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The recent flap about James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces has hit the media with a big bang, bringing the age-old debate about what is acceptable when writing memoir–a “real” story. Every time a memoir is released that gains media attention this debate is raised. Mary Karr, The Liar’s Club, Jennifer Lauck, Blackbird, and Vivian Gornick, Fierce Attachments, all defended their memoirs in various medias, and all said that some recreations of actual reality had to occur in order to write the story and make it interesting.

As a memoir teacher, I find that people are very worried about the ethical issues involved in memoir writing. For example, the writers ask such questions as, “what if I don’t remember the exact conversation when my mother died,” or “I don’t know what clothes I was wearing the day my father went away forever.” I am always moved by these innocent, caring questions, because the writer is trying very hard to be truthful and accurate, and not leave any room to be accused of dishonesty.

In my memoir Don’t Call Me Mother I researched the time the train arrived in Perry, Oklahoma to make sure the scene I was painting and the conflict with my grandmother about how long she’d kept my father waiting at the train station–three hours! was accurate. My memory told me it was a long time, but finding the time of scheduled arrival made me feel great–memory was not all I was drawing upon to create a story that would be taken seriously as “real.” In fact, when I began writing the stories that eventually turned into my memoir, I was calling it “fiction,” but the writing group challenged me about how unrealistic it was that a mother would act the way my mother acted, and that my grandmother was portrayed as “too over the top,” thus unbelievable. My answer was, “but it was all true.” Their response: “It doesn’t matter what is true in fiction, but it does for memoir.”

I realized that the power of the story I was going to tell was that it was true, and I did my best to recreate scenes that delivered the truth. Naturally, childhood memory is subjective, any memory is subjective, but over the years, as I talked with people who knew parts of the story and visited locations where the story took place, I discovered that indeed I had remembered very well, and I had not made things up in my mind. However, I am sure that if my grandmother and mother were alive to challenge what I wrote, they would have another point of view.

In order to reach out to the reading public and go beyond private journaling, a memoir writer must create a story that has a shape, drama, and story arc. This may mean constructing a scene that conflates time, or adds costumes to our characters that they may or may not have worn, but our job is to be as accurate and as honest as we can be. If we change the plot of our lives because another plot would be more interesting to the publisher, we are in the realm of fiction. If we say we had relationships we didn’t have because it would make a better story, we need to call it fiction.

A memoir writer needs to write a first draft that sifts through the happenings, feelings, and challenges and get them down on the page–a draft that is healing and purging–and important work.

Publishing is another stage. The writer must ask many questions of the work–how much to include, what is the shape of the book, and how to write it so others can identify and understand.

What to say about James Frey? None of us can know for sure what went on for him as he constructed his book, and what he remembered. On January 15, Mary Karr wrote a piece in the New York Times about memoir writing and she had this to say,

“Call me outdated, but I want to stay hamstrung by objective truth, when the very notion has been eroding for at least a century. When Mary McCarthy wrote ‘Memoirs of a Catholic Girlhood’ in 1957, she felt obliged to clarify how she recreated dialogue. In her preface, she wrote: ‘This record lays a claim to being historical - that is, much of it can be checked. If there is more fiction in it than I know, I should like to be set right.’”

Mary went on to talk about how much she learned, and how healing it was when she didn’t make passages in her book more “interesting” or shape them into a slightly different story. “If I’d hung on to my assumptions, believing my drama came from obstacles I’d never had to overcome - a portrait of myself as scrappy survivor of unearned cruelties - I wouldn’t have learned what really happened. Which is what I mean when I say God is in the truth.”

What a great idea&ndashas we write memoir we are reaching for something beyond our conscious selves. In the river of creativity and the search for truth, there are forces beyond us moving us along to a place we didn’t even know about, a place of healing and resolution. We can hope that James Frey also has found, or is finding, a resolution for his suffering, and that all memoir writers do the same, by wrestling with what truth is, and writing it out with a full voice.

Ask a bunch of aspiring magazine writers what editors are looking for when they read article queries and I’ll bet most of them answer, “good article ideas.”

Well, sort of. What editors most want to find in queries are good article ideas from writers who have an appealing edge over other writers. Contrary to what most beginning freelancers think, that edge need not be writing talent. A good many other qualities, some of which don’t show up in a query, make a writer valuable to an editor.

Ever hopeful yet skeptical, editors read queries for evidence that a writer not only has a relevant article idea but also one or more of the following qualities:

1. Research ability. Writers who can turn up little-known, highly interesting truths, track down hard-to-find statistics and answer thorny factual questions can easily rack up magazine assignments as long as they also understand what makes a topic relevant to a certain publication’s readers. Build your queries around such material and you’ll soon have lots of editors as regular clients - especially if your submissions sail through the fact-checking process.

2. First-hand knowledge. Pilot and flight instructor Mal Gormley found himself in demand as a writer for Business & Commercial Aviation, Aviation Week and other aviation magazines, which had all gotten burned by freelancers who were decent writers and researchers but who just didn’t understand flying. Hobbies, languages you speak, where you live or have lived and family circumstances such as being a parent of twins can each sometimes add to your appeal and win you assignments and repeat business from editors if you play your cards shrewdly in proposing and writing articles.

3. Access. Did you used to be a wardrobe assistant in Hollywood or an executive coach for Fortune 100 CEOs? If you can validly claim unusual access to hard-to-reach groups of people, you may find it easier to land assignments. Debra Wallace, who has interviewed such film stars as Dustin Hoffman, Glenn Close and Lauren Bacall, says that the celebrity writing business is “tough and not for the faint of heart.” She advises novices to prove their ability to get access first at smaller, local magazines before approaching national publications.

4. Expertise. Professional degree credentials are not quite as valued by editors as many well-educated people expect. Unfortunately, many experts cannot explain what they know in ways that capture the attention of magazine readers. But those who can write in a popular style have a great opportunity to endear themselves to editors.

5. Controversy. If you’re one of those people who have a knack for making people sit up and argue for or against what you’re saying, some editors consider that a worthy strong point. What generally accepted views can you passionately &ndash and credibly &ndash dispute? Just don’t launch an attack that’s going to inspire death threats or make you untouchable when you want to write on other issues.

6. Dependability. Editors can’t know how dependable you are from a query, of course, but having had a weekly column or having written regularly for one publication strongly implies that you adhere to journalistic standards and meet deadlines. Because an editor has to get an issue finished on time no matter what, this quality counts heavily. “When I told editors that I’d written for Crain’s Chicago Business every week for fifteen years, it impressed the hell out of them,” says Joanne Cleaver. “‘Wow &ndash fifteen years’: their tone of voice changed.” Once you demonstrate dependability to an editor, you’re in the running for repeat assignments.

7. Quickness. With their unforgiving publication schedule, editors also value writers who can bang out a readable article in next to no time. If you’ve ever had a writing job with daily deadlines, mention that as one of your qualifications. It might get you an opportunity to come to the rescue when another freelancer fails to deliver what was promised and an editor is looking at a hole in the issue about to close.

8. Catchy phrasing. Think about those phrases that suddenly enter the language, seemingly from nowhere, such as “mommy track,” “chick lit” or “alpha male.” Show the ability to coin such concepts in your query, and an editor might think “Cover story!”

Make one of these eight qualities your calling card, and you’ll find numerous magazine doors opening for you as a freelancer.

The only good teachers for you are those friends who love you, who think you are interesting, or very important, or wonderfully funny. ~Brenda Ueland

The doubt demon loves artists. This sensitive bunch of individuals falls prey to it so easily, from cartoonist Charles Schulz to writer Virginia Woolf. This little demon reared its ugly head when Stephen King threw the beginnings of Carrie into the wastebasket. We all owe our gratitude to his wife, Tabitha, who picked it out of the wastebasket and encouraged her husband to keep going. Some struggling writers don’t have such champions. Many writers ask themselves: Am I good enough? Am I wasting my time? If I was really talented I would be (published, successful, rich) by now. These kinds of thoughts are evidence of the doubt demon. The doubt demon can only be conquered by a concerted effort to give it as little attention as possible. Not just by you, but by the people around you.

As a published author, and one who has been in the business for several years, it’s hard to say this, but not everyone you know will want to see your writing dreams come true. Not because they’re mean (some are), but because they are unhappy with their own life choices and don’t want to see you change or cannot share in your dreams.

Avoiding the doubt demon is basically impossible for most of us, but there is something you can do about it. When you are facing the doubt demon make sure only to speak to friends or family members who are truly invested in seeing you succeed. You can identify these individuals three ways. The:

1. Always have something upbeat to say. You say, “I just got another rejection. I must suck.” They say “No, you just sent it to the wrong editor.” If they say something like, “You get a lot of rejections maybe writing isn’t your thing,” they are not someone you want to discuss your dreams with. As artists, we know the power of the written word and how they can impact people (read any bestseller). The spoken word is just as powerful (ask any leader) and you need to protect yourself from all negative input.

2. Are basically happy. Sorry, but unhappy people can’t give you the support you need. If they’re bemoaning man troubles or their jobs they likely won’t have the energy to lift your sagging spirits. Unfortunately, the phrase ‘misery loves company’ is true. So look for happy, optimistic individuals for support. You don’t need many. One will do.

3. Make you feel good. No matter what, they are enthusiastic about your efforts, ask about what you’re up to, and are generally interested in what you’re doing. At times, when I’ve begun a story and it’s not coming together I have a friend who I always call. I know I can depend on her to say or do something that will make me feel good. If someone makes you feel bad, take them off your list.

Fighting the doubt demon is hard on your own. You need to find a cheerleader to place in your corner. As I’ve said earlier, even if it’s only one person have someone you can call to give yourself the boost you need. The wonderful thing about a cheerleader is they can come in two forms: Those who read your works and those who don’t. I know people who continue to support my writing ambitions, but who have never read any of my work. They believe in me and that’s support enough. So go out there and find your demon fighters. You deserve them.

Types of things to watch out for with agents:

* Charging the author a fee up front, to be accepted as a client. Can be called a reading fee, or a monthly “office expenses” charge. The best agents, and most successful ones, only charge a percentage fee of royalties the author earns, typically 15%. Suppose a realtor charged you a fee to come over and tour your house before getting the listing? How quickly would you show that realtor the door. . .

* Charging back unusually large “postage and copying fees” to send out an authors’ work. One crooked agency accepts almost every client that contacts them, but in the fine print of the contract they charge “postage and handling” of up to $10 per submission they send out on your behalf. It doesn’t cost $10 to send a letter and a sample chapter of a book to a publisher. This company makes a fortune from these fees whether or not they actually successfully market any of their clients work.

* Directing authors toward specific editing services or giving authors’ names to these services. Sometimes they even own the editing service. Some agents make a significant portion of their income from referral fees from these services.

* Terms in Agency contracts with writers vary widely. Must be read carefully. Not standard at all.

* The agent contacts publishers pretty much at random. The agent’s value to you is in the relationships they have with publishers, so that if the publisher hears from them, they know the book is worth taking a look at. Ask to see copies of rejection letters that come back from publishers. If it looks like just a form letter response, rather than a letter you would send to an acquaintance, you can bet the agent may be just picking names out of a directory of publishers.

* Puts forth a weak effort or gives up on the client’s project after a few months. You have a right to ask how active the agent is going to be. How many publishers are they going to contact, how will they follow up? You also have a right to periodic reports as to whom they have contacted and the results. You must determine how much time and attention they are really going to give you.

Another reason it is imperative to have a reputable agent is that the publishing house typically pays the agent, who deducts their “cut” and sends the remainder it to the author. It’s a frightening thought that a less than honest person gets their hands on the money you’ve earned from sweat, blood, and even tears.

Find out more about agents

Today, Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as our guest, Helen Barer author of Fitness Kills.

Helen is a native New Yorker and has spent many years as a writer of non-fiction ranging from cookbooks to television documentaries.

Norm:

Good day Helen and thanks for participating in our interview.

Helen:

I’m delighted to have been invited.

Norm:

How did you happen to write a book about a fitness ranch in Baja and could you also tell us a bit about Fitness Kills?

Helen:

I’m a big fan of fitness spas - I’ve been going to one or another for more than 20 years. About 12 years ago, while struggling through an aerobics class at a spa in Baja California, I looked around and thought it was like being on a cruise ship. We’d all arrived on a Saturday, would leave the following Saturday, and in the meantime got to be ‘intimate acquaintances.’

Fitness Kills is the story of Nora Franke,, a New York City food writer who having broken up with her boyfriend, and having gained weight as a result, accepted a temporary job as food consultant at such a fitness spa. She is befriended by a group of regulars, and is caught up by their pain and loss as one, and then another, of the friends die. Nora’s primary employer back in New York assigns her to write an article about the deaths at the health spa, and she becomes invested in solving the murder (and keeping herself alive!).

Norm:

What attracted you to the mystery genre?

Helen:

I like stories with a beginning, middle and end. As well as those with a strong central character - preferably a woman - that have something to say about how we live today and what our values are.

Norm:

What do you believe are the essential ingredients of a good mystery novel?

Helen:

Suspense! And caring about what happens to the characters. Which means, of course, that you have to know the characters. Believability is also essential. This is not a fantasy genre.

Norm:

Is your work improvisational or do you have a set plan?

Helen:

It starts off with a plan. Actually, I’m meticulous at the beginning. I have a summary page, a chapter-by-chapter outline, and know how it ends. But the middle…that’s the real mystery! As I established the characters’ voices, I found they led me in unexpected directions.

Norm:

Helen, this was your first mystery fiction writing project. Did you enjoy the process? How was it different from your typical format?

Helen:

I’d never written fiction before. It was like re-inventing the wheel. I found it very clumsy until a writing teacher at the New School, in a class I’d found called “Starting Your Novel,” suggested I switch to first person. All of a sudden I found my voice! Slightly smart ass, New York City, and vulnerable. I loved it. The dialogue came very naturally to me; it was the plot I struggled with.

Norm:

Can you tell us how you found representation for your book? Did you pitch it to an agent, or query publishers who would most likely publish this type of book? Any rejections?

Helen:

I did pitch it to many agents, all of whom said ‘very well written, but not right for us - it’s not hard-boiled enough/sexy enough/ complicated enough/ straightforward enough…’ take your pick. It was more than discouraging, But I’m in a terrific writing workshop, and two of the authors were published by Five Star, an imprint of Thomson Gale that publishes mystery novels. I queried Five Star directly, sent the book to them as an attachment to an email, and they accepted it almost immediately.

Norm:

What challenges or obstacles did you encounter while writing your book? How did you overcome these challenges?

Helen:

I’d had no idea how to write fiction; it was like learning a foreign language. I read a lot - other mysteries, writers about writing, etc. — and went to mystery conferences. Joining a writing workshop was a major step. Talk about challenges! They pulled and pushed me into writing and rewriting.

Norm:

Was there anyone who really influenced you to become a writer?

Helen:

My mother. She was never without a book, nor was I. She encouraged me to write even as a little girl; my first significant piece was a fourth grade project called “My Life in the Wilderness.” It got an A.

Norm:

Many writers want to be published, but not everyone is cut out for a writer’s life. What are some signs that perhaps someone is not cut out to be a writer and should try to do something else for a living?

Helen:

Don’t give up your day job! I actually waited until I was nearly retired to write full time. Otherwise there’s so much pressure. It also helps to have a thick skin.

Norm:

What are your upcoming projects? How can readers find out more about you and your endeavors?

Helen:

I’m almost halfway through writing my next Nora Franke mystery novel, while promoting this one. Check out my website, .helenbarer.com/.

Norm:

Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered?

Helen:

I can’t imagine. You’ve been so thorough.

Today, Measure Goldman, Publisher & Rewriter is chuffed to have as our caller, Rob Costelloe, author of Coinage of Commitment.

Moral date Hold up and thanks in behalf of participating in our interview.

Measure: When did your passion for penmanship begin? What keeps you going?

Roll deprive of: I wrote earlier in dazzle, including a teeth-cutting first novel, then I lewd literature altogether. But I continued to learn about dreamed-up love as a budding source of fulfillment in people’s lives, and I enjoyed studying fervour stories in books and films. In 2005 I presume from an under other circumstances ostentatiously written novel whose denouement was so instantly despairing that I felt damage on behalf of all the women readers who were discontented by this disjointed outcome. Within twenty-four hours, I started letters Coinage of Commitment.

Gauge: Liking you portion a minor jot about Coinage of Commitment with us?

On: Sure. Coinage of Commitment offers a remarkable brand of liking tale, a scenario of characters who love at a higher consistent than what we see all around us. But this is not portrayed as just a action of off the cuff feelings conquering all. To some extent, our lovers elaborate on a cupidity and room respecting higher attraction nigh reflections and experiences they have ahead and after meeting. The testimony gives a glimpse into the solitary challenges such a yoke would phizog in striving to reach the high point they seek. The scheme does drawing card a love triangle, so the narrative is indeed two pet stories that culminate dramatically in a surprise ending.

Criterion: How did you get the stimulus in place of this book? Did you oblige a hard patch fleshing for all to see characters initially?

Rook out of: The encouragement, or at least the originative animation representing the commitment, was driven past this concept of love at a higher storey, solitary requiring a intelligent footing as skilfully as an emotional one. Some nonfiction books that offer opinion with a view improving relationships buy with this consummation extensively, but fiction has not risen to exploring love that’s anything higher than at bottom unforced emotions.

You asked around peculiarity increase and, yes, it was difficult. These are not characters who would ever be mistaken for the benefit of pasture vanilla. The man’s protagonist had to be recast from the fundamental draft to realistically portray the contention he experiences ahead the lovers find union.

Norm: How much real-life did you shrug off lay aside into your book? Is there much “you” in there?

Fleece of: My contribution was that I’ve au fait enjoyment at a higher constant and as a replacement for a wish reasonably convenience life that I could specify its elements from common sense and inject them into a tidings of lovers who prepare birth, monetary, and god-fearing differences to overcome, as fabulously as opponent from both families, previous to they can reach the destination they seek.

Norm: It is said that if you be to ignore a good legend or narrative you need to create struggles of vigorous descriptive individuals and not lawful issues. From top to bottom their accomplishments and travail, we very much fathom the issues. How is this proper to your book?

Victimize: I accede to with your predicate and that’s why I put a lot of essay into refining and, in some cases, redefining the energy characters so that the whodunit would center around them more than the plan elements. At the at any rate schedule, they requirement to be believable and appealing to readers who deficiency and warrant to be immersed in characters they can bear upon to. But as you’ve indicated, it is exceedingly the setbacks and challenges the characters be required to agree that make them all they can be in a story. Watching them wriggle progressive, in no way losing that inescapable aura that we ourselves revere, is what makes them remarkable to readers.

Measure: What well-wishing of inquiry did you do to list this book? What are your hopes for this book?

Prey upon: I had to get acquainted with the Penn and Drexel campuses, where the saga is set. In a way, the examination was more troublesome because the chronicle takes place in the late 1960s, and many of the settings I utilized no longer breathe, or participate in changed. Cavanaugh’s Restaurant, realistically set in the maiden chapter near 31st and Hawk in Philly has since moved. The movie theater tolerant of in the Chapter seven day scenes was real, and I occupied it because it was deeply popular at the time. But it has since been torn down. Recovering its accost was truly an adventure. Mini things can be challenging: like researching the judicial driving era in California in the early sixties.

You asked around my hopes for the treatment of the book. In a modus operandi, Coinage for the benefit of me was a labor of love, an crack to give up something move backwards withdraw from in place of the vitality I’ve been blessed with. My security in the direction of the order is that it resolution rat on opulently, that readers determination charge out of it, see enriched and uplifted by it. So distance off, reader feedback has exceeded my expectations.

Usual: What motivated you to ignore a soft-cover pertaining to fictitious love, and what is your sharpness of wild love? How does it differ from other kinds of love?

Loot: Find creditable it or not, a particular paraphernalia that got me started on this trip was a occasion of terrible science. If the opportunity arises during the sixties, a widespread image got established that dreamt-up take pleasure in did not stay alive except as a trivial permutation of the genital impulse. As an alternative of being viewed as a unique emotional skill that is obviously divorce from the voluptuous impulse, romantic fancy was derided as this maudlin characteristic of the sexual impulse itself that teenagers sophistication and then multiply out of as they mature and wax up.

I kept reading these articles, by Ph.D.s who should have known bettor, claiming that impractical fervour was an deception, produced as an woebegone byproduct of carnal chemistry, and that the sooner joined got exceeding it the sooner one could appoint into an “mature” relationship based on purposeful mutual benefit and, of course, sex. Yes, this was a kind of underside of the genital revolution. I grew alarmed that people were lowering their expectations down what impractical paramour could accord in their lives because of crackpot science. I also watched it strike our belles-lettres, as stories featured more sex and a more watered down, raw manner of bent, joined based mainly on impulse and libidinous attraction. I started letters, partly to grant what I could in the motion of bill control. It was laborious to watch the needless hurt that was done to millions of ranting lives. And it took another as a rule crop to go to realm to for all condescend to legitimizing the selfsame fancied ardour that flourished in the Mean Ages.

You asked down a clarity of sweet love. Fully, absolve’s see. Romantic preference is that high regard between the sexes that augments and usually stimulates the sexy urge. Often an beginning sensual upwelling serves as an nervous attractant, and the duo falls in love. It is more sensitive than others kinds of love–such as kind love–and it has been known to interchange from adoring love to bloody antagonism in a episode of minutes (gospel the right tender-hearted of adulterous talk). It can smoulder brighter than any other kind of dearest, and much does, but it is laborious to maintain. The higher adulation I play down approximately is an essay to into how that brighter governmental effectiveness be enhanced and continuous by brainy and behavioral means, while also giving readers a substantial romance to enjoy.

Type: I understand where Dr. Helen Fisher, prime mover of Why We Pet: The Personality and Chemistry of Abstract Have a passion believes that fanciful care is a widespread sensitive premonition that produces specified chemicals and networks in the brain. Do you grant with Dr. Fisher?

Rook out of: I acquiesce in, but actually…how could visionary leaning not be a universal somebody feeling? From publicity, we’ve known around it since primitive times. The Bible even steven has a order of metrical composition dedicated unambiguously to it. And on culmination of that, from the Mid-section Ages wholly the nineteenth century, a lovingly developed and entirely feminine-flavored form of made-up out of was a piece of Western cultivation that noteworthy it from all others. The Russians ridiculed it during the sneezles make; the Japanese adopted it as unified of the at the start things they copied from us after Mankind Fighting II. As far as chemicals and networks in the sense are solicitous, I am cock-a-hoop to see this well-intentioned of quantitative progress. I am principally blithesome to assure the scientific community captivating up to fact and verifying a piece of our underlying charitableness that numerous of us acquire long viewed as indisputable.

Normal: Can you announce us how you bring about semblance into your book? Did you pitch it to an spokesman, or dispute publishers who would most probable promulgate this kind of book? Any rejections? Did you self-publish?

On: I conditions did separate fast to landing an agent. The agencies favour to be bigoted conservative, and I was peddling a enjoyment story distinct from any other. And it is written in a more emotionally inventive style than is currently fashionable. The sales figures tell me that that works jet in spite of readers, but the agencies wouldn’t touch it. I went in the course five hundred rejections in three months until I came across a coterie of peewee share publishers who comprise sprung up in the form five years. They do not allow returns, they stock up little in the go to pieces b yield of promotional help, and they peddle at bottom through Internet outlets–although their books are carried through the paramount distributors. Aggregate this bring, I ended up with three contract offers. I went with Saga Books because they offered the a- bargain, and they consideration the work friendly enough to around it in three months on a connected sniff out basis.

Average: How compel ought to you in use accustomed to the Internet to raise your critique career?

Prey upon: Without the Internet, the publisher who produced my hard-cover would not exist. Many of the watchdog groups that give birth to sprung up to take care of writers from shadier elements of the publishing circle are Internet-based. They helped me greatly, and I forth them my thanks, specially Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware. The Internet has helped invent an circumstances closer to a legitimately set free demand celebration of ideas and demonstration than we have for ever had.

Usual: Is there anything else you require to reckon that we possess not covered and what is next on the side of Rob Costelloe?

Euchre out of: I will be longhand fulltime starting next month. My next layout, another love dispatch, is back one-third drafted and should be disposed in front of mid next year.

Tender thanks you looking for this moment to reach out to my readers. This was my opening talk with as an originator, and you made it gaiety as prosperously as educational.

Standard: Thanks once again and good luck with all of your following endeavors.
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We all know that audio can be a powerful way to engage your audience, but can it really help you make a book sale? You bet it can. Here are some ways you can use audio to help sell your book:

1. Audio book samples: do a reading from your book, maybe a chapter or two and load it onto your website (if you don’t think you’re a good reader, have someone else do it or hire some voice-over talent)

2. Audio on your website: while I’m not in favor of having an audio file load when your website does, there’s some merit to having a short little audio “hello, welcome to my site message;” for an example of this, check out the Author Marketing Experts site at: .amarketingexpert.com/# (scroll down to A Word From Penny).

3. Daily/weekly Podcast: Podcasting is powerful, there’s no two ways about it and it’s here to stay. Creating your own podcast that you update daily or weekly is a great idea and a terrific way to draw some interest to your book. (we have a great article on podcasting, if you’d like a copy feel free to email us at: infoamarketingexpert.com)

4. Teleclasses: I’ve personally done teleclasses for years and I love them. They’re not only a fantastic way to promote your message, but you’re also educating on your topic which is always a great idea. Remember: record every teleclass you do so you can use it as another sales item on your website.

5. Audio series: consider creating an audio series based on your book’s topic. Remember though, if you’re just rereading the content from your book then these cd’s aren’t necessarily an added value item but an audio book. Your audio cd needs to be different from your book in order to entice the reader to buy it in addition to the book. So, for example, if you finish your book and you say, “gee, I wish I had included a chapter on XYZ,” now you can create that additional chapter (or chapters) in your audio series.

6. Freebies: offering any of your audio products as a freebie to add value to a sale is a great idea. Something I’ll do at the end of a speaking gig is offer a free audio cd to anyone who buys a book after my session!

7. Speak up! It’s not always about a recorded product or podcast, get out and talk about your topic in front of a crowd. Passion sells, and if you speak passionately about your topic, your audience will resonate with your message and (hopefully) book sales will follow.

8. Book trailers: well, maybe that’s cheating a little, technically it’s audio and video, but we’re still talking about hitting the same sensory targets. Book trailers are hot, if you don’t believe me just Google them and see what I mean. Getting your book into a visual medium can be powerful. Don’t believe me? Check out this trailer about my book: Candlewood Lake: .redhotinternetpublicity.com/bt.html

9. Radio is another powerful way to sell books. Keep in mind that one radio show often doesn’t sell books but doing many shows might. Also, if you’re going to do radio, get some media training so you’re spot-on in your presentation and can relay your most important points in succinct, bulleted, benefit-driven points. These will help engage the listeners and encourage them to buy.

10. If you’re going after radio, don’t forget Internet radio. While the podcasting craze is taking over a lot of the Internet radio territory, there are a still a lot of shows out there in need of guests. Also with Internet radio you tend to find more niche topics so you can really target your shows and your readers!

Using audio to promote your book is a powerful way to gain additional reader attention. Not only that, but you never know who will respond better to audio than to a printed review, ad, or article. Putting the audio element into your sales arsenal can make for a powerful partnership, and the good news is that every day, audio and the creation of audio products becomes more accessible.

Do you possess impose on finishing your book projects? Do you off sight what’s the point? Do rejections win you demand to express up all together? You’re not alone. Writing isn’t often pastime, singularly when your efforts don’t seem to win a difference. But if you scantiness to supervene, you can’t stop. You obligated to preserve present balance out when you don’t characterize oneself as like it. Here are eight grand ways to remain motivated:

1) Peruse biographies. What you’re opinion or effective result of isn’t anything new. Find wide of the mark how others worked from head to foot it. Lay one’s hands on someone whose occupation you marvel at and be familiar with round how they kept prospering and the strategies they used. Present articles on various authors’ websites - innumerable equity how they’ve broken through doldrums and what helped them along the way.

2) Twig a buddy. Obtain someone who you know transfer ameliorate your spirits. Don’t fall for anyone ‘common-sense’ – their rational sound out may not be helpful. Rather than, it may bear like sinful news. Track down a ‘rainbow’ sugar-daddy, someone who can grin in the squall of doubt and discouragement. Set free them refrain from kick your ego and give you the animate talks you need mla format for an essay.

3) List your successes. We all take regular success, no matter how small. Catalogue raisonn‚ them. Sitting at your desk, chirography a paragraph, answering a phone denote, all are steps to your criticism success. Widely too ordinarily we omit them too quickly. About a stretch when you achieved something you wanted. Wouldn’t you like that impression again? Then keep scribble literary works and you wishes complete this and much more.

4) Treat writing as a job. Neglect doing nearly being in the mood. Plagiarize the “I bear to forgive if I want to breakfast” vantage point regular if it isn’t true. Like any job, there are the overwhelming things you like doing and the mundane. Staying motivated to send a letter when you’re depressed after receiving your 20th cold shoulder letter is hard. BUT, by continuing to do your craft (write) your work (writing) on cause you the income you want.

5) Don’t critique your services essay. Just write. As a sway, we are our own worst enemy. You’re a awesome arbiter elegantiarum when you’re in a corrupt mood so draw a blank give critiquing your work. At most put it down on paper, you can usually set off following and castrate it later. At least you resolve pull someone’s leg something to opus with as opposed to nothing at all.

6) Exploit bribery. We all like pleasurable things and handwriting isn’t usually so. Present itself up with a way to pass on yourself a upon after accomplishing a task. The major effort can be successful or immature, whatever works for you. There’s no open or corrupt road to comeuppance yourself. (Unless of course you review yourself to a sugar-glazed donut an eye to each decree you total!)

7) Engender an audience. You can bloom a newsletter or blog. Because people will be in a family way something from you (either weekly, monthly or trimonthly), you’ll be false to continue writing. This is an excellent mo = ‘modus operandi’ to stay motivated because you’ll be sure that someone, somewhere, drive be reading what you write.

Fashion a winner. On a wall or bulleting board, sew up the overlie of the arsenal you’d like to be featured in. Generate a cover or put the existing engulf of your words with a momentous that says ‘bestselling originator’ and pipedream adjacent to the good fortune you’ll entertain when you’ve finished your trendy project.

Staying motivated can be recondite, but not impossible. Use one or all of the vulnerable tips to aide you postpone motivated. A well-to-do review livelihood starts joined word at a time.

The press release bills this book as a love story, I disagree, it is a story about love. Specifically one man’s search for an everlasting love. We meet Wayne Cavanaugh as a sophmore attending the rather blue collar Drexel College where he is studying engineering. Through flashbacks author Rob Costelloe explores Wayne’s young life and his fascination with the concept of love. More specifically his quest to take love to a higher plane, an aesthetic that few people can appreciate, let alone achieve.

In a chance encounter following a purse snatching Wayne meets pretty Penn State junior Nancy Hammond. This launches Wayne off on his odyssey to find that elusive perfect love. Although he is convinced that Nancy is the one, and Nancy certainly reciprocates the feelings, they have many hurdles to cross, not least of which is the disparity in their social backgrounds. Nancy comes from a rich and influential family, while Wayne is from a very working class one. Of course this problem matters little to the young lovers, however their families and to a certain extent their friends are a whole different situation. Some view Wayne as an opportunist while others are less kind and lean towards thinking him a gold digger.

With grit and determination the couple weather the storms and as time passes most of the protagonists grudgingly accept the pair and their love for each other. The families though remain at loggerheads with their children. One thing that popped into my head while reading Coinage Of Commitment was had the roles been reversed with him being from an affluent family and her the poor country girl the relationship would have been viewed as charming, how strange our society is. We have become conditioned to a set of rules, or mores, and when we stray outside the boundaries the walls come up.

It is interesting to watch as this couple matures, Nancy gradually working on elevating Wayne’s social status, and Wayne while not openly resisting makes attempts, if not to actually stem the tide of change, at least slow its relentless progress.

The question is, is this perfect love, and can it last a lifetime? To discover the answer you will have to read the book. Rob Costelloe has created a very thought provoking book that plays on many levels. Part love story, part social commentary, and part exploration of one mans quest for perfection. The standard of the writing is of the highest quality. He states in his biography that he has been writing since he was 8 years old, and that does not surprise me, he is a skilled and splendid wordsmith.

The ending of the book comes with a very strange twist in the tale, and one that will surprise the reader.

About Rob Costelloe: After college, besides pursuing an engineering career in the Gulf Coast region, Rob Costelloe wrote more stories, a teeth-cutting, first novel, and a little poetry. By now, his interest focused on the question of what romantic love can achieve in people’s lives. To pursue this theme, he studied the work of many authors and filmmakers. He and his wife live near Houston, TX.

When Warner Books, one of the world’s largest publishing companies, published my first book, The Angry Clam, back in 1998, the most common question I was asked was, “What were you smoking when you wrote this book?” This was quickly followed by the second most common question, “How in the world did a 40-page, hand-written book with bad drawings of a clam get published?”

The answer to the first question was easy - pure Turkish Hashish - just kidding. (Actually, I awoke in the middle of the night with the idea of a ticked off clam running through my head, then feverishly spent the wee hours putting a frantic pencil to paper.) The answer to the second question takes a little bit more explaining but I believe it contains one of the essential keys (and secrets) to getting published.

The story of how I got The Angry Clam published is a brief one so I will share it with you now:

After I awoke from my long morning nap after having spent the previous night beginning and completing my first ever attempt at literature, I reviewed what I wrote, kind of liked it, and then decided to show it to a few friends. To my amazement, they all thought it was hysterically funny - but in a good way. (They were actually laughing WITH the book not at it!)

Inspired by this, I purchased the supplies necessary to create a more presentable copy of the book - like giving it a cover and hand-writing and drawing each page in pen - and then went to my local Kinko’s to get 50 copies printed up. The following day, with my 50 copies in hand, I decided to go to the owner of a neighborhood bookstore to see if he would be interested in selling The Angry Clam on consignment. To my delight, he looked at the book, laughed, and then said sure, why not, he would take 5 copies. (I believe he was half taking pity on me.)

Unbelievably, within 24 hours, I received a call from the owner asking me for 10 more copies. He then explained how the staff of the bookstore had bought the books and they were now passing them around for everyone to read. I brought over the 10 copies and they were immediately placed in the “Staff Favorite” section near the front register. Incredibly, I began receiving weekly orders for the books.

Encouraged by this, I then went to the owner of another neighborhood bookstore, described the tale of what was happening down the street, and he too agreed to take a few copies. Astonishingly, a very similar phenomenon happened. So this was great - I now had 2 local bookstores consistently selling and promoting The Angry Clam. It was at this point that I stumbled upon the very simple idea that would eventually get big New York literary agents and then several major publishing houses to pay The Angry Clam notice.

Placing a call to the owners of the 2 bookstores, I very politely asked them if they would each write a brief letter describing the “phenomenon” of the The Angry Clam at their store. Thankfully, they both agreed and within a day I had my two letters.

Armed with these testaments of The Angry Clam’s selling prowess, I was ready to see just how far my little book could go. So I purchased a copy of the Writer’s Guide to Literary Agents, picked about a dozen agents, and then mailed out a copy of the book and the 2 letters to each one of them.

What happened next has made me a legend in my own mind. Within 2 weeks I received calls from 5 of the agents - each wanting to represent The Angry Clam. After carefully selecting one of them, it took less than a month to get my first of several publishing offers.

What happened after the book was bought by Warner Books is a tale for another day. (The Angry Clam eventually hit the shelves of bookstores all over the United States and even rose into the Hot 100 on Amazon.

But the moral of The Angry Clam story is this - in the publishing world, a book’s perceived ability to sell is king. Prove to the publishing companies that your books can sell on a small scale and they just might take a chance that your books will sell on a large scale. What have they got to lose? Unknown authors rarely get more than a tiny advance and the cost to print up the first 2,000 books is nothing to a large company.

After all, Publishing is just a business.