Category: Uncategorized

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Last weekend, I was in South Carolina for the Festival of the Arts in the town of Anderson.

I’m originally from Anderson and Jane, one of the event organizers, called me last fall and invited me to attend. She explained that it wasn’t a signing or speaking gig, but more of an exhibit. The artists would be there to talk to attendees about their creative process, etc.

The word “artist” gave me pause, although I frequently use it in reference to writers. This time, though…. “Who is going to be there?” I asked.

“Sculptors, painters, photographers, quilters, woodworkers…” The list went on.

I wasn’t sure. “I’m going to be the only writer there?”

That was correct.

I agreed to go, but remember feeling…well, a little insecure about it. Those other artists are artists! In every way.

Time went by until about two weeks ago and the organizer called me again. “I’m in the process of setting up the tables for the event and wanted to go ahead and plan your exhibit. What kinds of things would you like to bring in?”

I paused. “What are the other artists bringing in?”

“Photography, maybe some woodwork they’re working on or a current canvas they’re in the process of painting.”

I said, “Jane, all my stuff is going to look like clutter! In fact, it is clutter. It’s notebooks and Post-Its and scribbles. The stuff in the notebooks is going to sound absolutely crazy. Besides, most of the writing I do is on my laptop and that’s not going to be very interesting.”

But she convinced me to send along what I had. I put together some of my books, some of my printed rough drafts that I’d marked up with revisions, an ARC of one of my books, and a few notebooks for past projects that had sticky notes scattered throughout and cryptic notes to myself.

And it was clutter! Mine is the center, yellow table in the picture. Jane arranged it as best she could, but there’s only so much you can do with clutter. :)

When I got to the festival last Saturday, I learned that I wasn’t the only attendee to have second thoughts or doubts. Jane told me that a large number of the artists she’d called had told her that they didn’t consider what they did art. Some did consider their creative efforts art, but they didn’t think it was good enough to display. Some were uncomfortable with anyone viewing their art, stating it had really just been done to please themselves.

I’m fairly confident about some aspects of my writing now. I’m confident I can finish a book. I’m confident I can deliver what my editors are looking for (or, if not, that I can tweak it to make it work.) I’m confident that I can fix whatever disaster of a first draft that I write.

But this just serves as a reminder that we’re never really over feeling insecure about what we do, especially in comparison to others’ efforts. And that apparently is true for other areas of the artistic community, too.

Once the exhibition started, though, I think all the artists forgot their self-consciousness. That’s because our audience came in. And they were eager to see what we were doing, ask questions, and enjoy what we’d created.

This makes me think that if we think less about what other artists or writers are accomplishing, less about our own fragile egos, and look toward our readers, we might have a shot of getting past our insecurities.

How do you step outside your comfort zone as a writer? How do you battle insecurities?

I’ll be traveling again tomorrow, this time to the Book ‘Em Conference in Lumberton, NC. I’m speaking on a panel at 2:00 there with my writing friend L. Diane Wolfe. Hope you’ll come if you’re in the area. http://www.bookemnc.org/

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Penguin has asked me to write a fourth Memphis Barbeque book. It was great to hear that I’d have a reason to spend more time with the characters in that series.

I also had an idea for something I wanted to do with the plot—I wanted to feature the huge Memphis in May festival that’s such a big event there every year.

My protagonist and sleuth for the series is Lulu Taylor, who owns a barbeque restaurant. I decided to make Lulu a judge for the event. There are many different foods to judge at the festival—everything from slaw to sauce to the barbeque itself.

I got deeper into the research on being a food judge. I realized there were different rules these judges have to follow to keep the competition fair. I saw that there was a good deal of training that went into being one. I felt, also, that this would be something I’d need to make sure I represented well in the book, since there are people in Memphis who read this series…and I wanted my information to be correct and not something that I changed for my own purposes.

I could also tell that Lulu would be kept very busy as a judge.

As I got farther into the book (this is one that I’m working on now), I realized I was making this mystery unnecessarily complex. And confusing. And, really, having Lulu be a judge was going to tie up a lot of her time and make her less available to investigate a murder.

This wasn’t a book about judging barbeque competitions. This was a mystery. And my sleuth needed to solve the mystery, not pick the top baked bean winner.

These were some of the questions I asked myself before I decided to demote Lulu from judgeship:

Does this forward the plot? Is it necessary?

Am I including research simply to show off how well I’ve researched?

Will this complication confuse readers?

Are there other, simpler ways to accomplish the same effect?

What’s the basic reason I’m including this complication in the book?

For me, I decided the whole point I’d made Lulu a judge was to put her on the scene at Memphis in May. But wouldn’t she already be there? Her best friends have a booth at the festival. It’s the biggest Memphis event of the year. And Lulu has two grandchildren begging for her to take them there.

Why wouldn’t she be there? The whole complication of Lulu being a judge just wasn’t needed. It only made the plot more convoluted for readers and tougher for me to write. And required a great deal of research.

Do you ever notice, like me, that you’re making things complicated for both yourself and your readers? How do you simplify unnecessarily convoluted plotlines?

by Steven Lewis, @Rule17

Being raised English presented considerable disadvantages to me as a writer and a blogger. The greatest of them was the English pride in understatement and self-deprecation.

Promoting my blog and my books has required me to re-educate myself. It hasn’t been easy to unprogram a lifetime’s teaching. Only the other day my wife took me aside after I was asked how sales of my new book Hot Silver – Riding the Indian Pacific were going.

“I’m no Bill Bryson,” I’d said.

With a stern look she pointed out that I was number three in the Amazon bestseller list for my category. Why on earth didn’t I tell people that, she asked. Well now I have and that’s what I’m learning to do with my blog as well.

Taleist runs under the slogan “Helping writers become published authors”. It’s true, that’s what the site is about, but it seems wrong to shout about it. I was a long time before I put the tagline up.

The truth is that nice bloggers don’t get the reader. You have to talk about your virtues and strengths. You need to tell people what your site is good at because you can’t count on them investing the energy in finding out themselves. You need to back yourself, to become your cheering section.

Certainly word-of-mouth is crucial, especially people using their social networks to share your content. But you set the tone. Your self-belief leads others to believe in you.

The trick is to find the line between confident and obnoxious. Whatever our cultural background there is a line between someone we admire for his or her self-confidence and someone whose arrogance grates. That line is in a different place for everyone so you’re also going to have to grow a thick enough skin to cope with that.

You won’t be loved by everybody but it’s better to loved passionately by a few than to be a source of indifference to many.

Some of the things I’ve learned to do to promote myself assertively are:

To have an elevator pitch. As well as “helping writers become self-published authors” Taleist is “well-regarded internationally by self-publishers”. Both these statements are true but previously I wouldn’t have said them out loud, I’d have hoped someone else would say it or you’d find it out some other way. Having those phrases ready in the wings means I don’t need as much mental energy to say them out loud when the opportunity arises. (Note I still won’t say I’m helping authors or well-regarded.)

To use testimonials. I’m lucky enough to have found some credible people who like what I’m doing. When they say something nice about the site/the books/me, I ask to use their words. That way I don’t have to assert these things myself and it doesn’t look like I’m the only person who thinks I’m useful or I write well.

To ask for what I want. No reader is as committed as the reader who has subscribed to your blog by email. I work hard to build my subscriber list, including having a pop-up window that appears on the site and asks visitors to sign up. Many people instinctively recoil at the idea of these windows. Me, too! How obnoxious they are. But they work: I’ve had triple digit percentage growth in my mailing list since introducing them. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

I haven’t got all the answers and there are things I still need to work on. I think Copyblogger is essential reading, for instance, but sometimes I find their tone relentless and their content contrived. Their success suggests, however, that they’re onto something!

Most of all, after writing for newspapers and magazines for 15 years and having seven books on Amazon, I’m surely entitled to say “writer” when asked what I do. So why can’t I? Yet.

Steven Lewis writes the Taleist self-publishing blog, where you
can sign-up for his social media check-up, a free email course showing you easy ways to make sure you’re using social media to maximum effect in promoting your books.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Below are the writing-related links I tweeted last week.

The free Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine, designed by software engineer and writer Mike Fleming, makes all these links (now over 14,000) searchable. The WKB recently celebrated its one-year anniversary.

Sign up for the free monthly WKB newsletter for the web’s best links and interviews:http://bit.ly/gx7hg1

The best structure for your book: http://bit.ly/wNBEjW @originalimpulse

Storytelling & Literary Techniques: http://bit.ly/yLESh2 @writersdigest

Facebook danger, smutty & genre e-reading, library ebook lending update, ind. news & views from @Porter_Anderson: http://bit.ly/AqoK4O

The problem with free: http://bit.ly/zCLzUh @kristenlambTX

Do Blog Tours Sell Books? http://bit.ly/wH83ZX @roniloren

Violence and Gore in Fantasy: http://bit.ly/AugebL @AmyJRoseDavis

Tips for good book endings: http://bit.ly/z02UYr @TaliaVance

Love Story Elements: http://bit.ly/zuVWMF @AlexSokoloff

5 ways to bust through your freelance fears: http://bit.ly/ycEDGW @stephauteri for @MichelleRafter

A notice to publishers from a librarian: http://bit.ly/zge5nk @TheLiB

20 Pairs of One-Word and Two-Word Forms: http://bit.ly/xzjwTV @writing_tips

Why people use ghostwriters: http://bit.ly/wRprfK @storykim

How Should Writers Research? All at Once or As Needed? http://bit.ly/AheLTV @JodyHedlund

Stay with the agent or the agency when your agent moves? http://bit.ly/yBLZ60 @JordynRedwood

The Role of Editors: A Writer’s Viewpoint: http://bit.ly/ArED4J

How to Create and Host a Blog Carnival: http://bit.ly/wUZVWm @problogger

What Makes You Feel Legitimate? http://bit.ly/ABroQO @jamigold

Digital textbooks challenge from US government: http://bit.ly/xAymUW @JohnP_Education

The Key to Distraction-Free Writing: http://bit.ly/xGebQ0 @jeffgoins

Set Up Your Author Pinterest Profile In 10 Easy Steps: http://bit.ly/AsaxzM @authormedia

Quick Tips for Improving Your Blog’s Navigation: http://bit.ly/A7LiaO @pushingsocial

Dealing with chronological breaks in your story: http://bit.ly/yyi1kS @juliettewade

What Non-Fiction Authors Can Teach Novelists: http://bit.ly/y9dFbN @KMWeiland

Varying sentence length: http://bit.ly/xaVjNc

7 Truths About Writers: http://bit.ly/xhgfnu @thecreativepenn

Are online ads a good choice for authors? http://bit.ly/ytI39P @Beth_Barany

Editor Alan Rinzler with tips for writing genre crossovers: http://bit.ly/yg2syQ

Critiques, Another Angle: http://bit.ly/yEN2Pz @HeatherMcCorkle

Are Tablet Computers Right For Writers? http://bit.ly/zjjYiW @ChandlerWrites

The Nuts and Bolts of: Impressions, Clicks and Free: http://bit.ly/zMVZeO @JenTalty

Ways writers jolt readers out of the story: http://bit.ly/wwdOAJ @EdieMelson

Artistic Freedom, Fame & Finishing, No Matter What: http://bit.ly/w847mq @Aristonian for @the99percent

A Quiz on the Treatment of 75 Compound Words: http://bit.ly/Alvxmb @writing_tips

The stories inside our story: http://bit.ly/ym3wr5 @storyfix

Print Books: The New Vanity Publishing? http://bit.ly/ybLdFC @thecreativepenn for @jfbookman

Non-traditional ways to market: http://bit.ly/x49wy0 @LauraPauling

Permanence, Capitalists, and Ebooks: http://bit.ly/A8lxMJ @scholarlykitchn

Using the Evil Overlord List to Write More Interesting Villains: http://bit.ly/w9vnmt

Keeping Track of Character Knowledge: http://bit.ly/zh3F2S @Janice_Hardy

Writing + baby = ? http://bit.ly/xgv5a8 @thatleila

Making time for : http://bit.ly/wv3GEq @jodicleghorn

The Ins and Outs of Critique Groups: http://bit.ly/xOqZSO @loislavrisa

4 Tips to Avoid Blogging Burnout: http://bit.ly/zfgr3g @krissybrady

10 Ways to Improve Your Online “Likability Quotient”: http://bit.ly/A1A8wN @KristenLambTX

Amazon inheriting the Earth – how does this affect their authors? http://bit.ly/yiW2C6 @behlerpublish

An Agent Explores the Difference Between Young Adult And Middle Grade: http://bit.ly/xW7A4S

Planting the Hook: Getting Readers Past the Opening Page: http://bit.ly/wObSVq @janice_hardy

2 views of video game writing: http://bit.ly/ze7Vo6

How to Effectively Create More Time to Write: http://bit.ly/wZJbRO @KrissyBrady

A link roundup on and delivering speeches: http://bit.ly/xE0CXk @speechwriterguy

Hulk Eat Bacon–The Effect of Mood-Altering Substances on the Creative Mind: http://bit.ly/wJdnIP @gripemaster

75 Synonyms for “Hard”: http://bit.ly/zj4YRs @writing_tips

The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing a Book that Doesn’t Suck: http://bit.ly/yl6U3d @jeffgoins

Will Print Books Become Obsolete? http://bit.ly/zdEvab @ava_jae

Tips for headline writing: http://bit.ly/zD7Ptd @JulieBMack

Relief for the Writing Rules Obsessed: http://bit.ly/zHXFgw @keligwyn

How to become a writer who matters: http://bit.ly/AfzudK @krissybrady

Tips for dealing with rejection: http://bit.ly/w9ENSS

Make sure your book’s setting isn’t missing: http://bit.ly/AC9FAp @KMWeiland

What should writers blog about? http://bit.ly/yPBNmk @annerallen

Being a Success, Without Being a Bestseller: http://bit.ly/zyLr1w @DanBlank

Prologues: please use responsibly: http://bit.ly/zoQfy4 @dirtywhitecandy

Links for locating book reviewers: http://bit.ly/xEk6PU @DebraPurdyKong

How to Have a Successful KDP Select Campaign: http://bit.ly/zjY1Cj @TweetTheBook

Is Your Author Photo Sending the Right Message? http://bit.ly/zufXqN @KMWeiland

Tips for successful scene execution: http://bit.ly/zW3Z0s @rebeccaberto

Descriptions that pack a punch: http://bit.ly/wXo5W8 @PBRWriter

7 Tactics for a Successful Guest Post: http://bit.ly/zRHW7c @BlogTyrant

When is it all right to call an agent? http://bit.ly/xpdB9J @rachellegardner

Both Convergent and Divergent Thinking are Necessary for Creativity: http://bit.ly/z3Y9a3 @creativitypost

4 Reasons It Pays For Songwriters To Be Patient: http://bit.ly/ABwuK9 @cliffgoldmacher

What’s the Right Price for an E-Book? http://bit.ly/wrmrsT

Make Your Own Luck In Social Media: http://bit.ly/zBx8fo @AlexisGrant for @thecreativepenn

A quiz about missing connections in our writing: http://bit.ly/A3CvV8 @writing_tips

The importance of keeping in touch with our readers: http://bit.ly/xP0iNT

Love means never having to say you’re sorry (to your characters): http://bit.ly/w7vzek @SouthrnWritrMag

A New Approach–The Concept Critique: http://bit.ly/wvjfur @KristenLambTX

What a communications workshop can teach you about writing: http://bit.ly/zMCH3t @CAMorganti

Creativity Tune-up: http://bit.ly/wVkScO @bookemdonna

What Moves You The Most Right Now? Go With It. http://bit.ly/A7vndq @OllinMorales

A publisher on social media: http://bit.ly/ydinKH

The benefits of not planning a world: http://bit.ly/zlnpZD @Mazarkis_W

Why (not) tell the story in present tense? http://bit.ly/yYc0Xf @juliettewade

Are Sub Genres Digital Publishing’s Secret Weapon? http://bit.ly/wfgOZf @ebooknewser

Knowing What to Capitalize: http://bit.ly/w1Orio @janice_hardy

Ebook Pricing: Why 99 Cents Might Be a Mistake for You: http://bit.ly/zBLR5u @goblinwriter

Promoting your book–what *not* to do: http://bit.ly/wdNnMJ @BryanThomasS

Reasons Why Some Books Never Sell: http://bit.ly/zBRVrl @robeagar for @writersdigest

Why Being a Jack of All Trades Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be: http://bit.ly/wq5MS5 @jeffgoins

Self-destructive characters in crime fiction: http://bit.ly/zs4C5d @mkinberg

Happy Valentine’s Day, Hogwarts Style: http://bit.ly/wbOvhi @HP4Writers

10 Ways to Love a Writer: On Valentine’s Day and Forever: http://bit.ly/yeIMsQ @ainegreaney for @womenwriters

Why Romances Are Valid Literature: http://bit.ly/wiVrgK @JodyHedlund

A few tips for writers planning romantic evenings: http://bit.ly/wC0296 @MistyMassey

Literary Pick-up Lines for Valentine’s Day: http://bit.ly/y9Sae4 @galleycat

10 Lies to Twist a Love Story: http://bit.ly/AcKvMP @CherylRWrites

How To Write A Kissing Scene…Valentine Edition: http://bit.ly/xlqt9P

Showing Valentine’s Day Love to Writers: http://bit.ly/A96mTZ

Feeling the Love: http://bit.ly/xBoEvC

5 things 1 writer learned from Shirley Jackson: http://bit.ly/A2xHv5 @victoriamixon

Answers to writers’ legal questions: http://bit.ly/yx2ArU @DIYmfa

How to Overcome Writer’s Block: http://bit.ly/xjqUQU

Writing and the Ugly Duck Syndrome: http://bit.ly/wjqhTB @mooderino

Writer Confidence—Too Much or Too Little: http://bit.ly/xBBQ8u @pattyjansen for @BryanThomasS

6 Tips for Creating a Blogged Book Manuscript: http://bit.ly/zw8Pgl @NinaAmir

Book Publishing and ISBNs … Do You Need Them? http://bit.ly/AmfgYB @mybookshepherd

50 Synonyms for “Idea”: http://bit.ly/xUhX1T @writing_tips

The Most Important Part of the Creative Life: http://bit.ly/wef5BQ @jeffgoins

7 Free E-Books for Writers: http://bit.ly/A1n3Ds @janefriedman

Writing Lessons from The Hunger Games: Stakes and Characterization: http://bit.ly/xogWpv @4kidlit

5 Reasons to Embrace the Brave New World: http://bit.ly/xkGxWw @rachellegardner

6 Tips To Resuscitate a Dying Author Blog: http://bit.ly/yz2zQF @ChuckSambuchino

Self-Publishing Is Easy (and Other Myths): http://bit.ly/xyGV62 @talliroland

A list of great blogs for writers to follow: http://bit.ly/xHJ8CU @robertleebrewer

Making the Most of Endorsements: http://bit.ly/xbjjVu @MuseInks

Book Covers: Are They Important in the Digital Age? http://bit.ly/wCh3ZZ @jodyhedlund

“Speechtags are of the Devil,” he said: http://bit.ly/yVWWMf @janice_hardy

Why Agents Edit: http://bit.ly/y3YhDR @bookendsjessica

One Size Fits Some: http://bit.ly/A04X5P @eMergentPublish

8 Quick Tips for Writing Bullet Points People Actually Want to Read: http://bit.ly/zKaTlI @copyblogger

Who’s Whose: More Help With Pronouns: http://bit.ly/wTlDRO @write_practice

Confessions of a Newbie Independent Bookseller: http://bit.ly/wYb7OI @deadwhiteguys

Fuel your writing by penning a manifesto for your book: http://bit.ly/xIVImA @originalimpulse

Tips for Finding inspiration: http://bit.ly/wXWGIV

Suspended Perceptions: http://bit.ly/wBT1h1 @Ravenrequiem13

Fast Drafting: A Word Count Builder: http://bit.ly/wkrqR8 @LynnetteLabelle

9 truths about ebook publishing: http://bit.ly/xbPygF @thefuturebook

Comics to relieve writing stress–from @inkyelbows: http://bit.ly/zIUg4K & http://bit.ly/xHUToR & http://bit.ly/yP4tic

It’s tough for writers to escape from stories: http://bit.ly/x9qGFZ @TamarMek

The role of attorneys in crime fiction: http://bit.ly/zw0DR9 @mkinberg

A different take on copyright from author James Hutchings for @MasonCanyon: http://bit.ly/zR5ukd

5 Hidden Benefits of Writing Slowly: http://bit.ly/yOcFBs @ollinmorales for @thecreativepenn

How an agent evaluates book blogs: http://bit.ly/xblfmH @SaraMegibow

Crawling Into a Writer’s Cave: http://bit.ly/AhdpnY

How To Jumpstart Your Creative Career in a Bad Economy: http://bit.ly/yePBir @the99percent

16 Misquoted Quotations: http://bit.ly/zRaenf @writing_tips

8 Reasons Your Self Published Novel Won’t Sell: http://bit.ly/yy8lzK @ajackwriting

8 Things That Surprised 1 Writer About Book Launches: http://bit.ly/AvZXA4 @Julias__Child for @BlurbisaVerb

Charles Dickens and the Facebook generation: http://bit.ly/xbr559 @Salon

6 Ways to Energize Your Writing Naturally: http://bit.ly/xN1ldd @ChrystleFiedler

5 Tips on Plot Twists: http://bit.ly/wkYK5r

Interesting discussion in the comments: Fiction and Social Justice ~ Can They Coexist? http://bit.ly/Av5Y06 @PassiveVoiceBlg

Defaulting to the Protagonist: http://bit.ly/yUWxyB

To Champion Worthwhile Books: http://bit.ly/wrqADT @rachellegardner

Music that helps with the dreaming stage of a novel: http://bit.ly/Ae5WWn @reclusivemuse for @byrozmorris

Disdain for authors?, Amazon absence, relevance through SEO, & other thoughts from/on #ToC from @Porter_Anderson: http://bit.ly/wd8yMD

Writing on the Ether by @Porter_Anderson features @SourceFabienne @KatMeyer @diannadilworth @bsandusky @cjoh @ikert http://bit.ly/wd8yMD

by Anora McGaha, @anorawrites

Mysteries scare me.

As a girl, I started with Nancy Drew. Loved her curiosity. Her intelligence. Her courage.

But I would get scared and have to close the book. Wait until another time.

Read in the living room when others were around.

Couldn’t stay away long though. Always wanted to know what happened next.

Balancing fear and curiosity. Curiosity and fear.

Before grade school was done, I put mysteries aside. For decades. Just didn’t need to risk the tension of fear.

Then my aunt wrote a mystery. Her first book. And another, and another. She found what she called a “sleezy” publisher who paid mere pennies a sale, but it was a start. The Trouble With… series was launched.

A novelist in my own family. Leading the way. I had to pick up a copy and risk the fear.

Murder always gave me the creeps. It’s horrific. In the news every day. Why would anyone want to take it on for leisure?

C. Crespi, as she called herself at the time, wrote light mysteries. She named her characters after her pets. She drew from experiences in the big Apple. Wove her sweetheart into the tales.

They were filled with fascinating details about life in the city, a quirky detective, with an international background like her own. Yes there was always a murder, but most of them weren’t scary. The stories were delightful.

Getting an agent was awful though. So many unanswered letters and emails.

Disappointments. Until the one acceptance that made it all worthwhile.

I was grateful to hear the reality of being a writer. Not sure I’d have the stomach for it.

Camilla broke into the big time – selling a few books to a major publisher, Harper Collins. Hardbacks. Book tours. Publicist. The works.

I was so proud. Excited too because she was paving the way for my own writing. Not by opening doors, but by doing it, simply showing it could be done.

Her writing stepped up. She wrote a psychological thriller. The Price of Silence was literary fiction. A gripping story. Stirring. Questions that beg an answer from the first page. Catch a reader by the first paragraph and keep us wanting answers until the end, and, beyond.

Having an agent for one book doesn’t mean an agent for every book. The agony of the search. Finally one. A sale to Soho Press. Now publishing under her own name, Camilla Trinchieri.

Then presto. Price sold across the ocean. In Italy, where her father, my grandfather was from. Where she had lived for years, and I too, for a few.

Il prezzo del silenzio. A direct translation of her title. Marcos and Marcos press.

Completely different cover. Picking up on the Chinese thread. A launch in Rome, Florence. Sardinia. Radio interviews. Magazine interviews.

An American. A New Yorker. Translated into Italian. Fluent in Italian, half Italian really. Welcomed. Celebrated. A prodigal daughter.

I had just discovered the power of blogging in 2008. Excited about what was possible, I launched a publicity blog for her.

She wasn’t into blogging. She stays focused on writing books. (A good focus for a writer, one I should take a lesson from.) But I scoured the Internet for everything I could find about her American edition, and then scoured the Italian Internet for everything in Italian about her. Google.it shows different results than Google.com.

Hours and hours of wonderful work, researching every result of thousands month after month. Discovering all kinds of reviews and comments. Discovering that her books were sold online in dozens of countries around the world. South Africa. India. England. Australia. Germany. France.

After adding a Feedjit widget on the sidebar, we could see that visitors were landing on the blog from all over the world. Whether or not any books were sold, people were visiting, and the posts were a wonderful public record of all her events and all the reviews she’d received.

Mysteries are still not my cup of tea. Too scary, still. But I know this much. Every book could take a lesson from the genre. Hook your reader with intrigue from the start, tantalize with unanswered questions, leave subtle clues that sneak up and surprise us, and leave us dying to know more.

Anora McGaha is a poet, non-fiction writer, author of Social Media for Business and personal essays in three anthologies. She is the editor of Women Writers, Women Books at www.booksbywomen.org. @anorawrites is her writing handle on Twitter, and @womenwriters is the handle for her online literary magazine for women writers.