Farworld

Farworld Blog has Moved

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:20:00 +0000

Hey, everybody. I am moving my blog back to jscottsavage.blogspot.com. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it was becoming harder and harder to update this blog running from an FTP server. Please update your records and subscriptions. I promise I won't move again. (AT least not blogs)

Check out the new blog for updates on Land Keep, the second book in the Farworld Series.

Bad Parent?

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:38:00 +0000

First, just a couple of events. Wednesday night at 6:30 I will be doing readings and signings at the Spingville, UT library with two great authors and really funny people: Jessica Day George and Janette Rallison. Drop by if you are in the area.

Also, the Strymakers Writers Conference is this Friday and Saturday. Tons of awesome authors will be there. Can't wait to see everyone who is coming. Now to the tough stuff.

Does writing automatically make you a bad parent?

As a writer, you tend to hang around with a lot of other writers. Go figure, huh? But one of the interesting things about this is the gender ratio. Not sure what I mean? Imagine taking Home Ec. in high school as a guy. If you did, you did it for one reason. Because the rest of the students were girls. Well, okay, maybe you didn’t want to get beat up by the things in wood shop. Anyway, my point is that there seem to be many more female writers than male writers. And nearly every female writer I know beats herself up about not being a good enough mom. “I feed my kids cold cereal.” “I haven’t vacuumed my house since every movie starred the brat pack.” “I once sent my son to school with nothing but a slice of cheese and a Twinkie for lunch.”

First let me just say that your kids aren’t going to remember what they had for lunch at school. Okay, maybe they will but you can just tell them that they are remembering an episode from Fairly Odd Parents. Second, your male counterparts would be 1000 worse as moms. We would feed our kids Coco Puffs with no milk because it went bad. (And we would have taken the prize out first.) We wouldn’t ever have vacuumed because we wouldn’t have thought to buy a vacuum. (That’s what shag carpet is for.) And while we would probably send our kids to school with cheese and a Twinkie, we would be proud of actually remembering to pack a lunch.

So I guess it’s time for me to confess too. I am a bad parent. No really, a bad, bad parent. I paid my nineteen year-old five bucks last week to drive out and buy fried rice at the local Chinese food place wearing a Fruit Loop box on his head. I teach them the wrong words to Church hymns. “All creatures of our God and King. Stick out your tongues and try to sing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh praise Him.” The last part is sung with your tongue out of course.

When my kids scream for help because they got their head stuck in the banister or have the net basketball game collapse on them, my first thought is, “Where is the camera?” Of course none of them was permanently injured, and I got lots of great pictures.
I also lie to my kids—a lot! All of my children know that in the (fairly likely) event of a rollercoaster flying off the tracks, your only hope is to jump out and aim for the hot dog stand. I get them to bite unsweetened chocolate bars. I told my son that when he turns twelve he will get a secret decoder ring and learn a secret handshake that will get him free video games at Block Buster. I once told a ghost story at my daughters sleepover that was so scary, the guest of honor had to go home.

It’s my fault that in any large gathering (be it church or a movie) my kids start whispering, “See if you can find the woman who used a rolling pin to curl her hair.” Or, “Where’s the boy who wanted to be Pinocchio when he grows up?” Getting a laugh is the highest compliment in our house. Which is probably why my son nearly needed stitches after falling from a friend’s desk while pulling his shirt over his knees to look like a midget, and recently walked around his room with his lunchbox zipped over his head. Also, my kids have never been to the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, or Mt Rushmore, but they have been to Disney Parks more than a dozen times.

So yeah. Bad parent. But somehow when I come do a presentation at their school, or get them ARCs from their favorite authors, or tell really cool bedtime stories (that are still kind of scary) they forgive me. No next time you worry about writing making you a bad parent, remember that your kids probably won’t remember what lunch you sent them to school with. And if they dodo, just just blame it on false memory syndrome. Kids are really gullible that way.

Are You Smarter Than a Turtle?

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 04:53:00 +0000

First, let me say thanks to all the fun comments from my April Fools post. Sorry to everyone who thought it was a real post. As my kids said, “They don’t know Dad very well do they?” I’m kind of known around the house for my teasing—which sets me up for some pretty good April Fools pranks from my kids and wife too.

Second, if you are in the West Jordon area, drop by the Jordan Landing Barnes and Noble tomorrow night, where James Dashner—author of 13th Reality and the forthcoming Maze Runner— and I will be signing books and giving away posters. Should be a lot of fun, even if my series is better than his!

Finally, thanks to everyone who came to the Pleasant Grove Library signing. It was a lot of fun. And thanks to Julie Bellon, I broke my one cardinal signing rule (never sign body parts) and signed her daughter’s arm with permanent marker. (Hey I told her I would if her mom said okay. How could I go back on that?)

Last fall I adopted a turtle. A red-eared slider to be precise. Up until I got the turtle, all I knew about them came from cartoons. Which means that they are slow, dull witted, and shy. They tend to say things like, “Duh . . . which way did that rabbit go?” or “Saw the whole thing, dude. First you were all like "whoa", and we were like "whoa", and you were like "whoa..." Understanding that cartoons might not be the final word in pet raising, I actually got a book on the subject. The book was somewhat more informative. It taught me things like: turtles shed, they are omnivores, and they need both a heat lamp and some other lamp that costs like $10 per bulb. (I think it might be some kind of projector bulb for the turtle’s home theater.)

What the book didn’t say is that turtles have attitude, can climb chicken wire fences, do an incredible “I want food” dance, and have a mean temper. You think I’m kidding about this? I am not. We went out and got a fifty gallon tank, heater, the aforementioned two lamps, a kind of turtle chase lounge, and a filter. Within 24 hours the turtle decided he hates the filter. Remember the scene in Finding Nemo where Nemo swims into the filter of his aquarium to block it with a rock? Well that fish has nothing on Yoshi the turtle. Suction cups don’t stop him. Rocks don’t stop him. Chicken wire fences don’t stop him. The little dude is relentless. And he doesn’t just pull the filter off the aquarium wall. He dismantles it and chews on the pieces.

Yesterday, I finally went to war. We have a chicken wire fence bent into an L shape that is supposed to protect the filter in the corner of the tank. We have rocks pushed up against it. Rocks that weigh more than Yoshi. But he pushes them aside, yanks the fence down, or squeezes past it. I think I might finally have beat him. I used a pair of wire snips to cut about two inches off the bottom of the fence and bent it out as a base. I piled the rocks on the bottom of the base, and then added the ultimate weapon. Duct tape along the top of the fence above the water line.

Even with all that, the one turtle wrecking team hasn’t given up. He nearly climbed completely over the fence. Have you ever seen a turtle clinging to the side of a chicken wire fence with all four feet? It’s crazy. And you should see him studying the duct tape with intense scrutiny—like he’s wondering if a little plastic explosive might do the trick.

So, what, you might ask, does this have to do with me? I don’t have to worry about chicken wire or duct tape. And I would pay for a device that constantly kept my house clean. Fair enough, but my question is to you have the determination to attack a problem until you find a solution? I speak in particular of the dreaded writers block. That moment nearly every writer hits when the flowing fountain of story drops to a dribble and eventually turns off. What do you do when writers block hits? Do you give up? Or do you fight? And if you do fight, how long do you keep fighting?

Here are ten ideas for overcoming writers block.

1) Decide what is actually being blocked. Have you lost your desire to write completely or are you just stuck on your current work? If you have lost your love of writing, maybe you are just not writing what you love. Don’t let writing turn into a job. Stop thinking about what you “have” to write and start thinking about what you’d really love to write, then do it.

2) If you are stuck in your current work, are you stopped cold? Or are you just having trouble with the current scene? If you are stopped cold, there is a very good chance you have a problem with your story. Step back from the trees and look at the forest. Stop trying to force a story that isn’t working and figure out what needs fixing before you put down another word. Remember this is not about rewriting your entire manuscript; it’s about finding the problem and fixing it.

3) If you are stuck on a scene, skip it. Literally, just put in a note that says, “insert something interesting here,” and skip to the next part that you are comfortable with.

4) Spend lots of time lying under a heat lamp, then get back to work. (This is from Yoshi.) Take a break. I offer this solution with a great deal of caution. Side effects can include never finishing your book. But sometimes a break is what you need. Life has to come before writing. If you are dealing with so much stress in your life that you can no longer write, stop writing, fix the stress and return to writing.

5) Don’t try to edit and write at the same time. Some people are actually very good at writing and editing as they go. If that is you, keep doing what works. But for many people, editing as you go is a trap that sucks you in and kills your story’s momentum. The more you reread your story, the more editing it needs. And the more your edit, the more you start to feel that the whole thing stinks. It’s like saying the same word over and over until it makes no sense. Just remember that most authors hate their work at one point or another. You can always come back and fix things later, but only if you push through to the end.

6) On the other hand, sometimes a break is exactly the wrong thing to do. Writing can be a habit. Write every day and your mind gets used to writing. It’s addictive. But stop for too long, and you can break the habit. If the current story is stuck in neutral, write something else. Another book, a short story, a journal. Just don’t forget that the goal is to get back to your current work.

7) One of the biggest problems for beginning writers is starting a story when all they really have is a beginning. Do you know how the story is going to end? If not, you just diagnosed your problem. Stop writing and go back to plotting you don’t need to know all the story. But at least know where it will end.

8) Write out of order. Again this doesn’t work for all writers. But if you are struggling with a current scene, try writing scenes you are more excited about. You can always cut and paste later.

9) Get feedback. I know it’s hard to show a work in progress to someone else. But if the train isn’t moving, you may need a different perspective to see if it has run completely off the tracks.

10) Cut. Sometimes the problem is that you are in love with a scene that doesn’t work. You are so enamored with your beautifully written scene that you don’t realize it doesn’t fit the story. If cutting is too painful, think of it as storing that scene. Save it in another file that you can always bring back later in this story or something else.

Remember that all of these are only suggestions. If one doesn’t work, try another. What works for you may not work for someone else. But the key is to keep trying things until something succeeds. Take Yoshi’s advice. If butting your head against the rocks isn’t getting you closer to your goal, try pushing past the fence, or even climbing over it. But don’t give up. You and your story deserve better than that!

Oh, and before I forget, I big shout out to my friends at Oakcrest, Westland, and Riverton Elementary schools. You guys rock!! See you at B&N!

A Slight Change in Plans

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:47:00 +0000

I don’t know exactly how to tell you all this. So let me just say this has been an odd week, not even counting the fact that the engine in our van blew up on the way to Idaho school visits. Monday morning, I was back home pushing hard to get Land Keep done by the week of April 20th when I get a call from my publisher.

It was Lisa Mangum. “Scott, how’s the story coming so far?”

“Great!” I told her. “This is definitely going to be the best book I’ve ever written. In fact, I’m actually a little nervous about how I’m going to top it in book three.”

Long pause. “Well . . . that’s good. But we’ve had a slight change in plans. Can you come down to the office to meet with Chris and me?”

Now, I love meeting with my publisher. They always have cool news, like, “Can you change the first chapter completely?” or “Remember how we had all those marketing dollars we were going to spend on your book in January?” So I must admit, I came with a little trepidation. I mean I’m over halfway on this baby and driving toward the finish. Maybe they have some cool artwork to show me. Except that they don’t know enough of the story yet to do artwork. Maybe it’s news about paperback rights or a movie sale? Hey, an author can dream right?

So I reach Salt Lake, find a parking spot and head in. My first clue that something is wrong is that Chris comes out of the elevator holding all four twilight books. Weird, but okay. Maybe he’s suddenly discovered Stephenie Meyer. Upstairs in the conference room though, are about a dozen romances—including Lisa’s forthcoming romantic fantasy, The Hourglass Door. Not sure what to make of this, but Chris gets right to the point.

“Scott, the committee thinks there isn’t enough kissing in your books.”

“What?” This may be the most bizarre thing I’ve heard since my daughter (now twenty) told me seventeen years ago that she had a pearl stuck up her nose. I’m sure I must have heard wrong. “Not enough what?”

“Kissing, smooching, passion,” Chris says pointing to the stack of Twilight books. “There’s not enough romance in your stories. Readers want touching, hugging, longing stares, and meaningful touches on the jaw.”

I’m not quite sure how to respond. “You do remember I write middle grade/YA fantasy right? My main characters are thirteen. They’re still not completely sure the opposite sex doesn’t have cooties.”

Lisa jumps in. “Oh, we’re not talking about Marcus and Kyja here. I mean their little kiss at the end of Water Keep was cute and all. But we’re thinking more about the elementals. What does a Land Elemental actually look like?”

Now I’m really confused. “Well technically there is no such thing as a land elemental.” Lisa and Chris give me an odd look. “You’ll get it once you read the story.”

“Well that doesn’t matter,” Chris says, pulling out some large pieces of poster board. “I’m sure you can change them. We had Brandon Dorman do a couple of sketches. These are just a few ideas of what the land elementals might look like. What do you think?”

I won’t go into detail about what land elementals look like. Or even why there is no such thing as a land elemental. That would give away too much of the story. Let me just say that the water elementals are the only elementals that look at all human. So imagine my surprise when Chris and Lisa show me a bunch of sketches of beautiful women. I start looking around for a camera or something. Finally, I shake my head. “You want the land elementals to look like Heidi Klum?”

“Not exactly like her,” Lisa says. “I mean they could have red hair, or even pink hair. And they don’t have to be super models exactly. See this one is wearing leaves. And this one has a rock necklace. They’re very land-like, don’t you think?”

When I am still confused, Chris takes over. “Here’s what we’re thinking. The economy’s slow right. So book sales are down. But women and teenage girls are still buying romance books like crazy. Look on Amazon. Twilight is like the top hundred products all by itself. Twilight hardback. Twilight paperback. Twilight audio book. Twilight picture book. Twilight pop-up. Twilight, the movie. Twilight soundtracks.”

“Right. I get it. Twilight is big.”

“Exactly,” Chris nods as though I’ve finally come to my senses. “That’s why we think you need to romanticize Far World. Think about it. What’s on the cover of Water Keep? A studly guy in a half open robe. You’ve already fought half the battle. Now you just need to put a hot-looking land elemental on the cover of book two and teenage girls will be buying up your series like mad.”

I run my fingers through my hair, still waiting for the punch line. “You are kidding right?”

“Not at all. We’ve already talked to our other authors about doing the same thing. James’ next book will introduce the 14th reality. A kind of intergalactic singles hangout. Brandon is going to have Kendra fall in love with a mummy who can’t kiss her without unraveling. And let’s just say the final book Obert Skye is going to introduce a Mrs. Thumps.”

Well as you can imagine, I argued quite a bit. But they are the publisher. And they made some good points, like, “We pay your royalties.”

So, beginning with book two, Farworld is now going to be a romantic fantasy. I’ve been practicing lines like. “Marcus gazed longingly into her eyes. Cascade’s palm lingered on the wood nymph’s cheek. Kyja sighed deeply, knowing her life would never be complete without a man who adored and stalked her.” It’s weird but, hey it’s a living.

Remember, book two comes out in September. Until then, enjoy April first.

It's Official!!!

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 06:58:00 +0000

All along, I have been saying that Land Keep, book two of the Farworld series, will come out this September. Unfortunately, as I think many of us authors are learning, the current economy makes nothing certain. As most of you know, my wife, Jennifer and I have been working on school visits fulltime since late December, when we realized that a fall release of book two might not be as sure of a thing as we had thought. It has been a great experience, but I also know that it has been pretty taxing on everyone having Mom and Dad gone as often as we’ve been.

Well, last week, I got the call from Chris Schoebinger at Shadow Mountain. They had their meeting, and . . . it’s a go. Book two is coming out in September. I don’t know how I sounded on the phone when Chris called, but I can tell you that inside fireworks were going off, confetti was flying through the air, and a bunch of little guys were jumping around screaming, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

First of all, let me just say that Chris is a stud. Every time a publisher makes a decision like this, they are putting their financial neck on the line. So to have Chris believe in my writing and support me as an author means a lot. I won’t have the marketing budget that I had on book one. But that’s okay. The second book in the series is coming out a year after the first one; which is all that matters to me at this point.

And let me just say that it is going to be such an exciting book, you won’t believe it. There is a climactic battle scene toward the end that gives me goose bumps just thinking about it. You will see some characters from book one you might expect, but there will be at least three you probably didn’t expect. You will learn lots more about Farworld, the elementals, the Dark Circle, and a whole new group of nasties called the Keepers of the Balance.

Here is a brief description I gave Lisa Mangum:

Marcus and Kyja thought convincing Cascade, a water elemental, to help them open a doorway between Farworld and Earth was difficult. But now it looks like their goal of gathering the other three elementals, land, air, and fire, may be coming to an end before it even gets started. Land Keep—home to the powerful and wise, land elementals— is empty, deserted for at least a thousand years, and the rumor is that the creatures who once controlled all land magic are extinct.

Marcus has his magic stolen by a group known as the Keepers of the Balance. His health is deteriorating rapidly as the Dark Circle’s power grows, and a terrible nightmare haunts his sleep. At the same time, something strange is happening to Kyja. What is the secret she is hiding? Could she be gaining magic? If so at what cost?

And what of the whispers that Terra ne Staric has fallen and Master Therapass is dead? Cascade might know the answers. But if he does, he isn’t saying. Instead, he seems strangely interested in the growing distance between Marcus and Kyja that threatens to tear their friendship apart.

The only hope seems to lie in the Augur Well, a legendary Oracle protected by traps and trials set by the Land Elementals before their disappearance. But to get there, Marcus, Kyja, and Cascade must travel deep underground, where Cascade’s water magic is weak. And if anything should happen, Marcus and Kyja will be unable to leap to the safety of Earth.

I can’t wait till you can read the whole thing!

Service

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:16:00 +0000

The good news about visiting schools is that you get to meet some amazing kids, teachers, librarians, principals, and parents. I’ve been having a ball. The bad news is that you come home absolutely exhausted after doing four of what really amount to one hour performances. It feels like you are a light bulb that’s been running at extra high intensity all day. Combine that with meeting lots of kids, and the results are probably predictable enough.

Last week, I did two days of Provo school visits. Tuesday night I did a signing. I’d been fighting a chest cold for about two weeks, but medicine was pretty much taking care of it. Wednesday, we went up to Ogden for the annual UELMA (Utah Educational Library Media Association) conference. I had asked to do a workshop on integrating authors and illustrators into curriculum. They agreed, and generously offered to let me join the author panel as well.

I had a great time and met lots of wonderful people, including authors Trudy Harris, Karen Houston, and Becky Hall. The last two, I knew from e-mail but had never met in person. They were great to spend time with. I want to give a special thanks to Mike Goodman, his wife Chris, and the rest of the UELMA board, who took us out to a great dinner. But that night I started feeling kind of weird—really tired, achy, and cold a lot. I figured it was just the cold and took more meds.

I made it through Thursday, but kept asking my wife if the hotel felt cold to her. And that night, I could barely eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Maddox.

Friday, I was really feeling lousy, but I had three schools to visit up in the Brigham City area, and I love that area. By the end of the visits, though, I felt completely wrung out. We went to get something to eat and I could barely keep my eyes open. An hour before we needed to be at the first of two book signings, we went out to the car and realized I had locked the keys inside.

Now this is more of a trick than it sounds like. First, the van has a remote lock on the key fob, so you would think I would have noticed I had no keys. But apparently I locked the car by hand, which I never, ever do. Second, you cannot lock the door by hand with the keys in the ignition. Unless, that is, you remove the keys from the ignition until they are just barely hanging there. Which is exactly what I did. Of course we called Triple A, who promised us someone would be there in thirty minutes or they would call us. Thirty minutes later, no call and no truck. So I call Triple A, and have a conversation something like this.

“I’m calling to check on the person who will unlock my car.”

“We told you they would be there by 4:01. It’s only 4:00.”

“So you want me to hold for a minute until it’s 4:01?’

“That’s only an estimate. They have an additional ten minutes to call you if they are going to be later than that.”

“Okay, but I need to be at a signing twenty minutes away by 4:30. Can you call and see what their ETA is?”

“No.”

“You can’t call them?”

“No?”

“Can you give me their number so I can call them?”

“No I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“You know it show here that your service is inactive. I don’t even know why the other person took your call.”

“But my card says my service is good until May.”

“I’m just telling you what the computer says.”

“Look, can you just tell me the name of the company who is coming?”

“No. I can’t.”

“Wow, you guys don’t seem very service oriented for a company that is supposed to provide service.”

Just then I get a call, so I let her get back to “serving” other Triple A customers. It’s the locksmith. They ask me where I am. I repeat exactly what I told Triple A. (See how much fun I am having repeating the name of the company that was so not helpful!) I am at the corner of 300 East and Main in Tremonton, in the Taco Time parking lot.

“Tremonton?”

My heart drops. “Where are you?”

“Logan. They didn’t tell us Tremonton. I can be there in about forty minutes or so.”

After discovering that the Tremonton police department dispatch would not send anyone to help me unless a pet or child was trapped in my car, (do books count?) and that they wouldn’t tell me if there was a local locksmith. (“Use 411 or the yellow pages” Again, what happened with “To protect and serve?”) I called 411 and found that there was only one locksmith in Tremonton, and he was not in town.

About this time, my wife took matters into her own hands and walked down the street to the Tremonton Big O, who had my car open in less than five minutes for free. Big O, Big O, Big O. Apparently they have heard of service!

So we made it to both of our signings, came home and found out I had STREP. Got a shot, felt lousy, rested, felt better. Got snowed on, felt lousy, and rested some more. Fortunately today was an off day. Tomorrow I have five school visits.

So what’s the moral of the story? I think service—Triple A’s lack of it and Big O’s abundance of it—would be high. Don’t do school visits when you are sick has to fit in there somewhere. And thank goodness for really good people.

Just as an update on the schools. Since January we have visited just under a hundred and fifty schools, which amounts to about 60,000 students (about 200 schools and 100,000 students since the book came out.) I have signed over 4,000 books, and easily twice that many posters. I have answered over 1,000 e-mails. And I have made a bunch of great friends. So thanks to all the great kids! Thanks to the schools who have let me come visit. Thanks to Shadow Mountain for providing tons of posters, bookmarks, and a free book to all the UELMA attendees. Thanks to my son Scott who has booked many of the schools, my daughter Erica who has created the signing invitations and fliers, and my two little guys who have done everything from stuffing flyers to helping at signings.

And most of all, thanks to my wife who not only runs the whole show, joins me on so many of my school visits she could do the whole thing herself, and coordinates all of my events, but can even get me back into a locked car with only a smile!

Here’s to a lot more schools and a lot more good times. But no more sickness. (Crosses fingers.)

Publishing 101 – Part 2

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:42:00 +0000

Publishing is selling. There is no easier way to explain it. One of the sayings I teach at writing workshops is, “Don’t write what sells . . . unless you want to sell what you write.” It sounds kind of obvious, but the point is that if you have no plans to sell what you write, you can write whatever you heart desires. But as soon as you decide you are writing for publication, you must give at least some thought to what is selling. That is not to say you should chase after every trend, “Vampire books are hot. Maybe I should write a vampire book.” But you should research the market enough to understand the trends and know what is selling and what is not.

When we last left off, we had researched the market, discovered the publisher we wanted to pursue required an agent, and got a copy of a publication that listed agents. Now, you have a book or website with a whole bunch of agents in it. What’s next? Well first, you need to narrow down the agents to the ones that are the best fit for your work. It is a waste of your time, and the agent’s time to send him or her a manuscript that she does not represent. This is not a lottery. You do not increase your odds of selling your manuscript by randomly sending out submissions.

The first thing you want to do is decide what genre your work falls into. There are many, many sub-genre classifications. Horror can be anything from psychological thriller to splatter-punk. But at its essence, it is still horror. So you’ll start by finding agents that represent horror [or fill in your genre here]. Of course, your story probably has elements of romance, mystery, action-adventure, etc. But for the purpose of finding an agent, you need to start with a single genre. Romance? Mystery? Women’s fiction? Fantasy? If you can’t decide what genre you are writing, you are not ready to find a publisher. Go find books that are similar to yours and see what genre they fall into.

Next, you need to know who you are writing for. Is this a picture book? Early reader? Middle Grade? YA? Or adult? One again, many books cover many audiences, but you have to decide. You can’t tell an agent, “My book is great for everyone from one to a hundred.” Agents specialize in certain areas. If you are writing a middle grade mystery, you don’t want to go after an agent who only reps adult books. Don’t worry if you are not sure whether you are writing a middle grade novel or a YA. The agent will let you know if you are wrong—or may even ask you to change your protagonist’s age, down the road.

Let’s assume you are writing a YA mystery. You will look up agents that represent YA and mystery. Then you will read their submission guidelines to see if they do YA mysteries. Most agents who do YA, are going to accept a YA mystery, but not all agents who accept mysteries also rep YA works. Once you have a list of agents that represent your work, you want to see if they take new and unpublished clients. Not all agents do. Some agents have all the clients they can handle. Some take on a small number of new clients every year. Others are actively seeking new writers. Other things to look for include how many and what type of works the agent has sold. This may require a little additional research, but hey that’s what Google is for, right?

Okay, so far, so good. You’ve decided what genre you are writing and found agents who represent this type of work. You’ve put together a list of twenty agents. Now rank these agents from the one you would like the most to the one you want the least (remembering that any of the agents would be acceptable or you wouldn’t have chosen them, and that you are going to do much more research if one of them actually offers to take on your work.) The next thing to do is find out how the agent prefers to be contacted. (Sound familiar? It’s just like the publisher guidelines we checked out in the Publishing 101 post.)

While most of this information will be listed in the same place you found your agents in the first place (Writer’s Marketplace, etc), I prefer to double check it on-line. Agents move around, and often their guidelines will change from what’s shown on a current year’s print listing. So for this example, let’s head over to Bookends Literary Agency. This is one of the better submission pages I have seen. If you read the whole page (including following the various links), you will learn what they are looking for and how they want it sent.

Notice a few things. First, they are only accepting unsolicited manuscripts via e-mail. Let me just step in for a minute and say, “Hallelujah!” Those of you who know me, know that I believe paper submissions—in particular the whole SASE idea—is a waste of time, paper, and money. We are in an electronic age, and it’s about time more agents did away with the wasteful practice of sending out reams of paper and using countless stamps just to hear, “No thank you.” I LOVE the fact that Bookends is doing away with all of that.

Second, they clearly tell you what they are actively looking for. Can’t get much easier than that. If you fall into one of these categories, submit away. If not, find another agent.

Last, they tell you how to send your information to them. If you are not familiar with what a query letter is, read their whole FAQ, it is a wealth of information. There are a gazillion different ways to package a query, but remember that a query is like the clothes you wear to an interview. It won’t get you the job, but it could very well disqualify you. Bookends does a great job of identifying what they want in a query letter.

1) Your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and any other pertinent contact information. This is pretty self-explanatory. But make sure your information is up to date and that this contact info is included with every piece of correspondence you send. More than once, an agent has read something they really liked, only to discover they have no way of contacting the author. Also, make sure you spell the agent’s name right. Misspelling an agent’s name is not the way to get off on the right foot with them.

2) The book's title, the genre it best fits into, and the length or word count. Keep it simple here. Death in a Fruit Cellar, cozy mystery, approximately 73,000 words. Do NOT try to get fancy here with something like: Working title, Death in a Fruit Cellar (but I’m open to changing this), mystery/thriller with a touch of romance and intrigue. Word count about 73,000 (I’m not sure as I haven’t finished writing it yet.

3) A very brief synopsis of your book. This is the most important piece of the letter since this is the one thing that's going to hook the agent. We don't need to know every detail of your secondary characters, but we do need to know what those key things are about your book that makes it different or special. To use one of our own books as an example:

"Featuring amateur sleuth and wine expert Nikki Sands, Murder Uncorked is the first in a proposed series set in California's wine country. When Nikki stumbles upon a body in Napa Valley, it isn't long before her nosiness gets the best of her. Now she's knee-deep in trouble and must find the killer before he finds her. In addition to a terrific cozy mystery, I've incorporated wine-pairing suggestions with delicious wine country recipes."

Pay attention to the brief part. That is the agent giving you a big hint about what they will throw in the trash. A query letter should never be more than a single page (I know we are dealing with e-mail here, but you still know what a page looks like.) The hook should be no more than two paragraphs max! The hook should include: who the protagonist is, what he is trying to accomplish, what stands in his way, and the consequences of failure. This is not a synopsis. Save that for later. This is a hook that makes the agent go, “Wow! I’ve got to see more of this.”

4) A bio that highlights any significant writing experience you have had. Key word here, significant. Do not tell the agent about how much the neighbor kids (or your grandma) liked your book. Do not tell the agent how many other agents rejected you before. Do not tell the agent about all of your other unpublished works. Keep it simple. Previous publishing experience. Awards. Marketing experience that is applicable to this work. If you don’t have any previous experience, just leave this blank. Don’t try to make something up.

Let’s put this into action with a sample query letter:

In 1964, in the small town of Twin Forks, Utah six second graders were lost in a Utah gold mine. After days of searching, five of the children were found. The sixth was never recovered, and eventually the mine entrance was dynamited closed. Now, more than thirty years later, tragedy has returned to Twin Forks. Someone is killing the survivors of the mine incident. All clues seem to point Cal Hunt, Chief of the Twin Fork’s Police Department, to the dead boy’s ghost.

Struggling to deal with the recent and unexpected death of his wife, Cal must stop the killings before all the survivors end up dead, while unraveling the secret of what happened in the mine all those years ago. In order to do that, he may have to admit the presence of the supernatural and come to grips with his wife’s passing.

Dark Memories is a 102,000 word supernatural thriller. I have previously published a nonfiction book on rose pruning and several magazine articles. I have an excellent PR background and have procured interviews with television, radio, and print media. I have also taught many writing classes and seminars.
If you would like to see more of my novel, I can be reached at 801-555-1212 or e-mail me at scott@jscottsavage.com.

Best,

J Scott Savage

That’s all there is to it. Keep it simple. Make it interesting. Check very, very carefully for typos. Your manuscript may not be perfect, but sending a query letter with misspellings and poor grammar is not the way to impress an agent. Finally, once you send out your query, forget about it and move onto other things. Do NOT send another e-mail a week later, saying, “Hi! Just wanted to make sure you received my query.”

In part three, we will focus on how many queries to send out at a time, who to send them to, and what happens if the agent asks for more. And remember, there are lots of scams out there. NEVER, EVER pay an agent or publisher. The money should always flow to you. Not the other way around.

Getting Published 101

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:10:00 +0000

Probably the most common question I am asked as I do author events is, “How do you get published?” Of course there is no “one” way to get published. Everyone’s experience is different, and there is no magic bullet. The simple answer is, “Write something really great and send it out until someone buys it.” Kind of like the old joke. “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” “Practice!” If your writing is good enough—or you are willing to really work at getting better—and you are persistent enough, you will eventually get published.

Every author has written something on this subject, but I haven’t addressed it lately, and there are so many myths or misunderstandings about getting published, that I thought I would add my two cents. This is going to be getting published 101, so if you already know all about agents, query letters, and SASE’s, you may want to skip this post.

First, let me clear up some commonly held misconceptions—the dreaded publishing myths.

1) All authors make are rich. The truth is that most authors could make more money flipping burgers than they do writing books. Many, many authors are lucky to earn $5,000 for a book that took a year or more to write. And that’s before they spend their own money on marketing, gas, book tours, etc. This is not to say that people do not make good money as authors, or to discourage would-be writers. There are always going to be people making a living writing books or articles, and you could very well be one of them. But do not begin writing a book because you need to quit your job, make a ton of money, pay pressing bills, or anything like that. Write because you love to write, and let it lead you where it will.

2) This brings me to the second writing myth. If I turn in a book in January, it will probably come out sometime this summer. On average the time from submission to publication for a new author is a minimum of two years. And that’s not taking into account the time it takes to get an agent, which is required for many publishers. This is another good reason not to write because you hate your job. Depending on the publisher, you may not even see a dime for another six months after your book is published. If you hate your job that much, quit your job and find one you like—it’s much quicker.

3) You must pay (either an agent or a publisher) to get your book published. I’ll talk more about agents a little later, but suffice it to say that if an agent asks you for a dime, run away fast. They are unethical at best, and most likely a scammer. An agent who asks you for money up front is not making money by selling books. He or she is making money by scamming innocent writers and playing upon their hopes. You will not get published by paying money to an agent.

In general the same thing applies to publishers. There are many types and sizes of publishers. Depending on how big they are, and what their policies are, they will pay and market your book very differently. Bigger publishers have bigger budgets, and generally pay better. But they are also more difficult to sell to. Most big publishers won’t even look at a manuscript that is not represented by an agent.

That being said, publishers fall into two general categories. The kind that pay you and the kind you pay. A traditional publisher does not charge you money to publish your book. They may or may not pay you an advance (money you get before the book is published), the royalties (how much they pay you per each book sold) and contracts can differ wildly. But in general, they pay you money for each book that they sell. Self-publishers (also called vanity press) charge you money for the service of publishing your book. If you have a good way to sell your own books, or if you are publishing primarily for friends and family, this can be a great service. But do not be fooled into thinking that if you publish with a vanity press your books will start showing up on the shelves of the local Barnes and Nobel.

4) Getting an agent means I will definitely get published. While it is true that many publishers will no longer even look at un-agented manuscripts, getting an agent does not guarantee that a publisher will buy your book. Think of an agent as a middleman. The agent’s job is to weed out bad manuscripts and find ones that are good enough to be published. Then they sell the work to a publisher. They negotiate the contract, sell additional rights (movie, foreign, audio, etc), and help set up the next book deal. For this, they get a cut of the royalties—typically 15%.

Okay, now that we are done with myths, let’s get to work going through the process of selling a book. Let’s say I have written a great new novel called Vlad the Embalmer. The first thing I need to do, is get the book done and polished before I start shopping it. Do not start contacting agents or publishers unless your manuscript is finished and polished. Another thing I could have listed in myths is that it is the editor’s or agent’s job to clean up your story. Yes, the editor will help make your story better, but you will never make it to that point if you haven’t polished your work until it shines. If you think you can send out a rough draft and the story will shine through, you are in for a rude awakening.

Once your story is as polished as it can be, you need to begin researching publishers and agents. For the sake of this example, let’s jump over to a publisher’s site and see what their submission guidelines are. The link is http://www.shadowmountain.com/authors/guidelines. What we are looking to see is if the publisher takes un-agented submissions, and also what types of books they are looking for. The good news is that they do not require and agent. Notice the description of what types of books they are looking for:

“Shadow Mountain seeks to publish new books for adults and children that will appeal to a values-based, general market of readers and writers. We prefer to publish books that reflect traditional Christian values. A book we are interested in will be

1. Of value to our readers.

2. Well written and well researched.

3. Unique.

In general, Shadow Mountain is not interested in poetry, family histories, or personal journals. We will consider manuscripts that are being submitted simultaneously to other publishers. We do ask, however, that you let us know you are also submitting it elsewhere, so misunderstandings can be avoided.”

Pretty straightforward. Be aware though, that if a publisher tells you they are not looking for a particular type of book, they mean it. Don’t think that your poetry is so good that they will buy it anyway. Instead, find a publisher that is looking for poetry if that’s what you write.

Now let’s jump to another site. http://www.randomhouse.biz/manuscripts/. When you read their submission page, you quickly find that they do NOT take un-agented submissions.

“Random House, Inc. does not accept unsolicited submissions, proposals, manuscripts, or submission queries via e-mail at this time.”

This means that if you want to publish with Random House, you will need an agent. Okay, so where do you get an agent? Well, there a couple of places to look. Two of the best sources are The Literary MarketPlace (the LMP), a reference guide that can be found in most libraries. Or The Writer's Market, which you can also find in the library or purchase. Writer’s market is also available online at http://www.writersdigest.com/, for a monthly or annual fee.

So your next step is to go to the library or the bookstore and do some research. What you want to find are agents that accept the kind of book you have written. Typically this will be broken down by reader age and genre. For example, our book, Vlad the Embalmer is a horror novel for young adults. We don’t want to waste our time or the agent’s time by sending them a YA horror novel if they only accept nonfiction, romance, and mainstream mysteries.

In my next post, I’ll talk about researching agents and putting together a query packet.

Random Weirdness

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:37:00 +0000

Just got back from a week doing school visits in California. We had a ball and sold lots of books. In fact we sold the Barnes and Noble in Roseville completely out of books, and I have to admit it was pretty cool when they said the only authors to have bigger signings there were Janet Evanovich and Stephenie Meyer. They even brought little cups of hot cocoa to the people waiting in line. How cool is that?

A few random thoughts from the road.

I don’t know about anyone else, but the perfect driving snacks for me are a combination of mini Butterfinger candy bars, corn nuts, mini Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies, and beef jerky. If I ever have to trade with natives, I am leaving the beads and trinkets at home and bringing those.

You know that thing you did in science class where you stuck one hand in hot water and the other in cold water, then put them both in room temperature water? Apparently Utah is the cold water glass. It was raining and like 57 degrees in the bay area, and everyone was acting like it was a freezer while we were walking around in shorts and basking.

Possibly the funniest book to ever be banned by a school is The Flim-Flam Fairies by Alan Katz. It starts with the tooth fairy explaining how you can get some money for your tooth, but she is quickly replaced by such nefarious fairies as the booger fairy, the dirty underwear fairy, the toenail fairy, and even the fart fairy. On the last page, the poop fairy wants to know if he is too late. I think the poop thing may have pushed it over the edge. Talking about poop is taking your chances in the grade school crowd. But I laughed my head off. (Which just goes to show that I am still stuck in the potty humor stage.)

Another fun picture book (which doesn’t include the words fart or poop) is You Can’t Go to School Naked, by Diane Billstrom. Diane is a wonderful person and friend of my parents who dropped by the store and bought books for her grandkids.

Clayton Books in Concord, California, still has to be one of the best indy bookstores ever. They showed me and my family a great time, we sold two-hundred books, and I got signed copies of A Series of Unfortunate Events, book 1, and a Bizarro pirate book. Thanks Joel and family, Vinitha, and the rest of the staff. You guys are awesome.

I completely agree that Hunger Games is great. I read it a couple of months ago and it is awesome. I am also reading the Seventh Tower series by Garth Nix, and have to say how amazing he is. I also love Neil Gaiman (congrats on winning a well deserved Newberry for The Graveyard Book, which I loved), but I was really disappointed by Stardust. One of those cases where I kept thinking how much better I liked the movie. Oh well, I have loved everything else I’ve read by him.

The greatest hot dogs in the world are Caspers in Pleasant Hill. I wish they would bring Caspers, In’N’Out, and Jack in the Box, out here to Utah. But then again, maybe they don’t come to cold water states.

Book Clubs

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:39:00 +0000

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
- Jack London

So I’m back doing school visits again, which is admittedly a lot more fun than going to a nine to five job. Where else can you suggest to a gym full of kids that a cheese-vomiting giant bologna sandwich would be a really cool arch villain? At the end of the presentation, I usually do a Q&A session. One of the most common questions goes something like this. “What was the inspiration for your book?” My typical answer is that I wanted to write a fantasy where the kids don’t turn out to be the greatest magicians or superheroes, or whatever. They have weaknesses that they have to deal with.

That is a true answer. If there is an “inspiration” I can claim, that would be it. The problem I have with the word inspiration, though, is that—in the words of Inigo Montoya, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” Authors and prospective authors tend to confuse inspiration with a sort of muse-like cloud that falls upon you while you are sleeping or showering or meditating on a park bench. Do authors get inspiration from dreams or showers or long walks in the turnip patch? Sure, but saying you should wonder the turnip patch in search of a “big idea” is like saying you should spend all your time walking along mountain streams because someone once found a gold nugget there.

Gold was discovered in Coloma by chance in a river. But later miners didn’t sit by the edge of the river waiting for a nugget to roll by. They hiked, and dug, and tested, and repeated the process all over again. In other words, they worked for their gold. Sometimes their work paid off, other times it didn’t. Authors need to take the same advice. Want to write the next great story? Don’t sit around waiting for the idea fairy to hit you on the head with her hammer of revelation. Get out and work for it.

Let me give you a couple of examples. Stephenie Myer had a dream about a vampire in a meadow. Great, call that inspiration if you want. But if that was all she had to go on, it would have been a very short book. What about the werewolves and love triangles and the good and bad blood suckers? (Not that I’ve actually read those girly books or anything. Cough, cough.) In other words, she didn’t just transcribe a dream. She took that small scene and crafted a whole series of books to go with it.

I hate to give my friend James Dashner too much credit (It makes his head swell up and turn red.) But the man is constantly coming up with cool new ideas for books. He isn’t waiting for some inspiration to strike, he is reading, and thinking, and plotting until he comes up with a cool idea that no one else has thought of yet. When Shadow Mountain suggested he come up with a few ideas to discuss during a lunch two years ago, he developed 13th Reality in a couple of weeks, and wrote up a synopsis, and sent it to them before the lunch.

I’ll be the first to admit (or maybe the hundred and thirty second) that some people come up with ideas more easily than others. But I also contend that anyone can come up with a story idea. In fact half my school presentation is showing kids that they can develop a great idea for a story in five minutes or less. And it works every time.

It’s really not that hard. Start with a genre. Pick something you’ve always wanted to write. Then throw in a handful of fun characters. Make them unique enough that each one stands out. Next give them a goal that you’d love to read about. But make it exciting. You want an idea that makes people around you go, “Wow! That sounds so cool.” Not, “Hmmm, yes, I can see how that might work.” Then throw in a dash of insurmountable obstacles. Nothing makes a story better than the point at which the reader thinks, “How can he/she possibly overcome that.” Finally, add to your meal, er story, a relish of major consequences. What happens if your hero fails? Make the consequences dire indeed. Once you’ve done all that, simmer and stir for awhile.

One of the posters to my Farworld forum suggested that a great way to come up with a fantasy name is to take a common word and change it one letter at a time. For example:
Radio
Ravio
Ravia
Ramia
Lamia

There you go. Princess Lamia. (When I Googled this name, I discovered that it is actually a real name. In Greek mythology, Lamia was a Queen of Libya who became a child-murdering daemon. But that just makes it that much cooler. When people ask you how you came up with the name, you drop that little tidbit and look educated.)

You can do the same thing with your story idea. If you are writing about a prince who falls in love with a princess and has to rescue her from a dragon, try stirring it up and see what happens. Let’s make it a butterfly who falls in love with a princess. Then instead of falling in love, let’s make it a butterfly who is jealous of a princess. Then instead of rescuing her from a dragon, the butterfly trades places with the dragon to slay the vain princess. This is just an example and is probably a lousy idea. But if you stir enough, you will end up with something that works.

Of course the concept of cranking out ideas like Big Macs may seem crass to authors who believe that all great book ideas must come accompanied by the singing of a chorus of angels and the sound of tinkling cymbals. But those are quite often the people that crank out a book every ten years whether they need it or not. If you’ve got a gazillion ideas, stop reading this and go write them down. But if you’ve been holding off, waiting for inspiration to strike, take Jack’s advice and go strike inspiration instead.

By the way, the title of this post was really just a play on words to get you to read it. Everyone loves a good book club. So if you read all the way to the end and are still looking for advice on forming a book club, um, well, "You can't wait for a book club. You have to go after it with a . . . another . . . club." Carry on.

Letters, We've Got Letters!

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:10:00 +0000

I guess a lot of people must have received Farworld for Christmas, or Chanukah, or doorstops, or maybe just because everyone else was buying books. Whatever the reason, I started getting a ton of e-mails recently. It’s been great, and I’ve been trying to be pretty quick in responding. I think getting fan mail is one of the coolest things about being an author. So today I thought I’d share some of my recent letters. I’ll just post the writers first name for privacy reasons.

BTW, if you write to me and you don’t hear back, make sure you are putting a valid e-mail in the contact box. Or just write to me at scott at jscottsavage dot com.

From Matt:
Hi i was at cook elementary when you went there so i wanted to know if you know Rick Riordan.

(No, but I’ve read his books. Does that count?)

From Jordan:
Hi do you think this story sounds good or bad it is about a kid named Jordan lost a hat at school so he went to the lost and found but when he put hi hand in he fell in to it and he finds some legos but when he touchs one they all came to life and he and they were life sized and he turnd in to a lego and they went in to and he went to many wars email me if you and I well email it to you by the way I am 9 years old.

(Who could resist a book about a kid who turns into a Lego?)

From Miley:
do you like pickles

(Doesn’t everyone like pickles? I think it’s some kind of law.)

From Abby,
I got my book report grade back, and my teacher gave me ninety-nine percent out of one-hundred percent because she did not notice that my description of my favorite picture was on the page behind the picture, when we were actually supposed to put the description of our picture on the lines below the picture, so I showed it to her and she said sorry, and that she would fix my grade in her grade book, so I actually should be getting one-hundred percent out of one-hundred percent on it but I do not know, so I will email you two back and let you know when I get my book report grade back.

(This is from a good friend introduced to me by Kerry. She was also a previous guest on the Frog blog. I include this to show all kids out there that you can ace your next book report if you do it on Farworld. And if you, you know, do a great report.)

From Skye:
you are awsome!!!!!! sorry I didn't come saturday i liked it when you came to hannah holebrook but send me a email i like you so much so far i like your book my brother wants to read your book and hes in 8th grade your the best person on earth so i hope i see you again and hope you have the best halloween ever your my bff and that means you my best friend forever i like you so much some time you can come camping with us in the summer time so my mom and dad say yes and you can bring your family i like your hand writting because i can read it your the best person on earth so you rock ill send you a message on sunday so have fun on every thing yor friend skye

(I am so going camping with Skye!)

From Kelci:
dear AUTHOR, I DO NOT UNDER STAND THE BOOK I WAS WOUNDERINDING IF YOU COULD HELP ME UNDER STAND YOUR BIGGEST FAN KELCI

(You’ve got to like someone who is your biggest fan even though they don’t understand your books. Just wait until she reads one that makes sense!)

From Antony:
Hi I love far world as mch as I love my family. i love the cool symbols you created representing the four elemens I cant wait till the next book comes out

(Either Antony really loves Farworld, or he is just so-so with his family. I’m hoping for the first.)

From Claudia:
I know that your books are aimed at YA, however I really enjoy them and have all my friends read them. Along with my husband. I just want to know when can we expect the next book to come out? Yes I am a Grandma that loves good books. Thanks for writing another good book

(Next time someone asks me what age group I write for, I’m handing them this group of letters!)

Hope you all had a great 2008, and that your 2009 is even better!)

An Update, School Visits, and A Shot in the Arm

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:10:00 +0000

Things have been pretty wild around the Savage household of late. My daughter came home with a ring on her finger. (Much better than, say, a ring in her nose, in this dad’s opinion.)

My son left to serve his Church for two years in Columbus, Ohio, then came home two weeks later to have arthroscopic surgery on both his knees. (Did I mention I lost my job last month and our insurance ends in January?) Fortunately we managed to get most of the work done this month, and it looks like we’ll have our own insurance starting soon. (Don’t ask me how much that cost!) Somehow Santa made it around this year (thanks for the laptop!) My youngest son is pretty much joined at the hip with a 2 ½ foot Millennium Falcon that has more buttons than my laptop, and my 11-year-old son has managed not to break his neck in the snowy streets on his electric scooter.

Is this starting to sound like one of those family newsletters yet? Okay, moving on.

Beginning in the middle of January, I will be doing school visits through the end of the school year. I expect to be pretty drained by the end of the year, but it’s still one of the greatest things I get to do as a YA author. Because Shadow Mountain has turned the scheduling back over to their authors for the most part, I’ve had a chance, along with my WONDERFUL wife, to spend quite a bit of time talking to librarians and principals. I’ve heard some great things about author visits, and I’ve heard more than one horror story. So I thought I’d share a few tips with any of you who are planning school visits.

#1) Know who you are presenting to and stick to that audience. If your book is aimed at third through sixth graders, don’t do assemblies for Kindergarteners. Sure, your presentation may be so darn amazing that EVERYONE will love it. But what happens when those six-year-olds go ask Mom and Dad to buy your book? Will they really appreciate it? Likewise, if you do picture books, don’t take your show to junior high students, unless you are going to teach them how to draw or about the business.

#2) On the same note, if you present to wide age groups, prepare more than one presentation. What entertains junior high students will not entertain third graders. In fact there is a huge gap between sixth and seventh graders. Create your presentation age appropriately.

#3) In a typical presentation, I will have between 300-400 students in attendance. I will probably have another fifteen or so, teachers and staff. If my presentation is an hour (including getting everyone in and out), I am responsible for 400+ hours. Don’t waste that time. Don’t come with a long commercial for your book. Don’t plan on reading for ten of those minutes. Teach something. Entertain and educate at the same time. When I leave a school, the students will understand that all of them have unique talents (magic) inside them. They will also know the key elements of creating a story. They will have learned something that makes them better people and writers. On the entertainment side, remember that kids learn better when they are having fun. Some authors bring snakes, some tell jokes, I do magic tricks. Boring presentations are the kiss of death. Make them laugh. Make sure that when you are done presenting, the teachers want to have more authors visit.

#4) How do you get compensated for your visit? As an author, I typically leave the house at 7:30, and, if I am doing a signing, may not get back home until 9:30 that night. I have to provide my own meals and my own gas. I also lose a full day of writing, which is how I make my living. If I am doing #3 right, I am providing a valuable service to the schools and the students. How do I get compensated for that? Of course it’s great meeting the kids, and hopefully they’ll remember my name down the road. But I can’t live on hopefully.

I try to provide several options. The easiest thing is to just charge a fee. The bigger your name, the higher the fee you can get. Rick Riordan charges something like $2500 per day, and he is booked solid. I can’t charge anywhere near that. But I try to work with schools to at least get a minimal fee that will cover my costs for the day. Another way I can make money is by selling books. This can be done through pre-order forms, where the kids bring in their money and I sign a book for them while I am there. Many schools encourage this. The kids get to meet the author and get a signed book, which will hopefully encourage them to read more. Typically the bookstore will offer a discounted price or give a % back to the school as a fundraiser.

Some schools would prefer that I not sell books in their school. That’s fine too. I usually do a signing that evening, in conjunction with the school visits. One of the great things about Shadow Mountain is that they provide posters, bookmarks, and invitations to the signing. So everyone gets a bookmark, anyone who wants a poster can get one free at the signing, and kids who want to buy a book and get it personalized, can do that too. It works out really well.

Occasionally, I will do a signing where there is not a convenient bookstore close by. Then I will sell my own books. This is another way I can help defer my costs. So far it has been a win win situation. I get to meet great kids, and introduce my books. They get a great message, and get excited about reading.

#5) Lastly, put together a flier, links to newspaper articles, references from other teachers, librarians, and principals who have heard your presentation. You are calling a school cold and asking them to let you visit with their most precious resource. Wouldn’t you want your children’s principal to do a background check on someone presenting to their school? Make it easy for everyone to learn what you do and how it has been received.

That’s it for schools. My last comment is back to the whole economy thing. I was talking to my younger sister today. She is writing a book for the first time. I asked her how the edits were coming. She said something to the effect of, “Well I’ve kind of been putting it off today since the economy is so bad.” It’s a good thing we were taking over the phone or I would have shaken her!

Did the amazing economy the last few years make you a bestseller? No? Then why should a bad economy kill your career? You know what successful authors are doing right now? They are writing and editing. Because they know that eventually the economy will pick up. The books that are being purchased now won’t come out for two years anyway. That means if you wanted to have your sales hurt, you are two years too late! But if you want to be a bestseller when the economy is going great, you need to get your book turned in, um, right now!

Here’s the thing. Winners will win regardless of what the economy is doing. Losers will always find an excuse not to win. Stop worrying about what you can’t control and get to work on what you do best. Okay, that’s it. I have to get back to writing, and marketing, and writing, and marketing, and . . . well you get the picture.

How I Spent My First Day as a Fulltime Writer

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:38:00 +0000

Well, I guess it’s real. As of today, I am writing fulltime. So how did it go? Glad you asked. Because it gives me something to blog about other than the weird rash on the back of my elbow.

Aren’t you relieved?

So here in no particular order are a few random thoughts from the beginning of being a full time writer.

First, for those of you interested in the LDStorymakers Writers Conference, things are moving along quickly. The incredible, and talented, Scott Wright is just about done with the online registration form. We expect to have it up and running by early next week at the latest. This year’s conference is going to be bigger and better than ever, with special classes on children’s book writing, screen writing, article writing, and all the other usual good stuff.

Second, I do not understand why people collect rejection letters. I guess it is proof that you are getting your work sent out. But looking at my rejections only bums me out. Even when I know I have a five book deal and lots of good things in the works, seeing old rejection letters raises all the old doubts again. I started by just cleaning my desk, and ended up having to take a walk to remind myself that I am a published writer. I’d much rather focus on good reviews and positive feedback than old rejection letters.

I think it takes a few days to get adjusted to the fact that I am writing full time. I keep starting to think about work things I need to do, only to go, “Oh, yeah. That’s not my problem anymore.”

Which brings me to how much writing is a mental thing. You have to feel good about yourself to do your best. You need to feel that what you are writing is the best work being written. When you feel good about your writing, you write well. When you start doubting yourself, everything you write seems like garbage.

Also, so much of writing is about getting into a rhythm. I know there are people who can write in fifteen minutes here and twenty there. But for me, I need to get into the right mindset. If I am going to use my free time wisely, I need to treat writing as the fulltime career it is. I started this morning by getting up and seven for a quick run before breakfast and settling in to hit the keyboard. Find whatever works for you, but if you are going to treat writing as a profession, you need to be professional yourself.

The day’s results? 3200 words. Not as much as I would have liked, but I spent a good portion of the day getting my new laptop working right. I’ll keep you updated on how things go from here.

Storm Clouds

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:28:00 +0000

Yesterday, I was having a conversation with a friend about silver linings. With the economy the way it is, book sales—along with almost all other sales—taking a beating, and lots of gloom and doom on the news, it’s easy to get depressed and start thinking that this is a crazy time to publish a book, or write a new manuscript, or look for a job, or whatever it is that you know you should be doing, but feel too down to even try. We both agreed that in retrospect, some of our best opportunities came as the silver lining on otherwise dark stormy clouds.

I guess the timing of the conversation was pretty appropriate, because today, about an hour after I came into work, my boss entered my office and closed the door. We chatted for a few minutes about how he wasn’t feeling too great, and stress of the economy, etc. Finally, he kind of sat back in his chair, and said, “I didn’t come here to talk about me.”

Ahhhh. Suddenly the dime dropped. This was that conversation. I have to admit, I was not expecting this at all. We’d just had layoffs, and the management assured us they were the only layoffs planned. Apparently this was not planned. (Hey, I know how that goes. In fact a couple of our best kids were . . .) Anyway, back to my point. He was coming in to tell me that I was being let go the end of this week.

I guess he was surprised that I wasn’t angry, or didn’t burst into tears or something, because after I told him I understood, he said, “Wow. You’re taking this a lot better than I am.” In fact I’m pretty sure he thought someone had given me advance notice. They hadn’t. And I admit, it took me a while to digest the information. But the thing is, what’s the point in getting upset? They have their business to run. I have my business to run. Hopefully the two are in sync. But sometimes they aren’t. And when they aren’t, one of us has to make a change. That’s what they were doing.

After letting my sales team know about the change, I took the rest of the afternoon off to get my thoughts together. I called my wife, and said, “Well, Honey, the good news is, I have a lot more time to write.” She picked up on that pretty quick.

Once we talked things out, we realized this might be one of those blessings in disguise. The good news is that over the last couple of months we’ve paid off both of our cars and all of our credit cards. Only a week ago, we finished refinancing our house. And we’ve got a little money in the bank, which hasn’t always been the case. And I get my first royalty on Farworld in January. So we aren’t going to starve any time soon.

But even more than that. I’ve really felt for the last few months like I needed to spend more time on my writing, and marketing my books. Yes the economy is tough, but as I wrote about a few weeks back, people are still buying books. They are being more picky, but they are still buying. I just need to make sure that it is my books they are buying. I also have several projects I need to finish up. Farworld Book Two of course. But also a regional mystery series I write, that I am far overdue on. I also have a couple of other projects I’m really excited about. One about a boy who gets turned into a zombie and another about a boy who is afraid of everything, who discovers he is a facilitator—a person who talks monsters out of their fears.

When I first got home, my stomach was still a little in knots. But the more my wonderful wife and I talked, the more we realized that we may have been pushed out the door a little sooner than we planned, but this is what we’ve both wanted to do. At least for the next few months, I will be a fulltime writer. I will be able to focus on nothing but writing and marketing. I can do what I love, and get paid for it. Will it last? I probably won’t know that until sometime around late January. At that point, if I have to go back to work for a while longer I will. But rather than stress, I plan on enjoying the next couple of months. If things work out, I am a fulltime writer as of this Saturday. But even if they don’t, I am still a fulltime writer as of this Saturday. I may just have to take a little break from being a full time writer, later in the year.

So here are just a few of the things I plan on enjoying during that time. Eight plus hours of writing, without feeling like I am neglecting my family, my job, or my yard. (Thank goodness for snow.) Speaking of snow; watching the snow fall without worrying about how bad it will be to drive to work in it. And for that matter driving an hour and back to work every day. Responding to e-mails and postings from my friends and readers the same day. Finishing writing two books and getting well into a third by Christmas. Being here when my boys come home from school. Enjoying my daughter’s plans for getting married in the spring. And finally, doing what I want to do. Not what someone else wants me to do.

I guess when my boss asked me why I didn’t look more upset when he told me I was being fired, I should have answered. “Monday, you’ll be driving to a job. Monday, I’ll be doing one of the things I love most in the world. Thanks!”

Thanks goodness for dark clouds, and the silver linings that come with them.

A Mundane Review

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:49:00 +0000

I am madly typing away on my laptop, trying to finish Land Keep (Farworld Book 2) by Thanksgiving. So I thought I'd share a new review of Water Keep with you today. Here's the question you have to ask yourself. Can you have a book review that contains the word "mundane" six times in one paragraph, and still call it a good review? I would have said no until I saw this. But now I have to say yes. I'm glad the reviewer liked it. And it definitely made me laugh.

Reviewer's Bookwatch: November 2008
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575

Bhule's Bookshelf

Farworld
J. Scott Savage
Shadow Mountain
pmuir@shadowmountain.com
9781590389621, $17.95, www.shadowmountain.com

Being mundane is something that our non-magical world just is. But in J. Scott Savage's original fantasy novel, "Far World: Water Keep", we are introduced to Marcus, a mundane boy, who meets Kyja, a mundane girl when he finds himself thrust into a world that is different from own. Unfortunately for Kyja, her world is one of magic where she is considered weird for being simply mundane. The two mundane non-magical-user people are faced with an evil magical plot that could both affect the world of magic, known as Far World, and the mundane world of Earth. Kyja and Marcus embark on a quest that is gripping adventure from beginning to end, making "Far World" a solid pick for fantasy lovers and a popular addition to community library Fantasy & Science Fiction collections.

Willis M. Buhle
Reviewer

Thanks for the not so mundane review Mr. Buhle!

Things Even the Author Didn't Know

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:08:00 +0000

First, let me just say that Doug Wright of KSL radio in Salt lake has got to be one of the most genuinely nice people ever. I had the opportunity of being on his Sunday morning interview show this week, and it was great. I’ll let you know when I have the link available to listen to. Now on to my “literary” post.

For the last fifteen years or so, I have been in one sales management position or another. At many of those companies I have asked my salespeople to read a book. But it might not be what you expect. It wasn’t Bryan Tracy, it wasn’t Og Mandino. It wasn’t even The Little Red Book of Sales. The book I used a training tool for my teams of successful sales reps wasn’t even a sales book. It was a novel. I asked all of them to read Enders Game, by Orson Scott Card.

I know, it sounds like a weird choice for a sales training book, but if you’ve read the novel you may remember that there are several different teams that Ender is a part of. Each of these teams has a different management style. One has a dictatorial leader that demands strict obedience by each team member. Another allows for gorilla-style tactics by giving each team member free rein to do what the want. Each of the team management styles has pros and cons. The strictly controlled group can not respond to unexpected changes of a loss of the leader. The gorilla-style group doesn’t communicate well enough with each other to coordinate against organized offenses.

When Ender creates his team, he not only creates a new management style (with sub-captains) but he allows uses unorthodox methods to offset unfair settings that are thrown at him. After my salespeople read the book, I like to talk with them about what kind of sales team they want to be a part of, and how the approach can help them succeed.

I don’t think that Scott Card imagined Ender’s Game as a sales training tool. And yet, it fills the role admirably. So my question for you today is, “What books have inspired you in ways that you don’t think the author intended?” And authors, “Have you received e-mails or letters from fans who got something out of your book that you didn’t realize was there?”

Farworld Nominated for the 2008 Cybils Awards!

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:52:00 +0000

Whoo hoo! You can read more about it here. It was nominated under MG Fantasy (which is not such a big suprise, conisdering that it is a Middle Grade Fantasy. ) Anyway, I'm excited.

Happy Halloween

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:41:00 +0000

"Funky Frankenstein"
by Ray Villafane
Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you are having a great time and eating and/or scaring yourselves silly. Since it is the season, I thought I'd share a true story I wrote about a couple of years ago on another site.

In the summer of my thirteenth year I discovered a secret passage to another world. Since then I have continued to search for that passage on and off with most of my efforts in vain.

The year was 1976—when everything from quarters to appliance sales was labeled bicentennial. Our small New Jersey town was gripped tight by a summer heat that usually lasted from mid-June to early-September. The only relief came from the cloudbursts which regularly lashed the countryside with torrents of rain and spectacular lightning. But even then, the rain was warm, hitting the hot sidewalks and streets and immediately steaming back into the atmosphere.

Nights were marginally better. The air was still so heavy and moisture-laden you could taste it as you breathed in and out, but at least the temperature dropped a few degrees and the occasional breeze wafted fireflies to and fro like our own private star show.

From our sleeping bags on the screened-in porch, my younger brother and I waited for our parents’ bedroom light to finally go out. We were both as anxious as if it were Christmas Eve—although our pursuits were of a rather different nature than celebrating the birth of our Savior.

Clutching flashlights to our chests, we conferred in hushed whispers about how soon we could safely slip away.

“You think they’re asleep yet?”
“I don’t hear Dad snoring.”

“Maybe he isn’t going to snore tonight.”

“He always snores.”

“Yeah.”

Still completely dressed inside our sleeping bags—right down to our shoes—we turned our attention to our planned adventure while we waited for the buzz saw that was our sleeping father.

“What if we get stuck down there?” my brother asked.

“We won’t get stuck. The pipes are too big.”

“What if it rains?” My little brother was ever the pessimist. Perhaps because of experiences with the previous adventures I’d planned.

I, on the other hand, was sure this adventure would come off flawlessly. “It’s not going to rain. And besides, even if it did, we could float out of the drainpipes back to the river like a waterslide. That would be cool huh?”

“I guess,” he said, sounding less than thrilled with the concept. After a moment’s thought he asked, “Are there animals down there?”

“What kind of animals?” I hadn’t considered that possibility the day before when we’d laid out our plans.

“I don’t know.” He turned on his flashlight making a yellow circle inside his bag. “Rats. Or skunks. What about alligators?”

Alligators? Were there alligators in the drain pipes? The idea seemed at once both impossible and utterly believable—the way so many things do to young boys. Sensing my momentum slipping away, I made the executive decision that it was time to leave.

“Come on,” I whispered climbing out of my sleeping bag. “And turn off that light in case Mom and Dad are still awake.”

After a second’s hesitation he turned off his flashlight and we tiptoed across the sagging boards of the back porch, through the kitchen, down the stairs, and out the front door, holding our breath all the way. I pretended I didn’t care whether he came or not, but in truth I’d never have been brave enough to try this on my own. An eleven-year-old brother probably wouldn’t be much help against an alligator, but at least there was a fifty-fifty chance it would go for him first.

The trip to the river—really not much more than a slow moving creek with occasional deeper spots where we sometimes swam—was short and uneventful. We’d been playing there for years. But it wasn’t until a few days before, that it suddenly occurred to me the big concrete pipe, which dribbled out moss-colored water most of the year, probably connected to the pipes which ran beneath the gutters in front of our house.

Theoretically we could enter the drain at the river and follow it all the way home. We never thought to consider how we would exit the pipes once we actually reached our destination.

Gripping the trunks of the willows and saplings that lined the bank, we climbed down to the water’s edge and worked our way upstream to the pipe. By now we both had our flashlights on, casting everything around us into a collage of elongated shadows. As we reached the dark opening, I could feel my stomach tighten. My brother dropped back a few steps.

“It looks kind of scary,” he said.

It did look scary. Much scarier than it had in the light of day. Like a giant blind eye or worse, a large toothless mouth. It looked like the kind of place where a kid might enter and never be seen again. Still, I knew if I showed the slightest hint of fear my brother would turn tail and the entire adventure would be ruined. He’d probably tell our mom too. He had an incredible streak of honesty when it came to getting other people in trouble.

“It’s just a pipe,” I said, shining my light into the dark tunnel. “See. There’s nothing inside but a little water.”

My brother edged up beside me and peered into the pipe. Emboldened by his company, I leaned halfway inside. “Hello!” I shouted. Hel-looo a voice echoed back. It was creepy, but also kind of cool.

“I think you better go first,” I offered. “That way if the pipe gets too small I can pull you out.”

“Huh uh!” He shook his head. “You go first.”

With no way to back out, I took a deep breath and climbed the rest of the way into the pipe. Resting both hands on the smooth cool concrete—my light tucked under one arm—I waited to see if anything would come scuttling out of the darkness further inside. Deciding the coast was clear, I began crawling forward and threw a disgusted look over my shoulder.

“See. It’s easy.”

My brother cast a last look toward the river, as though trying to memorize the face of freedom and then followed me into the darkness.

The first five or ten minutes were uneventful. The pipe kept a roughly even course into the darkness and other than an occasional broken toy or candy wrapper, we didn’t come across anything unexpected. Crawling on our hands and knees, arms and legs slightly apart to avoid getting wet, we were able to move quickly and rather easily. The smell—musty with a hint of sour—reminded me of an old basement, and the air down here was much cooler than it had been outside.

We actually became comfortable enough to joke about what we’d do if someone flushed a toilet. Not knowing the difference between storm drains and sewer pipes, that seemed a distinct possibility, but somehow we weren’t bothered by the concept. In fact after the first few hundred yards we started to get a little bored.

“What if we found an opening and we looked through and it was someone’s bathtub?”

“What if there was an old lady in the tub?”

“What if I reached through the opening and pinched her wrinkly behind and shouted, ‘Crab claws?’” We both found the idea highly amusing, and laughed hard at our own joke. Our joking lasted until we reached a fork in the pipe.

“Let’s go right.”

“No. I think we should go left.”

“If we go left we might end up over by the high school.”

“If we go right we might go under the freeway.”

What if we went the wrong way and couldn’t remember how to get back out? In my plan we’d been guided by sewer grates every so often where we could peer out and judge our general direction. So far we hadn’t come across any grates. What if this pipe didn’t connect to the grates? For the first time I began to question the soundness of my idea.

“Right. Definitely right,” I decided at last, and quickly began crawling in that direction.

“I’m not so sure about this,” my brother muttered. But not wanting to be left behind, he followed along. A hundred or so feet further the pipe changed from concrete to corrugated metal and the diameter shrunk so that we had to duck our heads to keep from hitting them.

As we continued through the metal pipe, knocking our knees on the metal bumps, the bottom of the pipe began to fill with dirt and sand, making the diameter of the pipe even tighter.

“I think we should turn around,” my brother said. By this point I did too. My hands and knees were aching and I’d hit the top of my head more than once. But now we couldn’t turn around even if we wanted to. The pipe was too small.

About then we both heard something moving around inside the pipe. At first it was only a scratching like something digging in the dirt. But then echoing through the pipes we heard what sounded like a baby crying. Panicked, we wanted nothing more than to get away from the sound. Only in the confined space we couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Sometimes it seemed to be behind us, other times in front of us.

“Come on,” I said, trying to sound like I wasn’t about to cry. “It’s probably just a bird or something.” Of course it didn’t sound like any bird I’d ever heard. It sounded for all the world like an infant lost and crying inside the pipes.

For the next ten minutes we crawled like crazy. Shining our lights desperately back and forth. At one point we were sure we heard a man’s voice say, “Who’s down there?”

After what seemed like hours and miles from where we started, I saw a ladder extending up into the darkness. Grabbing the cold metal rungs we climbed quickly up and discovered a metal circle. I pushed as hard as I could and the circle moved. Another shove and the sky opened up before us. I can honestly say I have never been so happy to see haze-dulled stars in my life.

As we climbed up onto the street, a huge sense of relief, freedom, joy, and gratitude washed over us. We were only a few blocks from home. Looking across the street we noticed a boy of seven or eight sitting on the front porch of his house. He was staring wide-eyed at the two boys who crawled up out of the sewers and onto the street.

I looked at my brother, then turned back to the boy and said, “Hello. We’re the sewer rats.”

At my words, he jumped off the porch and ran into the house screaming, “Mom!”

Before he could return with his mother we had pushed the manhole cover back into place and disappeared.

When we returned home, we found we had been gone less than an hour. We never did find out what we’d heard in the pipes, although we did find out later that a man who lived a block away from the manhole had heard something in the pipes and called down to see who was there.

Eventually the fear went away. But the memory never has. The feeling of being in a world completely distant from the one we had left only minutes earlier. The adrenaline rush of thinking something would leap out of the darkness any minute and the relief when we finally managed to escape. I recognize that world in certain authors that I read. I intimately understood the power of Stephen King’s IT.

This is a world I want to create for my readers. But now I just use a different entrance.

The More Things Change . . .

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 04:31:00 +0000

I am typing today’s blog from inside a tent in my backyard. You might think I am a little bit old for that, (and my knees would agree with you), you might also think that late October in Utah it’s a little bit cold for that. (All of me would agree with you.) But my son turns 11 next month and in order to get his Arrow of Light, he needed to camp overnight in a tent he set up. So here we are. Actually it was kind of fun roasting hot dogs and making s’mores with my little guys. I’ll see how good I feel about it in the morning. So if my slightly frozen fingers mistype, or if my eyes are not as clear in the dark of the tent, blame Cub Scouts!

But that isn’t actually what I’m blogging about tonight. I wanted to respond to a post I was directed to by my good friend and fellow author, Annette Lyon. The post was written by author, Gregory Frost. It’s starts out talking about how his series has been pulled from the shelves of Borders. But it’s really about much more than that. It’s (if I’m interpreting right), about how chain bookstores are limiting what we read. You can read the whole post here: http://www.wildriverreview.com/oped_bookswoutbordes.php.

Now before I respond to Mr. Frost’s post, let me say that I totally understand the pain of having a book pulled from the shelves of a store. I’ve been there. Let me also say that I am going to go out and buy his series. And I’m going do it at an independent bookstore. Some of my favorite bookstores are independents, and we do need to support them I also think that Mr. Frost provides a lot to consider. Which is all I ask of a good post.

If you sense a “but” coming here, you are right. I personally feel that this post has a “the sky is falling” feel to it that I don’t think is warranted. In fact, if anything, I think we have more choices than ever before.

I’ll address a couple of his points.

Mr. Frost laments that, “When the million-copy bestseller is required every quarter, you have a business model doomed to failure — either you publish fewer titles, or fewer copies of those more complicated, subtle, and dare I say it, difficult books.”

Here’s the thing. For as long as I can remember, this has been the model of big publishers. It’s the very fact that there are best selling books that allows them to publish books that make no profit at all. Or that may not make any money right out of the gate. It’s the lure of the next bestseller that lets the publisher take chances. I’ve published with small publishers, and I can say for a fact that it’s not a lot of fun. Yes, a small publisher doesn’t need bestsellers per se. But because of that, books get little churned out in minimal numbers with little or no marketing. There’s a reason authors strive to get published by the big guys. They have the money.

Next, he complains that Amazon and other on-line booksellers do not offer the benefits of brick and mortar stores. “Bookstores, for their part, came against that borderless phenomenon called Amazon in 1995. That year, Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com which now operates separate stores in the UK, Germany, China, Japan, and elsewhere. Without needing to maintain stock — without needing a shop at all — Amazon.com offers virtually every title put out by every imprint, in multiple languages. No “physical” chain can offer all this.”

Why is this a bad thing? It’s as if Mr. Frost is saying that Amazon is bad for author or book buyers. On the contrary, millions of people can sell books across the globe that never could before the internet. No store could offer all of these titles and smaller authors were out of luck. Now anyone can find virtually any book, either new or used, and see reviews of it. And if you don’t like the Amazon reviews, you can check any of the millions of other on-line reviews. The internet is the savior of small publishers.

The next thing he complains about is co-op. Basically a publisher pays for premium shelf space. “If you took your books, approached a bookstore, and offered them money to place your titles by the front door, this would be called graft. When publishers do it, it’s called business.”

The odd thing about this is that in the paragraph just above, he compares bookstores to a supermarket that stops carrying milk. But the fact of the matter is that every supermarket does exactly what he is complaining about. They sell shelf space. The cereals that get the best spots paid for it. And yet, milk is still where it’s always been (along with the other items that don’t pay for premium space), because it sells. Maybe Borders has cut down on the books they carry. But they still carry a ton of books. And Barnes and Noble carries a ton. Heaven forbid that you have to go looking for a book.

Anyone who lives in today’s world understands advertising. Does the Super Bowl tout Bud because it’s the best beer? Of course not. They are paid for it. But that doesn’t stop you from drinking whatever you want.

Does every bookstore employee know every book? Of course not. But to suggest that the only bookstore employees that read and care about books are independents is crazy. I just spent an evening doing a book signing at a Barnes and Noble in Layton, UT. Not only did the bookstore set up school visits for me. So I could encourage kids to read. But once the line of gets buying books was gone, I talked books with the employees. And guess what? They know books. They suggest titles. And it’s not just the publishers that pay big bucks.

Finally he makes a point that I agree completely with. “My solution is no different than all the writers who've shouted from the battlements before me: Buy your books from independent bookstores; the ones that have survived the onslaught, the ones that we hope will arise to fill the gap.”

Of course! Buy books from your local independent stores. I love the little bookstores on Main Street, Spanish Fork. I go there all the time. I love King's English in Salt Lake, and Clayton books in Clayton, CA. There places are some of my very favorite stores and I encourage everyone to shop there. But the thing is, there is room for the Amazons, the Costcos, the chains, and the indies. Costco will never carry a wide variety of books, and they certainly will not have someone to point you to a new author you will love, but they sell a ton of books which helps authors, publishers, and readers. Amazon offers everything under the sun (and thank goodness they do, because no one else can.) If you are tight on cash, you can even buy the book used, and become a loyal follower of the author’s new books when you do have cash. The chains offer the great service of a wide variety and people to help you.

Where do the indies fit in? Well that’s up to the indie store. If they don’t offer something more than the stores listed above, they won’t stay in business. They can’t offer the variety or the discounts. But they can offer a personal touch that no one else does. I have done signings at many independent bookstores, and the great ones know their customers. They know the local schools. They know about books with local flavor. They take great care of the authors that come by. They survive, not because of pity, but because they offer a truly valuable service.

I don’t think the sky is falling. I don’t think our choices are being limited. I think this is the greatest time to be an author or a reader the world has ever known. The opportunities to hook up a good author and a good reader are limitless.

Let me make one other comment here. Another good friend and author, Rob Wells, commented back to Annette, me, and some other authors that print on demand will make all of this obsolete. You’ll walk into a bookstore and ask for a specific book and they will print it for you. He feels this will even out the playing field. To some extent, I agree. Bookstores will be able to offer the inventory of an Amazon through this method.

But I also disagree, I still think people want to touch books first. And they want high quality hardbacks that POD doesn’t offer. And bookstores know that face out displays sell books. POD will offer greater distribution. But, with few exceptions, it will not affect demand. Will things change? Of course! But what won't change is readers finding the books they love and telling other readers about them.

Surviving in a Tough Economy

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:31:00 +0000

I assume I’m like everyone else in that I’ve spent a lot of time the last couple of months watching the economy with interest and not a little trepidation. We are just finishing refinancing our house. The company I work for has had a significant slowdown in sales (and I’m over sales!) I’ve stopped checking my 401k. Oh, and yeah . . . I have my first national book trying to find a place in the market.

Obviously none of us know what will happen with the economy. I’m personally of the belief that while this is a major correction—even bigger than the dot com bubble and ’87, both of which I remember clearly—it is not the end of the world. I’ve had a lot of authors ask me how this will affect my book sales and theirs. I think that my answer is not what they expect. I believe book sales are much like the rest of life when things get tough.

At my office we had to do some layoffs. Letting people go is the worst part of being a manager. Especially when you have to let people go who you know are trying their best, and are good people. You know you have to make the cut, so you look carefully at the people who work for you and you decide who will have the least negative impact on the company. Not no impact. If they would have no impact, they shouldn’t be working there in the first place. But if you have to make a cut, who will it be.

The same thing is true at home. You may eat out less. You may have spaghetti more. You turn off lights and drive less. You look over your budget and decide where you can cut and where you can save. But many things are left alone, either because you value them more than others or because there is no room to cut.

How is this like books? People are still buying books. I know this because I track my sales as closely as I can. I know this because when I go into the bookstore, I see other people—like me—buying books. Maybe not as many. Definitely not as many. But they are buying books. And publishers are still publishing books. Of course book sales are down. The stores know it. The publishers know it. And the authors know it.

Buy that doesn’t mean the publishers have stopped publishing or that the bookstores have closed. Just like your home, and just like my work, people are just being a little more choosy. That means that if you want to sell books, your book has to stand out a little bit more. If you want to sell a book to a publisher, it has to have more going for it.

Two examples of what I mean. I walked into a Barnes and Noble the other day, not intending to buy anything. I was there on my lunch break and I love to look through the books. Not just to see how I am doing, but to see what else is new and exciting. But I got hooked by two books. The first book that hooked me had three things going for it. #1 it was by a total stud of an author, Neil Gaiman. If you haven’t read one of his books, you should. If you’ve seen the movie, Stardust, you have a very small glimpse into his unique and twisted imagination. I am awed every time I read one of his books.

The second reason I picked up the book was that it was on an end cap display. Not much the rest of us can do to match that, but I’m being totally honest. I would not have gone looking for this book because I had forgotten it was out. But the display caught my eye. The third reason I bought the book was that it had the coolest concept in the world. Imagine The Jungle Book with Mowgli being raised by ghosts instead of wolves, and in a graveyard instead of a jungle.

So I picked it up. I was on my way out the door when I bought the second book. No end cap (at least that I saw.) An author I didn’t know. A story that didn’t pique my interest right away. Why did I buy it? Because the Community Relations Manager—who I know well—suggested it. She told me it was great, and went and got it for me. I ended up buying both books. The Graveyard Book and The Hunger Games. Both were great reads. Both were well worth the dollars I am watching carefully. Buy sold me even in a tough economy. Both stood out enough that I not only bought them, but I am recommending them on this blog.

My second example is that I am trying to get Shadow Mountain to allow me to publish another fantasy novel between books two and three of the Farworld series. My Farworld books will still come out every September. But this would be an extra book that has nothing to do with Farworld. It would help me achieve my goal of writing full time a little sooner. But how do I get a publisher to agree to another book in this uncertain economy? Hopefully you’ve picked up enough from this post to guess. Buy making it stand out.

This book has to be different from what’s already out there. It has to appeal so strongly to my target audience that they will fork over money that might be watching closely. I know it should be fantasy. I know it should target the same MG/YA audience. But in this case, I don’t want it to be like all the other books out there. I don’t want dragons, or fairies, or magic. At least not in the traditional sense. I want it to be a story that makes the publisher go, “Wow! That’s a cool idea.”

Because here’s the thing. Being a great employee doesn’t guarantee you a job, but it helps a lot. Essential services are the last to get cut. And books that have a really cool concept, solid writing, and a plot that stands out from the crowd are the ones that will get sold.

You can spend the next twelve months bemoaning the slowdown, wishing you had turned in your book a year ago, and feeling sorry for yourself. Or you can decide that this just means you will have to work that much harder. When times get tough, winners don’t give up, they step up.
So what books have been good enough that you’ve offered up some hard earned cash lately? And how are you making sure you will have a job or sell a book yourself?

Writing, Plot, or Character?

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:45:00 +0000

I’m still in the process of putting together a post detailing the events of my recent book tour. Here’s a link to an article in the Salt Lake Tribune. And here’s a fun picture of the Elementary school I graduated from.

But in the meantime, I thought I’d talk a little about what, in my opinion, makes a novel bad, good, or great. What I want to discuss are three of the key elements of any novel: plot, character, and writing. (Quality of writing, not, you know, writing itself—as opposed to say ballads, campfire stories, interactive hula dancing, etc.)

For some reason, lately I’ve been rereading several books. I’m reading A Wrinkle in Time to my kids, I’m rereading the Thomas Covenant trilogy, and I’m rereading Asimov’s Foundation series. Interestingly enough, the only story I’m enjoying as much as I remembered is Foundation.

Why? Well first of all, Wrinkle in Time is much slower reading than I remembered. The writing is beautiful, the characters are a little one dimensional, but the pacing is so slow, my kids’ eyes glaze over. We just finished the part where one of the women (Mrs. Who?) turns into the flying horse and flies to the top of the mountain to show the children the shadow of evil. Literally, the story reads like, “They flew higher and higher, until they were past the clouds. And higher still. But the top of the mountain still seemed far away. Meg marveled at how high they were and how thin the air was. Still the horse’s wings strained against the thin air.” Right, I get it. They are flying high. Get back to the story!

So why do I remember enjoying the book so much? Was it because of how unique it was at the time? Did that make me overlook the flaws that put my boys to sleep? Or is life just faster now? Are our expectations different because of computers, video games, etc? I don’t think it can be the pace of life because other books are still as interesting. Maybe it’s that in memory I overlook the flaws because the overall story was so good. Or maybe I just hadn’t read a lot of fantasy back then, so everything seemed more magical?

The last time I read the Thomas Covenant series was back in high school. I remembered it was darker than most fantasy. What I didn’t remember was what an incredibly annoying protagonist Thomas Covenant was. I’ve reread the first two books, and I want to grab him by the hair, and shout, “People don’t hate you because you are a leper. They hate you because you are a big selfish crybaby! Get over yourself and think about someone else for once. Come on man, you’ve spent two entire books offending people and refusing to even try to help. Man up!”

Again, why did I like the series so much back in the day? I had read Terry Brooks by then; and of course Lord of the Rings. So fantasy series weren’t brand new. But it was still pretty unique. There are parts of the story that are powerful, the writing is strong, and the world-building is amazing. But, at least to this point, I’ve had to force myself to finish each book, and it’s been a slog.

How about Foundation? I’ve heard people say how stark Asimov’s writing is. I honestly didn’t remember that. But as I go back and read his work, they are absolutely right. I don’t think there is any mention of smells, sounds, or other senses. The characters have no personality at all to speak of—except that nearly anyone of any importance smokes cigars. The pace is extremely quick. No character stays around for long. It shouldn’t be a good book. But it is. The story is just so compelling, to me at least, that I have to read more.

So what makes a good book? First of all, I have to say that greatness in any of the three above mentioned categories can override weaknesses in the other two. Asimov’s plot is so strong that the reader can forgive the fact that his writing is stark and his characters are merely placeholders. In the same way though, one major weak point can pull down the other two. Stephen R. Donaldson is a poet of a writer. His descriptions and world-building are incredible. And the overall story is powerful. But the main character is so annoying, he nearly ruins the whole thing.

Obviously, we’d love a book with great writing, memorable characters, and an incredible plot. When all the pieces are clicking, we have a book that can achieve lasting greatness. But which of the three is the most important—whether for the good or the bad?

Let’s start with quality of writing. In my experience, books that are extremely popular, with a lot of readers tend to have only adequate writing. Books that are popular with the critics tend to have incredible writing. Why? Because really beautiful prose can actually overpower a story. The average reader wants to see the hero hurl a bolt of fiery blue steel at the rushing horde of gnolls or the heroine find her true love. She doesn’t want flowery prose and vivid descriptions to get in the way of the action. Of course there is a time for flowery prose, but if the focus turns from the story to the writing, the author has intruded on the reader.

Don’t get me wrong. I love great writing. In fact, one of the best compliments I received on my tour was from a librarian who said I should thank my English teachers. She said that she reads so many children’s books that have a great story but lousy writing. But she loved my writing and my story. (Yes, I misted up a little.) J

A great plot beats great writing in my book. Imagine this crusty old miner sitting around a campfire and telling you about the time he and Bessie were trapped for three days in a collapsed gold mine with a dozen hungry rattlers. He may not use the most beautiful language. He may jump back and forth a little and overuse the word fearsome. But you are still on the edge of your seat. A Wrinkle in Time may not have had the fastest paced writing. But it was a cool story. I mean she invented IT before Stephen King did. A Camazotz is just dang spooky.

But, personally, I have to put character at the top of the list. The biggest complaint I have about many of the books I don’t like, is that I just don’t care enough about the characters. Put Julie T. Protagonist in the middle of a raging fire, with bad guys everywhere, and the love of her life in the clutches of I. M. Antagonist, and I’m just going to yawn if I don’t care about the characters. Ideally I should love your protagonist. I should definitely empathize with her. But if I don’t even care about her, your story is destined to fail.

I think characters are what made the Harry Potter series so incredibly successful. JK Rowling has a way of making you care about even the most minor character. Think about Colin Creevey. He is a thrown in. A minor walk-on character. But anyone who has read the series remembers the cute little kid with the camera. I also think that’s a huge part of the success of Twilight. People loved Edward and Bella. Of course this is also why many people were less happy with some of the later books. But the very fact that they cared enough to get that upset, shows the emotional investment the author built up in her readers.
Next week, I’ll take a stab at what makes strong characters. But for now, I’ll open the question to you. What is most important to you when reading a book? Writing, plot, or character?

The End of the Tour

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:58:00 +0000

Well, the first “Find Your Magic” tour is officially over. It’s been exciting, frustrating, enlightening, eventful, and generally a lot of fun. Although the original plan was to go through the end of this week, some scheduling snafus ended things a little early. But what a way to wrap things up. I had a chance to finish the tour at my own elementary school, Pleasant Hill Elementary, in Pleasant Hill, California. I had a wonderful two days with Joel Harris, of Clayton books, and his wonderful family. And had a ball going from school to school with Vinitha.

I’ll write much more this weekend, when I can go into more detail about Bountiful, Clayton, and everything I learned and experienced on the tour. And I look forward to things returning to normal so I can blog several times a week again. But in the mean time, here are some pictures I’d like to share with you. They were drawn by the students of Vae View Elementary. Thanks gang, I love them!

Update

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 05:10:00 +0000

Really great signing. You know life is good when you have a line of about a dozen kids and their families waiting for you when you show up a quarter to 7:00, and youo end the day eating mint chocolate chip ice-cream that the WONDERFUL people at B&N bought you! Thanks Chandler, I had a ball, and I can't wait to come back.

Oh, and when I checked Amazon right before I left, Farworld had hit 17,000. Highest ever!

Days Three and Four

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:01:00 +0000

(Warning! I am running out the door without reading through this before posting. Which pretty much guarantees typos! I'm sure my Mom will call with with several. So read at your own risk. More later tonight.)

I’ve got about an hour before I head over to the Chandler Arizona B&N store, so I wanted to give you all an update on the first three days of the tour. Let’s see, when last we left off, I was flying somewhere over southern Utah on my way to Houston.

The flight was great and very uneventful. (Which is nice with my history of planes.) Fortunately it was on Delta, and Delta loves me, so they upgraded me to first class. I have to say though that first class is not what it used to be on Domestic flights. Oh well, at least I got more leg room and unlimited snacks.

Anyway, I got into Houston at about 5:30. Even from the air, the devastation of the Hurricane was evident. Lots of broken trees, lot’s of houses missing pieces, and later I saw many streets that still had no street lights, so traffic was quite dangerous. Once I got my car, I was on my way to stay with Tami Norton, who was generous enough to let me stay with her family. For this trip I finally went out and bought a GPS system. For those tech geeks who are curious, I chose the Nuvi750 by Garmin. I almost splurged and bought the one with traffic updates, but I’m cheap and didn’t want to spend an extra $100 and $60 bucks a year for the subscription.

Anyway, the GPS has been a lifesaver, but about halfway to the Norton’s house, it quit talking. Of course I didn’t notice it until I had missed two turns. When I checked out the voice settings, it said no voices were found. What the heck? A GPS with laryngitis? How annoying! Anyway, I did get to Tami’s house. (Passing gas station after gas station with gas in the $3.25 range. Forty cents more than Utah! Grrr.)

Tami’s fam is the best. I met all the kids, and showed them my best magic tricks. Then they showed me theirs. Tami fed me lots of spaghetti. Yum! Fortunately, Tami’s house had the electricity turned back on the day before. The neighbors right across the street still had no power even when I left Tuesday morning. There were many signs of the devastation everywhere. On the way to the schools in the morning, they were announcing what schools had opened and there were lots that don’t expect to open until October at the earliest. And that wasn’t even in Galveston. Also, all the HOV lanes were open to emergency traffic only, and they were still announcing POD locations where people could get ice, water, food, etc.

So Monday morning I popped awake at 6:30 (5:30 my time.) I am not a morning person, but Tami had predicted the Freeways would be terrible and she was so right. I left at 7:00 to make my 8:30 school assembly, and was still ten minutes late. Of course part of that had to do with the fact that, despite checking and rechecking my supplies, I had forgotten a key part of my presentation. So I had to stop by a Wal-Mart to get pens and big sheets of cardstock. My first presentation of the day was to Cornerstone Elementary school. They don’t have auditoriums for the elementary schools, but they had a bunch of really smart kids squeezed into a classroom, and they were really sharp. Much thanks to Stephanie Angelette, the librarian who set it up.

The next school wasn’t until 11:30, so I grabbed some quick lunch and hurried to a Fed-Ex location to print new cards for my presentation. The next two schools were both middle schools—Lake Olympus and Sartartia. It’s a little different presenting to middle schoolers, but both of them went quite well. Both the librarians, Kathy Looper and Maribeth Brooks said my presentation was one of the best they had ever had. So that was good. Unfortunately, they wanted to give the kids order forms to buy books, but Monday was the first day back at school after the hurricanes. But B&N gave them through Thursday to order the books at a discounted price, so that was good.

After the schools, I dropped by the store and saw that they had a big display of my books. Probably 150 or so. I was worried about not selling enough, because of the fact that I had only one day of school visits and somewhat small classes, plus the whole hurricane. I stopped by a great little restaurant nearby and had Pad Thai noodles and sushi for dinner. YUMMMM!

Then back to the store. Let me just say that JoAnne Cochoco is one of the coolest CRMs I have ever met. She put me right at the entrance and took great care of me. Normally we start a signing at 7:00, but the store had been closing earlier the week before, so there was some confusion on when to start the signing. I basically sat down at 6:00 and stayed till 9:00. Not really a lot of line this time. I was a little bummed by that. But there were fairly constant visitors throughout the three hours, and it was great to see lots of the friends I had made throughout the day come by. By the end of the night I think I had only sold 30-40 books, but JoAnne assured me that by the time all the orders came in, we would sell out, and had me sign all the books plus another 40 or so book plates (bless her book-selling heart.) I’ll check in with her Friday and see how we did.

Then it was back to Tami’s house where I did a quick update here and chatted with the family before calling it a night. The next morning, I was up at 5:00 to get to the airport. Big ouch! I hate mornings. But I was deathly afraid of missing my flight. I didn’t, and I slept all the way to Phoenix. I brought the Foundation trilogy to read on the plane. But I was out before we left the ground and didn’t wake up until we landed in Phoenix.

Tuesday was one of those, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” days. I got in at 8:50 and went straight to my rental car. Funny note there, the car was a Nissan Altima, and I could not for the life of me figure out how to start it. The “key” was a weird little fob thing that has the buttons for lock, unlock, etc. But no blade. I finally figured out that you put the fob in this slot way down on the left, next to the hood release. Then I pushed this button that said start. But it wouldn’t start. Finally I saw the little light showing me to push in the brake. Once I did that, the button worked. Is this somehow supposed to make my life easier? Cool car, but what the heck? By this time, I’d figured out how to reset the GPS and it had its voice back. So that was good.

Feeling like I was on top of the world, I drove to my first school, Andersen Elementary. It wasn’t until 10:30 and I got there at quarter to ten. So I figured I’d call the other schools and check in. As I was talking to the last school, Jane Starkey—who is a doll—said casually, “I guess you talked to Laura at Weinburg?”

“No. Who is that?”

“Well they were disappointed you missed them this morning.”

“What? When? I don’t have them on my list!”

“You were supposed to be there at 9:00.”

Lots of panic on my part and a quick call to Laura. Somehow, there had been a major miscommunication. I felt terrible that I had missed seeing her kids. So then I tried to see if we could reschedule for the next day. But when I called the first school for Wednesday, I found that not only were they unable to reschedule, but that they expected me to be there from 9:00 to 11:30. Great, except that I have a school already scheduled for 10:30. But the first school has two assemblies scheduled. I tried not to use too many bad words in my head. But I was freaked out. By then, I realized it was time to get into the first school of the day. Except that I suddenly realized I was still wearing jeans. I had planned on changing at the airport after my flight, and completely forgot!

Talk about paranoid, try changing pants in your car. In front of an elementary school. I just knew someone was going to pop out and arrest me. So I at least pulled out of the parking lot and down the street. Anyway, the day turned out fine. Much love to Kit Parcell and the students of John M Andersen Elementary School, Kathy Ryan and the students of Erie Elementary, and Jane Starkey and the students of Ryan Elementary School. You all rock! I even got to me interviewed by the students at Ryan for their TV station and their newspaper. They have promised me a link to the interview and I will share it as soon as I get it! I also got to have my picture taken for their reading Hall of Fame. Whoo hoo! It was a great way to end the day.

Today was much smoother, although somehow we still didn’t get things worked out with Laura at Weinburg Elementary. Through no fault of hers, we didn’t tell here I wouldn’t be able to make it this morning. Laura and the students of Weinburg, if you are reading this, I am on my knees begging your forgiveness. I have scheduled to come back out and spend a ton of time with your school on the 21st of October I think. I just want you to know, I would never intentionally leave a bunch of kids hanging. Especially not twice. You will get my best presentation ever. I’ll even bring extra magic tricks!!!

Today I met with Mary Cooper and the students of Santan Elementary, and Jeanie Sanders and the students of Fulton Elementary School. Jeanie is my new best friend because she told me my presentation was the best author visit ever! She also told me she is going to personally make me as big as Brandon Mull, right Jeanie?
Well my hour is up and I need to run to B&N. I’ll give you a sales update when I get back. Then it’s a 6:30 flight (Uggg!) back to Utah for two days in Bountiful and Farmington. I’m a little hoarse, but rearing to go see some more students. Thanks for following along!

Tour Day Two

scott@jscottsavage.com (J Scott Savage) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:32:00 +0000

It's really late and I have to get up at 5:00 am (4:00 my time) to catch a flight, so I promise I will give a much more detailed report tomorrow. But it was a great day. Houstaon is awesome. And the people are so friendly--especially considering what they have been through--Tami Norton is not only a great author, but also a wonderful cook and hostess. I will say that I hope I never have to gluestick while driving again (forgot to bring a key prop and had to make it on the fly.) Much, much, much more tomorrow. I promise. Chandler, AZ here I come!