Connecting the Dots (again)

Not Complicated was released earlier this month, which means all four of my Coffee and Donuts books are now available. This feels like a good time to write about what makes this series a series. How are these books linked?

In a lot of series, each book picks up a timeline shortly after the end of the previous book. (I could put in a plug here for Stories From Hartford being a fine example, but I won’t.) The Coffee and Donuts books, however, happen at the same time. They all start on the same day and end on the same day and even share a few settings. This makes the characters occasionally pop up in each other’s stories, even though they don’t know each other.

They do have a few mutual friends. In the opening scene of Said and Unsaid (1), Alexa is sitting with Linda, Suzy and Joyce. Linda is Molly’s mom in Not Complicated (4). Suzy is Maddie’s mom, also in Not Complicated (4). And Joyce is Austin’s grandmother in Sofie Waits (2). Austin even shows up briefly in the first book, then that scene is repeated from his perspective in the second book. (See Excerpt 2 and 4 for details.) Anyone paying attention can pick up a few other places where characters from other books are recognizable. But I also had some fun slipping in some uncredited roles. Here are a few.

From Sofie Waits (2):
    [Monsignor Loy] just kept smiling. “You two have been delightful. I must mingle some more now. Have a good day.”
    As he moved to a young couple by the donut table, Sofie was left wondering if he meant she and Amber were delightful or his Tuesdays with Amber and Joe.

This scene continues in Said and Unsaid (1), as the young couple by the donut table is Tracker and Alexa.

From A Perfectly Good Man (3):
    I made my way through the building to wave at Monsignor Loy before I left. Then I tossed my cup in a trash can by the door and stepped into the bright sunshine of a summer day. There were flowering trees along the sidewalk, the scent of coffee followed me from the parish hall, and a little boy was laughing hysterically on his dad’s shoulders. The idyllic scene was marred by the feeling that I was running away from something and by the uneasiness of not knowing what it was.

The little boy is Emmet from Not Complicated (4). There’s a line in that book that shows him being lifted onto his dad’s shoulders.

From Not Complicated (4):
    A pretty woman with a blond ponytail showed up with two fresh drinks. “Griffin got a little tied up and asked me to deliver these,” she said. “Your food should be ready any minute. Can I get you anything else in the meantime?”
    “No, thanks,” I said, offering her an appreciative smile. She had an open friendliness about her that was nice to see even if only for a moment.

Molly is at The Sleepy Crab in this scene. The blond woman is Heidi from A Perfectly Good Man (3).

From Sofie Waits (2):
    He crossed paths with Monsignor Loy on the sidewalk. “Good morning, my sheep.” The priest smiled and smoothed his beard. “Are you alone today?”
    “Looks that way,” Austin said.
    “Physically but not spiritually, of course.”
    “Of course.” Austin nodded at the correction that was not insignificant. He was trying to rely on God to find a time to talk to Sofie. The reminder helped. It was harder to be impatient with God than with Sofie.
    “I hear there’s a bug going around,” Monsignor Loy said. “I hope that isn’t the reason you’re without family.”
    “No. They were all fine last night. I’m sure they’re just coming later.”

Monsignor Loy is the only character who appears in all four books. The bug he mentions here is a reference to the one that hits Linda in Not Complicated (4) and Tracker in Said and Unsaid (1) around this time.

From Said and Unsaid (1):
    I noticed a couple about to pass us on the other side of the street. They were holding hands. I began to panic that Tracker would think I was wishing I wasn’t holding leashes because I was getting ideas about him holding my hand and he wasn’t thinking anything like that and didn’t have any intention to ever be thinking anything like that and he was probably freaking out about me getting ideas like that when he only wanted to be friendly and hadn’t planned on walking halfway around the city with his lazy, or maybe just old, dog. I needed to say something.

That couple on the other side of the street is Heidi and Tyler from A Perfectly Good Man (3). They notice Alexa, too.

From Sofie Waits (2):
    [Austin] passed a couple in the parking lot on his way to his car. He didn’t know what was going on between them and didn’t care, but he felt a slight pang of jealousy because the guy appeared to have the girl’s rapt attention. His life would be a lot easier if he could get Sofie to stay in one place long enough to spell out exactly where he stood with her.

The couple may or may not be a couple. The woman is Heidi from A Perfectly Good Man (3). Who is she talking to after church on the 3rd Sunday?

There are other instances of overlap, but I don’t want to give away all the secrets. Feel free to read the whole series to look for more of them.

Stage 6 - Hope

I’m not sure if my husband was surprised or amused to find I’d put Hope last in my writing process. Shouldn’t Hope be first, he wondered? Don’t most good things begin with Hope?

I didn’t list hope first because I’ve gotten past that in my current writing process. I’ve come to a point where I’ve written enough books that I know I can write another one. I don’t know how long it might take, and I don’t know how frustrated I might get. But I believe that, eventually, I’ll get there. My hope now is that the book will be read. Hope is the stage when I release a book, cross my fingers, pray really hard, and wait for people to read the book. There are some people who do read my books. Anyone can look at sales ranks and reviews to see that I’ve had mild success. I Hope for more. As long as I’m writing more books, I’m Hoping for more readers.

Now I don’t just hope. I have done nearly everything I have thought of to get copies in front of readers. Potential readers. And even when the books are free, this is difficult. I’ll be utterly transparent about how difficult it is. Here’s what I’ve done:

1) Digital giveaways – The simplest way to pass out copies of my books is to make them free at one or more ebook sites. The main problem (reason this does little good) is that it’s too simple. Free ebooks are largely ignored or dismissed as not worth the price. As a reader, I know exactly why. I’ve still used this method. I’ve given away thousands of books in the last several years.

2) Goodreads giveaways – The nice thing about these is that it gets people to add books to their “to read” shelves. That makes my book pages look healthier. But it doesn’t mean much beyond window dressing. Most users treat their “to read” shelves as “of the millions of books out there, this looks like something I might read if I suddenly have twenty years of free time” shelves.

Even of the users who have won free copies of my books, only about a third have posted a rating or review. That’s the only way I know the books might have been read, and I cannot overstate how much I appreciate the ones who do write detailed reviews.

3) Advertising – I have paid for a few book ads. What I spend is crystal clear but the payoff is murky at best. Even when you can see the clicks, it’s difficult to measure sales. My budget is so small this is hardly worth mentioning anyway.

4) Review copies – The only socially acceptable way to offer a complete stranger a free book is to call it a review copy. In a perfect world, I would never contact strangers to beg for their opinions. I hate doing it. That’s the truth. I don’t actually beg though. It just feels like begging after all the hoops I jump through to get the contact information in the first place.

To search for reviewers, it is a bad idea to type in “book reviewer” or “book blogger” or anything simple. The top 200 results (at least) will be sites so popular they are no longer accepting requests. Or scams. There are plenty of sites that promise to get reviews from their subscribers (usually for a fee) if you also subscribe. Guess who the subscribers are. Guess how many are actually writing reviews.

It’s marginally more productive to include genre keywords in the search. The first thing I do at each site anyway is find out if the reviewer accepts books like the one I’m pitching. I try very hard not to spam. The next thing is to find out if the site is still active. Many people start a book blog, write a few posts, then abandon the effort. I am not judging these people. Seriously. I only post once a month, and it feels like it’s always time to post again.

After I narrow the field, I narrow it further to rule out contacting anyone who admits to having a significant backlog (because that sounds like someone I don’t want to bother), anyone whose reviews look like reworded summaries (because we all know why), anyone whose own book is prominently displayed on the blog (because that person is likely looking to exchange reviews, only good ones), and anyone who rates romances based on how badly the hero suffers after cheating (because I’m not a psychologist).

I don’t keep stats, but I feel as though I visit dozens of sites for each one where I decide to submit a review request. I’m sure I send out at least five requests for every one that gets a response. (And most of those are “Sorry, I’m too busy.”) When I do finally send out books, I’ll consider myself lucky if half the recipients write reviews. Hello needle! Welcome to my haystack.

5) Shady practices – I said I’d be fully honest. This is the part where I admit I got a few friends to review my first book. I justified it by asking them to only post reviews if they could do so honestly. Yeah, I know how that sounds now. That book has been retired. I’d like to call it a rookie mistake and move on.

I have since tried to avoid anything that moves into gray areas. The temptation is strong though. Other authors offer to swap reviews. All I’d have to do is post a few vague lines next to 5 stars on a book almost no one will ever see – and use a fake name to do it – and one of my books can have a glowing review. Sock puppet accounts are easy to create. I could write believable reviews for my books because I’ve actually read them. I could pay for reviews. I could join online groups and forums only to promote my book. Some things that may not be explicitly wrong still don’t feel right.

Sometimes those things work though. I have seen books amass tons of what I know are phony reviews. (Not because a book doesn’t look deserving, but because I’ve encountered the author publicly trading for those reviews.) It can be difficult not to be jealous. I have to remind myself how unsatisfying an insincere review would feel.

6) Try anything – Desperation may be the mother of creativity. Sometimes it feels as though my books are stranded on a tiny island and potential readers are all in airplanes. I’m slapping at the signal fire with anything that’s free and ethical and hopefully not annoying. I post blogs and reviews to keep content fresh. I’ve made videos. I almost wrote a pirate song. You’d have to read the Coffee and Donuts books to understand the relevance. I’ve dropped vague hints hoping to spark curiosity. You’d have to read the last sentence to understand the relevance.

I wrote a novelty story on an Amazon forum in an attempt to make my other stories stand out. I’ve posted excerpts of my books on goodreads with personal notes attached. I’ve written a blog with the thought in the back of my mind that someone might see how challenging it is to get reviews and spontaneously write one.

That’s not unethical, right? It’s just hopeful. I’m writing about Hope. I know it might sound like I’m whining, like I’m complaining that not enough people read my books. That’s not the point. The point is that I’m willing to do an awful lot to attract readers to my work and after all the struggles, Hope is alive and well. I don’t write books because it’s easy. I don’t write because I think I’ll get rich. There are no delusions here, only Hope. I write because I enjoy the stories, and I want others to enjoy them as well. As many others as possible.

I will carry that Hope as I prepare to release each new book. The next one, Not Complicated, will be available in two weeks. There’s a giveaway on goodreads. The kindle version will be free Sept. 8-10. Book bloggers and even casual reviewers can contact me privately for a copy. I Hope to pass out a lot of copies. I Hope to hear from those who enjoy it. And I Hope to get an excerpt posted soon.

Stage 5 - Help

I read an article many years ago about the value of critique groups for writers.  The only thing I really remember about the article is that it seemed to be picking on my grandmother.  It said a lot of things like, “Your grandmother will love what you write no matter what,” and “Your grandmother thinks she’s being kind when she says your book is perfect the way it is,” and “Your grandmother doesn’t want to admit to herself that your book has flaws, let alone say that to you.”

I know what a generalization is and I know why that one exists, but I still sort of wanted to introduce the article’s author to my grandmother.  She was a retired English teacher.  She was sharper than the best cheddar and not afraid of hard truths.  Her belief that letting students see her smile would make her appear soft earned her the nickname “Stoneface.”

When my grandmother read one of my early works, she only said, “The past tense of lie is lay.”  Then she changed the subject.

While I’m not going to lie and say I wouldn’t have enjoyed a little praise mixed in – because this was my grandmother – she did actually tell me exactly what I wanted to hear.  She gave me something concrete and fixable.  (The only thing that would have made it better was the page number where I made that mistake.)  Concrete and fixable is usually what I’m after when I look for help with my books.  Once I have a book to the point I’m pretty happy with it, I find as many people as I can to read it and tell me about the things that shouldn’t make me happy, the mistakes I can’t see because I’m too familiar.

Imagine that someone pushed text under your nose that you know by heart, maybe the Lord’s Prayer or favorite song lyrics.  You wouldn’t actually read it, would you?  You might be looking at the words, but they’d already be printed on your brain.  You probably wouldn’t notice if something was misspelled or mixed up unless you forced yourself to go slowly and study each word.  I try.  It’s hard to do that for an entire book.  This is when I need help from those who don’t have parts of the book memorized.

So I ask for help. 

And I get help.

Comments from other family members have included: “I just don’t think that would happen.”  “Is it too late to suggest changes?”  “You can call that a style thing, but it bugs the heck out of me.”  “I stumbled over and reread that sentence many times.”  “Your characters are so nice I want to gag.”  “Can I have a copy of that manuscript so I can try to fix it for you?”

I didn’t need that article I mentioned above to convince me of the value of critique groups.  I truly value any feedback I receive.  I try to listen for valid points even when those points are stabbing holes in my pride.  I have made changes based on some of these suggestions.  But that’s not what Stage 5 is supposed to look like. 

Stage 5 is about polishing.  It’s about getting typos and concrete mistakes pointed out.  The help stage is about people telling me specifically where I’m wrong.  People handing me a list of mistakes.  People making sure I know how perfectly human I am in nice, simple lists.  I could call it proofreading.  I call it help because everyone loves me enough to be more honest than I ask.