Samaritans Good to #Suspense #Mystery Authors: Patron Strangers

I am heartened by the support I get as a writer. My friends and family are my cheerleaders. They know me and understand how important writing is to me, so their encouragement makes sense.

But what about the strangers who step in to do some heavy lifting for me, often providing more time, effort and input than anyone who knows me?  I call them Author Samaritans, without whom my books would suffer from subjectivity, authenticity, and flat out fakery.  Mistakes. Illogical plot. Superficial characters.  Samaritans save me from laughing-stock-status with every page.

And some of these Samaritans request to remain anonymous.  All that hard work and valuable input, never acknowledged.  Amazing!

One such expert was an FBI agent who clarified chain-of-command issues for me. A loop writer heard my plea and offered up her FBI husband to give me advice.  He did, then backed away behind a curtain of anonymity.

For my new book, FIRE IS NICE, one of my golf friends heard me talking about its Sequoia setting and my need to consult with rangers. She connected me up with a golfing friend who was a high level Fish and Game Warden. I gave him my manuscript without having the chance to meet him. To this day, I haven’t met the guy, even if I’ve e-mail chatted with him many times.  The feedback he gave me was detailed and nuanced, complete with pages of information (some redacted) from primary sources. From all he said, he enjoyed the chance to help refine my story.

Gems.  Treasures.  Grist for this author.  Expertise I couldn't possibly glean from Google.

So let's celebrate our heroes.  Who was your most recent Author Samaritan?

Note: Relatives and friends can offer extraordinary expertise, as well.  My geologist brother’s knowledge brings rock solid detail in BAD LIES http://a.co/1N5RAAL Take a look!

Web and Blog:

http://rolynnanderson.com

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rolynn-Anderson/188767867821613  

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/rolynnanderson

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4990049.Rolynn_Anderson

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/author/rolynnanderson

Front Yard #Landscaping…DONE!

Meghan and Harry, move over. I’ve got the next big news bite backed by six months of execution, the amount of time it probably took to plan the royal couple's wedding. Finally, my giant front yard, once blanketed with thirsty grass, is lawnless. Instead of a slew of rotating sprinklers, we have a drip system that uses so little water, we’re planning our next trip with the money we save each month (uhh, after we pay the bill for the makeover, that is!). But hear this: the county is paying us $3,000 ($1 per square foot of removed grass) because we ripped out our green carpet and replaced it with drought tolerant plants! 

Succulents abound in our yard, plump plants that store water, a boon for forgetful gardeners. I’ve used of a variety of palms, Pindo palms, tall Queens, and Robellini’s (pigmy palms). To draw the eye away from our three car garage and giant concrete driveway, a meandering walkway cuts through the front yard welcoming guests to our front door. I used tall planters to add height and a modern look.  Overall I went for a contemporary Palm Springs/desert vibe where succulents belong. And we put in lights!  How I wish I could take a good picture of the space lit up at night. 

Instead of working with a landscape company and architect, I chose a bright, experienced man who has a yard maintenance business with only two guys working for him. I told Albert: “I want a yard requiring care an hour every other week. Period.  And you’ll be the man I hire to take care of it.” I had a picture in my head of the look I wanted…he helped me make it a reality.

Now comes the back yard. We begin next week!

While you're waiting for more pics, name your favorite plant in your yard/planter.  I name: Parrot’s Beak (groundcover-deer and drought resistant!), Crassula Capitella (orange/yellow succulents: Campfire and Red Pagoda), and dwarf rush (coming soon in the back yard)

In between choosing plants, I plan to write a mystery novel about a landscape architect...poison plants and burying bodies, hee-hee-hee!

Web and Blog:

http://rolynnanderson.com

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rolynn-Anderson/188767867821613  

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/rolynnanderson

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4990049.Rolynn_Anderson

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/author/rolynnanderson

When Pieces Don't Fit by Betsy Ashton

Back when I was beginning as a writer, I piled up tomes in cyber dust. I have probably six complete novels that have yet to see the light of day. Rightfully, in the format they were in when they went into "storage." Perhaps I'll find something in the stories that is worthy of updating and turning into a novel. Perhaps not, but it was all part of my tuition of learning my craft.

When I finally settled on one story, I knew, just knew, how it would go. I wanted to write about the dissolution of a marriage where both the husband and wife tell the story in first person. I picked a voice for the man:  crisp, short sentences or fragments thereof, limited showing of emotion until the turning point. I loved that brisk male voice.

For the wife, I wanted her to descend into drugs and madness. Long winding sentences tumbling back on each other. Wallowing in grief. Writing from the POV of a mad woman was a challenge and oh so liberating, because I could engage in purple prose under the guise of drugs.

The voices were distinct. No one had difficulty reading the beta copy and determining who was speaking. Trouble was, these were the wrong voices to tell the story. One of my beta readers pointed out that the story would be stronger with a single narrator. Problem was, I couldn't see either Mr. Brisk or Mrs. Rambling Rose carrying the story line.

Another beta reader suggested I sleep on it. I did. And about three in the morning, I sat bolt upright in bed with a voice yelling at me: "It's my story, dammit. Tell it my way." Well, yes ma'am.

That was the voice of a minor character. The mother of the wife, the mother-in-law. Really? This character? No way. But the more I thought about the change, the more I thought, way. Maybe she could carry the narration. I still wanted first person, because I wanted the narrower focus, the ability to delve deeply into emotions.

I played with a couple of chapters. The pieces fit. The story flowed. 90,000 words had to be rewritten in a completely different form. Writing became fun. Watching the new main character shape herself was thrilling. The more I got out of her way, the faster and better the narrative developed.

And thus, Mad Max was born. She was never meant to be a major character. The book was going to be a stand-alone until I changed the POV. Then, I could see a series. Three books later, she's as comfortable as a pair of bunny slippers and an old bathrobe. And yet, I never know what she's going to do next. She could do anything.

I'm broadening her reach. My publisher has a May Mystery Month sale on for ebooks. $.99 each for the three Mad Max books. Join me. Tell me if you like her. Tell me if you don't. What do you have to lose?

Unintended Consequences: https://amzn.to/2HHwttJ

Uncharted Territory: http://amzn.to/20EQMap

Unsafe Haven: http://amzn.to/2suJRKA

Amazon Sponsored Ads-Collecting Wisdom by Rolynn Anderson

Talk about the blind leading the blind. I’m a panelist May 19 with another author, 'teaching' author/book promotion. I’m baffled about what to advise the audience to do since lately, our efforts have yielded people who ‘impress,’ but not people who 'buy.' Facebook hasn’t been much help in finding new readers for us, so many of us are using Amazon Sponsored Ads. Alison and Alicia have spent time working the system and have passed on some great ideas. Still, I thought we might review best practices and fill in any blanks as well as ask questions of one another. I did listen to a teleseminar by Derek Doepker and I read an article by Shane Stinemetz, the director at Fetcher https://fetcher.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Ultimate_PPC_ebook.pdf

Here’s a draft of steps to take for building Amazon Sponsored Ads that sell books (correct my errors, please!):

1. Start with the obvious: Great Book, Fabulous Cover, Super Branding; gnat’s eyebrow understanding of novels like ours and

who our ideas readers are. We need good reviews, too...10 to 20.

2. For each book, write a list of at least 200 keywords of broad and specific nature about EACH book (Note: some words, like ‘suspense’ and ‘romance’ will appear on all the lists). Important (I JUST LEARNED THIS): Put each keyword on a separate line…a list but with no numbers.  YOU CAN COPY THIS LIST IN THE AMAZON BOX FOR KEYWORDS AND THEIR COMPUTER WILL SEPARATE THEM FOR YOU. Don’t forget to save your list as well as print out your list from the marketing site when you’ve gotten some feedback about ‘Impressions.’

Here are some keyword search sites (Fetcher suggests these; I’ve only tried Google, so far) besides Amazon: Google Keyword Planner, Keyword Tool io, AHREF’s Keyword Explorer, Moz Keyword Explorer, LSI Graph, Ubersuggest

Decide whether you want BROAD keywords, PHRASE keywords and/or EXACT keywords (see Fetcher’s article for more on this), but here are his ideas, in general:

“Using a broad match type opens up your ads to a wider audience which is great when mining for new keywords. This is a good place to start when launching new products.

“Using a phrase match type allows you to start to narrow down the amount of variants that can trigger your ad, thus saving cost and becoming more targeted. But there are still some variants which can continue to provide some useful insights.

"Finally, using exact match is most targeted and allows for the least variance in the search term that the consumer enters. This makes your ads more targeted, and usually cheaper with an improved ROI. It also means your ad will show to less people (less impressions). It will take some experimentation before you can transition keywords from broad match to exact match.”

3.  Work VERY HARD on your ad text…you want to spark the reader’s interest in only two sentences…make every word count!  SAVE THIS TEXT!

4.  Now comes what Derek Doepker calls ‘throwing spaghetti against the wall’…put ‘keywords’ in the place of ‘spaghetti,’ and you have your next step.

5.  Start with .25 per click unless you know you should bid higher based on past data. Look to see which words get the most impressions and clicks, and raise the per click rate to .50 or $1.00

6.  Decide on your overall budget and length of campaign.  Since there’s a 5-day lag for results on most of these campaigns, make them at least two weeks.  I go for monthly.  Amazon says don’t terminate the ad, just pause it.  That way, you can start it up again any time you choose. (See their instructions on the right hand side of your marketing page)

7. The analysis and adjustment of keywords and bids.  Here’s where I need your help. One of my campaigns earned 65,000 impressions and cost me $7 but not one sale.  Tell us how you learned to adjust keywords and bids to get sales. 

Roses, thanks for helping me smarten up for my panel!

Web and Blog:

http://rolynnanderson.com

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rolynn-Anderson/188767867821613  

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/rolynnanderson

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4990049.Rolynn_Anderson

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/author/rolynnanderson