books at Barnes & Noble

We’re smack dab in the middle of Banned Book Week—Sept 22-28.

I think the Kill Zone is a “Banned Free Zone” but it never ceases to amaze—and frustrate—me that people are determining what others can read.

My parents were liberal when it came to my reading choices, although they had a friend who wrote porn under a variety of pseudonyms, and they’d buy his books to support him. Those, I discovered later, they’d kept off the house’s bookshelves. Had I found one and read it, I’m not sure what they’d have said.

Barnes and Noble has a Banned Book section on its website, as well as in some stores. Titles include:

Animal Farm, by George Orwell
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
1984, By George Orwell
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
The Giver, by Lois Lowry
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Benedict—

And the list goes on.

top ten challenged booksThe American Library Association, ALA, documented 4,240 unique book titles targeted for censorship in 2023—a 65% surge over 2022 numbers—as well as 1,247 demands to censor library books, materials, and resources. Pressure groups focused on public libraries in addition to targeting school libraries. The number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92% over the previous year, accounting for about 46% of all book challenges in 2023.

According to PEN America:

“This 2022–23 school year, efforts to remove books expanded to sweep up a wide swath of literature and health-related content. Of the 3,362 instances of books banned in the 2022–23 school year, certain themes, formats, and identities recur:

  • 48 percent include themes or instances of violence and abuse (n =1,620). Of note, within this category, 834 instances are books that include episodes of sexual assault, which is 25 percent of all instances of books banned.
  • 42 percent cover topics on health and wellbeing for students (n = 1,402). This includes content on mental health, bullying, suicide, substance abuse, as well as books that discuss sexual wellbeing and puberty.
  • 33 percent detail sexual experiences between characters (n = 1,110).
  • 30 percent include characters of color or discuss race and racism (n = 1,003)
  • 30 percent LGBTQ+ characters or themes (n = 997). Of note, within this category, 205 instances are books that include transgender characters, which is 6 percent of all instances of books banned. 
  • 29 percent include instances or themes of grief and death (n = 980). This includes books that have a character death or a related death that is impactful to the plot or a character’s emotional arc.”

Facebook is full of graphics, or “memes” protesting banning books. Is it doing any good? Judging from the rising numbers of challenged books, I have my doubts. I haven’t seen any reports of actual book burnings, which might be the only positive piece of information I can include today.

Cover of Double Intrigue by Terry OdellIf I may be so bold, I have a new release dropping on October 3rd, and I don’t think anyone will find cause to challenge or ban it. It’s available for preorder now. Read more about it here.

The floor is yours, TKZers.

**New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

How can he solve crimes if he’s not allowed to investigate?
Gordon Hepler, Mapleton’s Chief of Police, has his hands full. A murder, followed by several assaults. Are they related to the expansion of the community center? Or could it be the upcoming election? Gordon and mayor wannabe Nelson Manning have never seen eye to eye. Gordon’s frustrations build as the crimes cover numerous jurisdictions, effectively tying his hands. Available now in ebook, paperback, and audio.
Like bang for your buck? I have a new Mapleton Bundle. Books 4, 5, and 6 for one low price.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

Where Does My Book Belong?

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Where Does My Book Belong?
Terry Odell

a wall of bookshelves full of books with a big question mark

Back in the days before I even gave writing a passing thought, my reading tastes ran to mystery and science fiction. Later, when I was toying with writing an original piece, I headed for the mystery genre. My daughters, who were reading sections as I wrote them, told me it was a romance. What? I’d never read a romance. Later, I learned there were sub-genres of romance, and one, dubbed romantic suspense, was included under the romance umbrella. I’m still irked that they didn’t call it romantic mystery because suspense is a different sub-genre under the mystery umbrella. I asked, and was told that the powers that be had decided to lump all mystery sub-genres together in the romantic suspense category.

For the record, writing a Romantic Suspense, be it mystery, suspense, thriller, police procedural or any other mystery genre, means you’re effectively writing two stories, with two protagonists who are almost equals, each with their own character arc. They can be working together or in competition, but they have their own GMCs. Not easy!

Readers of any romance genre bring their own expectations, and if there’s “romance” anywhere in the book description, they want—at the very least—a promise of a Happily Ever After. Of course, you have to solve the mystery, too. Or, in the case of my Blackthorne, Inc. novels, which are “action adventure romance”, you have to catch the bad guys.

Readers in bookstores—or libraries—gravitate to the shelves that hold the genres they’re looking for. When I was shopping my first true mystery, Deadly Secrets, it was turned down because the publisher wouldn’t know how to categorize it. Yes, it was a police procedural, but it had a “cozy” feel, and I was told to pick one, rewrite, and resubmit, or submit something else that fit their cubbyholes.

I was fortunate with the timing for this one—indie publishing had just become a thing, and I could publish it myself. Which I did.

Of course, all publishers, be they indie or traditional, have to fill out categories and keywords for their books. Something to let readers know what to expect. But ebook publishers can choose more than one category, because the shelves in online bookstores are almost infinite. You no longer have to be a huge best seller to warrant shelf space in two departments (think JD Robb, whose books can be found on both the romance and mystery shelves in brick and mortar stores).

When I returned from my trip through the British Isles, I thought I’d write a simple romance. (Motivation—write off the cost of the trip.) It didn’t take me more than a few chapters to realize I had to include mystery elements. The category romance genre (think Harlequin) wasn’t working for me.

Now, I’m writing a novel, Double Intrigue, set on a Danube River cruise. (Same motivation as above). As with Heather’s Chase, the book set in the British Isles, my intention is to subtitle it “An International Mystery Romance,” thus connecting these two books.

Here’s my dilemma. My main characters are not law enforcement by any stretch of the imagination. Not even amateur sleuths. Their relationship begins simply as two people who meet on a cruise. Their goals are completely different. One, Shalah, is a travel agent who’s got her big chance to prove herself and move up in the company she works for by documenting her trip so the agency can sell the itinerary.

The other main character, Aleksy, is from Prague, and he’s involved in some shady doings in the art world.

Because I’ll be including “romance” in the metadata, their attraction must end up fulfilling a romance reader’s expectation, which, in this case, is a promise of that HEA. I don’t wrap up my books with 2 kids, a dog, and a white picket fence.

Aleksy appears to be in line to succeed the current head of the “institute,” but does he want to continue doing what he’s spent his life doing? Is the institute on the verge of being discovered for what it really is? Would he be arrested? Is his best option to get off the cruise ship and disappear?

Oh, and then there’s the “twins separated at birth” trope that shows up, too. Contrary to expectations, Shalah and her newly found sister aren’t getting along well.

What about the “mystery” angle? Can I even call it a mystery? There’s no crime being solved on the page. No cops or detectives as major players. What other shelves could it fit on?

How would you classify this book, TKZers?

One more thing. Speaking of travel, I’m leaving Sunday for a trip to the Faroe Islands. It’s a photography workshop. Maybe I can come up with an idea for another book. And another tax write off. And some more “Wanderings” posts for my new Substack. This week, it’s about my trip to Croatia.

How can he solve crimes if he’s not allowed to investigate?
Gordon Hepler, Mapleton’s Chief of Police, has his hands full. A murder, followed by several assaults. Are they related to the expansion of the community center? Or could it be the upcoming election? Gordon and mayor wannabe Nelson Manning have never seen eye to eye. Gordon’s frustrations build as the crimes cover numerous jurisdictions, effectively tying his hands. Available now in ebook, paperback, and audio.
Like bang for your buck? I have a new Mapleton Bundle. Books 4, 5, and 6 for one low price.
New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings
Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

Rejected! Rejection Letter Words of Wisdom

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Any writer who puts their work “out there”, either submitting to various markets, or by self-publishing on various platforms, will be familiar with rejections. They go with the territory. I earned my first rejection letter forty years ago (!) when I made my first short story submission while still in college, to the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It was a form rejection.

Two years later, I received a personal rejection from Amazing Stories Magazine for my story, “Love Through Eating Illegals,” which posited a future where chocolate had been banned because of a particular chemical found in cocoa, and the anti-hero of the story was burgling houses trying to find hidden caches. (I’ll admit the idea of a world where chocolate is banned is almost too horrible to contemplate.)

The rejection letter, from editor George Scithers, spelled out why he rejected the story—namely, there wasn’t much of a story and what there was didn’t really work. He was absolutely right. It took me many more years and much study of fiction craft and a lot more writing to finally earn my first story acceptance for a story called “Dead Wife Waiting,” but those early rejection letters started me on the path.

Self-publishing has its own form of rejection, namely a lack of sales, readers, and/or reviews, which, like any kind of publishing rejection, can be learned from.

Today’s Words of Wisdom tackles rejection, and shows how it can help you become a better writer. As usual, the full articles are linked at the end of their respective excerpts and well worth reading in full. I hope they inspire you and also start a discussion here about turning rejection to your advantage.

I’m familiar with rejection. Before my first novel was published I wrote four books that went nowhere. I received rejection letters from every major publisher in the industry and a hell of a lot of minor ones too. (And because this record of rejection dates back to the late Eighties, some of them were actual letters rather than e-mails. Typed on paper, for crying out loud!) The rejections that hurt the most were of the “It’s good, but…” variety. You know what I mean: It’s well-written, but I didn’t like the characters. It starts well, but I lost interest. I liked the book, but I didn’t love it.  Or the worst: I loved the book, but it’s not right for us.

I hated those letters. My reaction was: If you like it so much, why don’t you just publish it? In my disappointment, I wondered whether the compliments were sincere. Perhaps the editors actually disliked the book but were trying to soften the blow. In a perverse way, I almost hoped that the praise was false. If it was genuine, that meant I’d come close to success but fallen short, which was more frustrating than missing by a long shot.

In retrospect, I realize how wrongheaded my reasoning was. First of all, I’ve learned that book editors are outrageously busy people. The notion that they’d take the time to invent a compliment seems so ludicrous now. I’ve also realized there are many valid reasons for rejection that have nothing to do with the quality of the novel. The publisher may have too many books on its list already. Or perhaps the imprint rejects a manuscript because it just published something similar and it didn’t sell very well. Publishing is a business, after all. An editor can afford to make a few money-losing bets, but not too many.

But my worst mistake was ignoring the obvious message of those letters: You’re getting close! You should keep trying! Now I see that receiving one of those “It’s good, but…” rejections is the equivalent of hitting the green outer ring of the bull’s-eye on a dartboard. If you can consistently hit that ring, then it’s just a matter of time before you’ll land within the inner circle and win the big prize.

Mark Alpert—February 9, 2013

 

Before self-publishing became viable, when you got rejected it truly tested your mettle. First novels almost never got picked up by an agent or publisher. And most of the time they never told you why. Just something like, “Does not fit our needs at this time.”

This would sting for a few days. Maybe you’d throw things around and think, “I just don’t have what it takes!” But if you were a real writer you’d get back to work. You’d figure out (with help from others) what was wrong with your writing. You’d study the marketplace. If you were wise, you’d study the craft, too. Maybe join a critique group, go to a conference or two or three. Invest in yourself.

Most important of all, you would continue to write. And then maybe two or three or five years later an agent would take a chance on you. And another year or two later, you might land that first contract. And then eighteen months later, your book would hit the stores.

And you would discover the truth behind Martin Myers’ keen observation: “First you’re an unknown, then you write one book and you move up to obscurity.”

Yet all that rejection and heartache and sticktoitiveness made you a better writer. Which, in turn, increased your chances of having an actual career.

So if you’re a brand new writer with a brand new novel (and a lot of you will be at the end of this NaNoWriMo month), go out and get some rejection. Use the beta reader grinder system. Seek open and honest opinion. Take the chip off your shoulder. Consider hiring a freelance editor. Start thinking like a business. Set up quality controls.

Heck, spend a month studying our library of first-page critiques. Talk about a concentrated course on storytelling!

Sure, you can skip all that and toss your novel up on Amazon, where it will get rejected by the people you most need—readers.

Or you can be a little patient, work hard, listen and learn and improve, and greatly increase your chances of success.

James Scott Bell—November 12, 2017

 

There is a hierarchy of rejections–a ladder to climb:

Rung #1 – Unsigned form letter: “This does not meet our needs at this time.”

Rung #2 – Unsigned form letter: “This does not meet our needs at this time but please try us again.”

Rung #3 – Same form letter with a handwritten note (unsigned): “This is good. Do you have anything else?”

Rung #4 – Personal letter: “Good story but too similar to one we recently published. I like your writing. Send more.” Actual editor’s signature.

Rung #5 – Personal letter signed with editor’s first name. Now we’re buddies.

With today’s electronic submissions, the process is similar, just faster and cheaper without the cost of postage and printing.

But the process still requires climbing the rungs.

Finally you clamber onto an exciting but scary roof with a steep pitch. The editor/agent likes the sample chapter and asks for the whole manuscript. Get a toehold on the rain gutter.

A month or five later, the rejection says: “This is good BUT…”

Fill in the blank with:

“Characters felt inconsistent.”

“The climax didn’t live up to expectations.”

“I just didn’t love it enough.”

Etc.

Slide down the roof a bit but hang on with fingernails.

Rewrite and submit more. Inch up the shingles. 

“All the editors loved it but the marketing department doesn’t think they can sell it.”

At last, you reach the peak of the roof when you receive a long, detailed, personal letter with specific suggestions.

In December, I received the most beautiful rejection of my entire career (and I’ve received hundreds!). I couldn’t even be unhappy when I read the following:

“Several of us read it and we all enjoyed your fresh, exciting take on a thriller—particularly the way you used the genre to explore the very real issue of elder fraud. There are several striking scenes that are seared in my memory (especially that late-night rescue in the snowstorm!). We thought you developed Tawny and Moe’s relationship with great sensitivity and nuance, and this in turn made Moe’s shifts between lucidity and violence a more emotional experience for readers. Unfortunately, we had difficulty connecting as deeply to Tawny—it often felt like she was kept at a remove from us. For this reason, despite our admiration for your writing and the compelling and dynamic world you’ve created, we don’t think we’re the right publisher for your book. I’m sorry not to have better news. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and consider STALKING MIDAS, and best wishes in finding the right home for it.”

It felt like the editor had sent me a dozen roses! 

When you tell civilians (non-writers) about the wonderful rejection you received, they usually draw their chins back and look down their noses. “You got rejected and you’re happy?”

Only other writers understand the irony of a rave rejection.

What do rejections really mean?

You’re in the game.

What do rave rejections mean?

Publication is in your future.

Debbie Burke—September 3, 2019

***

Now it’s your turn.

  1. What have you learned from receiving a rejection, and how have you used it to improve your writing?
  2. Have you ever received a “rave rejection,” and how did it affect your outlook?
  3. Any advice on handling rejection?

Not Even More Rules

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Not Even More Rules
Terry Odell

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

If there’s one “rule” of writing, especially in these days of indie publishing, it’s that there are no rules. Want to leave out quotation marks? Go for it. Want to replace them with dashes? Why not? Want to publish without any eyes but your own on the prose? Do your thing.

And, in these days of indie publishing, we can split these ‘rules’ into two basic categories. Rules of writing, which lean toward grammar conventions, and rules of publishing, which relate to what happens once the book is set loose into the world of readers.

Since there was a recent post about Heinlein’s rules, I’m following up with these from Kurt Vonnegut, which, as did Heinlein’s, relate more to the publishing side of things.

8 Rules for Writing

  1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
  2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
  3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
  4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
  5. Start as close to the end as possible.
  6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
  7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
  8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

— Kurt Vonnegut: Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons 1999), 9-10.

My personal thoughts and interpretations:

  1. The last thing I want is to hear someone saying, “well, there are XX hours I’ll never get back” after reading one of my books.
  2. Totally agree. It’s all about the characters for me, and I give readers more than one.
  3. We’ve heard this one a lot, both here at TKZ and at a myriad of other writing sites. Enough said.
  4. Need to remember this one. Wandering down Happy Lane in Happy Town doesn’t do much for book pacing.
  5. Yep, we’ve heard this one a lot, too. My self-measured progress as a writer was how much less I had to cut from the beginnings of my books.
  6. Another familiar one. Put your character up a tree and throw rocks at them. Or shoot at them.
  7. This one sits at the top of my list when I hit the editing phase. Don’t second guess yourself. Some readers will have issues with something in your book, be it a character who reminds them of their ex, or setting, or POV, or tense, or anything else. Let it go. Write your
  8. Not sure how to interpret this one. As writers focused on mysteries and suspense, we want that twist, that surprise.

Seems to me, we each make up our own rules, be it on the production side or the story side. We do what works for us, writing the best story we can by our personal standards.

Any of Vonnegut’s rules resonate with you? In either direction?

**Anyone going to Left Coast Crime in Tucson? Would love to meet!

Available for Pre-Order

Deadly Relations.
Nothing Ever Happens in Mapleton … Until it Does
Gordon Hepler, Mapleton, Colorado’s Police Chief, is called away from a quiet Sunday with his wife to an emergency situation at the home he’s planning to sell. A man has chained himself to the front porch, threatening to set off an explosive.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

Dieter Rams — 10 Principles of Good Design

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“Who is Dieter Rams?” you ask. “And how do his ten principles of good design apply to writing and publishing books?”

I wondered the same when I opened Farnam Street’s weekly newsletter on Sunday morning (if you’re not an FS subscriber, you’re missing out) and saw the headline Less but Better: Dieter Rams’ 10 Principles. I clicked and read a short article. It had such an impact that I printed and dissected it with my red pen and yellow highlighter.

“Man! Does this ever apply to writing and publishing books!” I said out loud. My wife, Rita, ignored me. She stayed glued to one of her Apple devices. “This is good stuff,” I said as I read a Dieter Rams quote. Everything interacts and is dependent on other things. We must think more thoroughly about what we are doing, how we are doing it, and why we are doing it.

Dieter Rams is German and, true to being German, is quality-orientated and detail-driven. Rams, now 89, was schooled in architecture but transformed into one of the world’s leading consumer product designers. His ingenuity and vision were instrumental in thousands of items sold by giants like Braun, Gillette, and European furniture maker Vitsoe.

Rams trailblazed the path for product designs to be more than beautification of consumer products focused on marketing purposes. Design, according to Rams, is innately human and serves as one of the foundational underpinnings of society as a whole. Rams observed: You cannot understand good design if you do not understand people. Therefore, design should involve a moral and ethical responsibility and designers should understand and consider the societal implications of their work, using design as a force for positive change and human preservation.

“Wenniger, aber besser,” said Dieter Rams. It translates to, “Less, but better.”

Right now, I imagine every Kill Zone writer and publisher is thinking Yep. Heard that advice many times. Less is More. And it’s some of the best writing advice there is with the economizing of words to make our writing and publishing simple, clear, and effective.

Rams stayed with Braun from 1955 to 1995 which included the transition from Braun to Gillette. He spent another decade freelancing with Vitsoe and, during his career at these companies, remained the prime design influence behind Steve Jobs and Jonathon Ive to shape the future of all Apple products. Yes, Rita’s Apple devices are based on Dieter Rams’ ten design principles.

So what are these ten design principles and how do they apply to book writing and publishing? Let’s do a dive into what Dieter Rams said about good design followed by my comments:

1. Good design is innovative. The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.

Me – We’ve seen monstrous changes in our storytelling delivery over the past decade, and there’s a lot more coming at us fast. Print on demand. Ebooks. Audio. Interactive. Editing apps. And artificial intelligence. We, as writers and publishers, need to be innovative.

2. Good design makes a product useful. A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

Me – Our stories must be useful. Meaningful and memorable. We must satisfy our reader psychologically and visually. We must respect our reader’s time and leave them feeling they got good value—something useful.

3. Good design is aesthetic. The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being. But only well-executed objects can be beautiful.

Me – Aesthetics, in our products (yes, books are consumer products), goes beyond the mechanics of cover graphics. Aesthetics goes beyond the interior layout of fonts and spacing. Aesthetics goes to the heart of the story where the reader sees the story in their mind.

4. Good design makes a product understandable. It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory.

Me – Less is more. Understandable. Can the reader follow what’s going on? Are they turning the pages ahead and not back?

5. Good design is unobtrusive. Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.

Me – Get the writer out of the reader’s eyes. We’ve all absorbed that advice. Book products are tools for the mind—for the reader’s self-expression. Suspension of disbelief 101.

6. Good design is honest. It does not make a product more innovative, powerful, or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.

Me – Keep your promise to the reader. That’s another timeless tip. Deliver on what you say.

7. Good design is long-lasting. It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.

Me – A beauty of digital publishing is longevity. Digital products are evergreen which gives two sides to the coin. One is they stay on the shelves as long as the server survives. Two is they reflect trendy styles.

8. Good design is thorough down to the last detail. Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the user.

Me – This principle hits home about book writing and publishing. We must output the most professional piece we can. That includes more than the story itself. Cover. Editing. Layout. And, yes, marketing.

9. Good design is environmental-friendly. Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

Me – Is there anything more environmentally friendly than an ebook or an audiobook? Compared to a print book where trees die and ink pollutes? I’m not against the print book industry by any means. I’m just sayin’.

10. Good design is as little design as possible. Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.

Me – Wenniger, aber besser.

What about you Kill Zone writers and publishers? How do you see Dieter Rams’ ten design principles fitting in with your work? Can you add other principles that help us to be better at writing and publishing?

———

Garry Rodgers is a retired homicide detective with a second career investigating deaths as a coroner. Now, he’s a crime writer and indie publisher with some twenty works in the public arena.

Garry also hosts a popular bi-weekly blog on his DyingWords.net website and flirts with the feed on Twitter @GarryRodgers1. Vancouver Island on Canada’s southwest coast is home to Garry Rodgers.

Watch for Garry’s new series City Of Danger coming this summer. 2022.