Marketing Janette Marie Sherrill & Her New Book: Part III

Read Part I
Read Part II

This conversation covers:
* Story Location
* Merchandising
* Concept of 'marginality'
* ‘Marketing vitamins’
* “Ah Ha” experiences

JMS: Here we go agin. Would you believe that we're already on session three? By the way, how did you like our farm pond?

VM: It’s beautiful. But we should disclose that that picture was taken last autumn and not today. Is Jack really going to build you a writing studio with a view of the pond?

JMS: He promised that if I ever got a book published, he’d build me a studio just like the one a friend of ours has. Our friend is a commercial artist and has a beatiful studio.

VM: As I understand it, the studio will be a round building with floor to ceiling windows facing the pond.

JMS: Yes, and it will have a bath room, kitchenette, hot tub, book shelves for over a thousand books and a state-of-the-art sound system.

VM: And it will be a full hundred yards away from the house. So going there will be like going to work at a regular job.

JMS: That’s part of the idea. Construction starts in the spring. I’m still selecting carpets, tiles, colors and appliances.

VM: Then I think you better make some real progress with your writing. I mean, with a professional studio, which would be the envy of most writers, it would be helpful to produce some professional results.

JMS: That’s why you’re here. According to Jack, you’re going to tell me how to derive the most profit from my writing.

VM: Yes, but you need to know this: marketing your book begins before you write the first word.

JMS: And you’re going to teach me how to do that, right?

VM: Yes, we will start to cover that today. You’ve already read my workbook on “Rewarding the Reader” and you’ve read my post on creating the ideal series, correct?

JMS: Yes, and I have some questions about the post.

VM: Good. I hope you have some story ideas that might meet the ideal criteria for a great series.

JMS: I don’t think I can meet all the criteria. I’m not sure any writer can.

VM: I’m not sure either but that’s inherent when you postulate an ideal system. The goal will be to come as close to the ideal as possible.

JMS: What do we cover first?

VM: Let’s talk about your book, “When God Answers”. It takes place in west Texas in 1876.

JMS: Mostly in Texas. The story is part ‘wagon train’ and part ‘cattle drive’ and part the coming death of the ‘old west’. The story ends in New Mexico.

VM: I’ve looked at a map and your story action gets within about a hundred miles of the Palo Duro Canyon state park. This canyon is only second in size to the Grand Canyon. Did you know that over three million people have seen the productions at the outdoor theater in the park? This three million includes me and my wife.

JMS: I’ve also been there with Jack. It’s spectacular. But I had no idea that so many people have been to the plays.


VM: I was surprised myself when I looked-up the figures. Anyone that has been to Palo Duro Canyon will remember the experience.

JMS: So?

VM: A lot of the action in your book could have taken place in and around the canyon. This would allow the publisher to put a picture of the canyon on the cover. I estimate that millions of people are alive today who have been to Palo Duro State Park. Many of these people would have an interest in reading your book, if part of the story action took place in the canyon area.

Many of these park visitors and playgoers would like to relive their experience of the area by reading about it. Especially the history of the area before the park came into being. The park gift shop would likely sell the book. Bookstores in the area would also likely carry the book. They might even sell “When God Answers” all year round. The local newspapers and magazines would likely give the book publicity. You could have all these potential customers and publicity by changing the location of your story a few hundred miles.

JMS: Are you saying that when I plan a story I should be thinking about the location and how some locations have a very strong marketing appeal.

VM: Absolutely, if I was building a product like a new mouse trap, I’d be thinking about who would likely buy it and how to best market it. A writer is often only thinking in terms of getting an editor to buy her story. This is important -- don’t get me wrong. However, a writer also has a second sale to make and that is to her readers.

When creating the story, you should be thinking of doing things that will make the book more saleable to the reading public.

JMS: But I’m an artiste! I can’t compromise my art with crass considerations like making money. NOT!

VM: I was worried there for a minute. So you get the idea? I’d like for you to merchandise your plot to make it the most marketable.

JMS: What do you mean by ‘merchandise’? Isn’t that the same as marketing?

VM: No, not at all. Merchandising is part of marketing and a very important part in retail selling. Merchandising is about what items you choose to place in a given advertisement.

JMS: Like when Wal-Mart runs a newspaper ad and it has dozens of items in it for sale?

VM: Yes, a merchandiser has to select the items that will appear in the ad and also price the items.

JMS: Ok, I get that idea but I don’t have any items for sale in my book. I don’t see what you are getting at.

VM: Let me explain. I have two newspaper advertisements here for a furniture store. Do you see them and how they look alike?

JMS: Yes, they are full page ads and they show a lot of furniture items.

VM: Please look closely and tell me how many items are in each ad?

JMS: OK, there are fifteen items in each ad.

VM: Good. These two ads ran one week apart. The weather was good each day. I wrote every word in both of these ads. The showroom displays and salespeople were all the same. As far as I can determine the only difference between these two ads is the merchandise that is in them.

JMS: Let me look again. OK, I can see a few differences but the ads look mostly alike.

VM: That’s right. They are both the same kind of ad. Also all the artwork was drawn by the same artists. Look closley. Isn’t the artwork just about the same in both ads?

JMS: Yes.

VM: Now here’s the point. One of these ads did $12,000 in sales on the day it ran. The other ad did $24,000 in sales on the day it ran. Can you tell me which ad did twice as much business as the other?

JMS: No way. I have no idea.

VM: Can you theorize which ad did the most business?

JMS: Yes, the one that had the lowest prices.

VM: No, actually the winning ad had higher prices. By that I mean, the profit margin on the winning ad was 40% while the losing ad was only 25%. Items were cheaper in the ad that did not do so well.

JMS: In that case, I have no idea why one of these ads did so much better than the other.

VM: The difference was the merchandise in the ads. One of the ads was merchandised by our professional merchandiser and the other ad was merchandised by me. Now which ad do you think did best? His ad or my ad?

JMS: I would say his ad because he was the professional and we should listen to professionals. You want to show me how important it is to listen to your marketing advice, right?

VM: Yes and no. No, it was actually my ad that did twice the business but yes I do want you to listen to my marketing advice.

JMS: Why did your ad do better and why did you know more than the professional merchandiser?

VM: Here’s why. We had different goals. My goal was to make the advertising look good by getting the most sales at the highest profit margin. The merchandiser’s goal was to use our advertising to get rid of his bad buying mistakes. The merchandiser is also the buyer of the furniture and when items don’t sell, the merchandiser is in trouble. The General Manager sees the ‘days in inventory’ for each item and when they go over ninety days, the merchandiser can be in big trouble. So what was this guy doing? He was putting items that did not sell on the showroom floor into the ads in the hope that they would sell at the lower prices that were featured in the ad.

JMS: And it didn’t work?

VM: No, it was a disaster. People walked by that merchandise on the showroom floor and the salespeople were not excited about showing it. The same thing happened in the ad: people 'walked' by the ad items and did not come into the store to buy.

JMS: So how did you get to merchandise the ad?

VM: I had to defend my advertising. I told the General Manager what was going on and that I wanted to merchandise the ad in a way to produce maximum sales volume. He liked that idea and gave me the OK. He did say this: “Just make sure that we have that stuff in stock.” Also, I was not allowed to set prices. Only the merchandiser could do that.

JMS: So how did you know what to run in the ad?

VM: I checked what was selling on the showroom floor. I also had a better mix of items than he did. He had lots of bedroom groups and dining room sets which made up only 20% of our business. He was short on soft goods like sofas and loveseats which were over 40% of our business. He even left some categories out of the ad. In order to sell something, you have to show people you have the item for sale. People who are looking for a recliner need to know you have recliners for sale. This was what we call an 'omnibus' ad which means it is supposed to have a little of everything we sell in it.

Anyway, by changing the mix of items and by covering more categories of items, I was able to double the sales volume. I could do this so often that, for the most part, our advertising department took over the merchandising of the ads. Of course, we were never allowed to set price points.

JMS: You mean you took over the merchandiser’s job?

VM: No, I didn’t do that. The merchandiser still went to market and bought the furniture and still would give us a list of items he wanted in the ad but we would make changes as needed to produce the best selling advertising.

JSM: Ok, so now I have an idea of what merchandising is and how important it is in the retail business. But what has this to do with writing a romance?


VM: I’m going to tell you now. Have you heard of the writer, Nevada Barr?

JMS: No, does she write romances?

VM: She writes mysteries. I’ve read all her mystery books. Do you know why?

JMS: You liked them.

VM: Yes, but I like a lot of mystery writers who I think are better overall but Nevada Barr was a national park ranger for many years. Each of her mysteries takes place in a National Park. Not only that, she goes into the inner workings of the park and what it is like to work for the park service. By the way, I have not been as happy with her when she writes a second book about the same national park. You see, I want to learn about more parks.

JMS: What you’re saying then is that Nevada Barr gets her normal number of fans who like mysteries but she also gets fans who are mostly interested in reading about the various National Parks.

VM: Exactly. Another writer I really enjoy and who is on my auto-buy list is Donna Leon. She writes mysteries that take place in Venice, Italy. I’ve read all her books because I love Venice.

JMS: Are you saying you will buy a book simply because it takes place in Venice.

VM: Very often I will. But this brings up the concept of 'marginality'. Have you heard of it?

JMS: I’ve heard the word but I don’t know what it means in this case.

VM: OK. It’s something like this: say there are two items you are thinking of buying. You like them about equally well, that is, all things are mostly equal. However, there one feature, on the margin, that only one item has that is very important to you. That one feature, no matter how little, can tip a buying decision in a certain direction.

For example: I like to read Love Inspired romances. I went to eHarlequin to buy one and I had six choices for that month. All were acceptable but one book had the ocean, a sail boat, a gazebo, and a flower garden on the cover and it was part of a series called “Lighthouse Lane”. I’m a big fan of lighthouses. I collect little lighthouse replicas. These features, on the margin, were enough to tip my buying decision towards buying “The Doctor’s Perfect Match” by Irene Hannon.

JMS: I see. But if the same cover was on a Blaze romance, would you still have bought it?

VM: Probably not and also probably not if it were a paranormal novel. 'Marginality' comes into play when the buying decision is a close call.

JMS: As I get it, you want me to put items or features into my books so that on the margin the buying decision will go to my books and not to someone else's books?

VM: That’s right. But it's not so 'all or nothing'. Let’s say a buyer is considering six to ten books but she can afford just two of them, then there will be features, on the margin, which could tip the fan towards buying some books over the others.

JMS: I know you want me to think in terms of locations that have a big potential for selling books to people who have been to those locations or want to go to those locations in the future. Places like Palo Duro with its millions of visitors. But what are some more of those features?

VM: You can probably come up with many of them yourself. Think about those things that have a very strong natural appeal to segments of the population. Which of these can you incorporate into your story?

I call these marginal features ‘marketing vitamins’. Add as many of these as make sense given the nature of your story. Think of it as taking vitamins in real life. Vitamins are not your food and they are not your diet. They supplement your diet to keep you healthy. And that’s what I want to do for you: supplement the marketing power of the stories you write to make you economically healhy.

JMS: I like the idea of ‘marketing vitamins’. What other ‘marketing vitamins’ are there besides location?

VM: Events are good but they are not as easy to work into a story. Major events tend to become the story. I’m thinking of events like the Word Fairs that took place in the US. It is just inherently interesting to read how people in the past viewed what the future would be like. There have been many World Fairs in the US going back to 1853.

In any event, there are all kinds of events you can choose from as a writer. Always look for what events happened during the time span of your novel.

JMS: I like the idea of events.

VM: Events can be minor or even tangential. For example, your hero and heroine might have to get to Alaska form Texas. They just happen to be in San Francisco when the earthquake hits. This might only be one chapter or less of your novel but it could add a lot of excitement to your story. This is especially true if you are writing about things the reader has never heard about regarding the quake. Knowledgeable readers will be very interested if you have your hero and heroine in San Francisco on the day of the earthquake. They will wonder if you are going to include the earthquake in your book.

JMS: There could be many such events. Like the Chicago fire.

VM: Yes, also along these same lines you should strive to create “Ah Ha” experiences.

JMS: What’s an “Ah Ha” experience?

VM: That’s when you reveal something to readers that surprises them. Something that they never knew before People love the “Ah Ha” experience. Just make sure you get your facts right.

JMS: Do you have any examples so I can lock the concept into my mind?

VM: Here are a few off the top of my head.

Most deaths from the San Francisco earthquake were from fires because of broken gas lines and not falling buildings.

More people died of the Spanish Flu just after WWI than died in WWI.

The Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, Roman, nor an Empire.

Most of the educated people in the ancient world thought the world was round.

Columbus was turned down over and over again by different countries because he had his math wrong about the size of the earth. The experts knew the earth was much larger than Columbus thought and those critics were right. The argument against Columbus was not over the earth being round; it was over the distances involved. If the new world had not been there, Columbus and all his men would have died. Columbus thought the earth was only one sixth its actual size. The experts back then were very close to the real sise of the earth.

JMS: Hold on. How many of these “Ah Ha” moments are there?

VM: Almost unlimited. People 'know' so much stuff that isn’t true that “Ah Ha” moments are not that hard to find. Nora Roberts will have occasional “Ah Ha’s” as will Lucy Gordon in her books that take place in Italy. Having “Ah Ha” moments is on my index of ‘rewards-per-page’.

JMS: How do I find these “Ah Ha” moments?

VM: You have to read the right kind of books. It also helps to visit locations and see if there are any local museums. Talk to people in the museums. They also love to give tourists “Ah Ha” moments.

JMS: So far we have locations and events. What else?

VM: There are also famous people or people who should have been famous. I don’t mean to involve them as major characters unless that is the kind of book you are writing. I mean use famous people as characters who just happened to be there when your story happens.

JMS: Do you have any examples here?

VM: Yes, in my book, “Three of Our Vampires Are Missing” I have the hero, who is thousands of years old and a vampire, go into a tavern in Paris where Benjamin Franklin and the philosopher David Hume are having dinner together. The hero, also a philosopher, has a conversation with these two famous men.

I knew from research that Franklin and Hume were in Paris at the same time, so I worked this fact into my story. Many famous Europeans made tours of the US in the 1800’s. Some were doing research and others were on lecture tours. It would add interest to a story if you had your characters be in a town when one of these famous people was also visiting. Research the tour of a famous person and learn what you can.

JMS: You’re mostly talking about historical romances here, right?

VM: Mostly. The famous person theory fits well with historical novels. They are long dead and won’t sue you. Readers love to encounter bits and pieces of history here and there. So give it to them. Reward your readers. Delight your readers. Surprise your readers. Always be trying to enhance the 'reading experience'.

JMS: Location, events, people…is there anything else?

VM: Another ‘marketing vitamin’ would be the effects of change. Did you know that at one time in US history, one of the biggest employers was the ice making and delivery business? It was way bigger than the automobile business is today in the number of people employed as a percentage of the working force. Everything was going well when the industry quickly ended within a short number of years. Why? Refrigeration was invented. Remember the “Ice Man Cometh”? How many men were employed to deliver ice to every home in American with an ice box? Couldn’t this economic disaster be worked into a novel that takes place during this period of change?

JMS: So now we have locations, events, people, and the effects of change. I assume events would include the suffrage movements.

VM: Indeed, I’m reading a book right now that uses the suffrage movement in an unexpected way. It was a kind of “Ah Ha” moment for me. In fact, the book had quite a few “Ah Ha” moments in it and I highly recommend it. It’s called “The Bartered Bride” by Erica Vetsch.

JMS: It sounds like Regency.

VM: It’s a little bit like a Regency romance but it actually takes place in the early 1900s. The location is on the Grate Lakes. Change is happening everywhere. On the roads there’s a mix of automobiles and horses. The author’s descriptions of things, like room interiors and clothing, are detailed and unique. The setting for the book is fascinating in itself. The writing is also excellent.

JMS: I’ll have to read it. Are there any more ‘marketing vitamins’ as you call them?

VM: Yes, another category of ‘marketing vitamins’ would be things people really like -- especially collectables.

JMS: Collectables?

VM: I’m thinking of things I like to collect, for example, the lighthouses I’ve already mentioned. I love lighthouses and so does my wife. We collect lighthouse items, plates, scale models, and we visit lighthouses when we can.

JMS: Yes, and you bought a book because it was part of a lighthouse series called “Lighthouse Lane”.

VM: I did. I also buy books with Venice on the cover and I will usually buy a romance that has a picture of Ayer’s Rock on the cover. I’m also a big fan of books that take place in Santa Fe. These are all things that a lot of people have a strong affinity for and, as such, they make good ‘marketing vitamins’. They can help sell your book.

JMS: And you say there are many more of these ‘marketing vitamins” to choose from?

VM: There are probably hundreds of more of them but they will most likely be combinations of the other categories we’ve already covered. I think you get the idea now.

JMS: Yes. You want me to ‘merchandise’ my stories so that they lots of “marketing vitamins’ in them. What’s next?

VM: Next we are going to cover the series and publicity. In the meantime, I’d like you to think of as many ‘marketing vitamins’ as you can.

JMS: Any ideas on this?

VM: Go to a really big magazine store. If there is a magazine for the topic, then there is a segment of the population you can attract by having that feature in the book. Think of attracting women first, of course, but please note that women also like a lot of things men like.

JMS: Like NASCAR?

VM: Yes. Think about spicing-up your story with ‘marketing vitamins’. You can do this without changing the nature of the story.

JMS: OK, until next time.

VM: Remember to do your homework. We are going to talk about the series next.

‘Philosophy of Romance” Welcomes Elizabeth Scott Barron -- the Heroine of “When God Answers”

Elizabeth Scott Barron was born on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in 1850. The ship was at least one thousand miles away from the nearest country. Elizabeth says she’s a 'citizen of the sea'. Her parents were on their way to the California gold fields from their home in Australia. Her father was a successful gold miner, gambler, cattle rancher and minister. He has towns in three states named after him.

Elizabeth’s childhood was spent growing up in California, Alaska, Santa Fe, and west Texas. Her diaries are still highly prized by historians today. Elizabeth’s correspondence with famous people provides us with a rare view of a way of life that was quickly coming to an explosive end.

Be sure to visit for this interesting interview. Coming soon.

Marketing Janette Marie Sherrill & Her New Book: Part II

Read Part I

This conversation covers:
* Literary style *Over Written Copy
* Rewards-per-page *Reader Friendly
* Reader Unfriendly *Marketing
* Dedications, Acknowledgements, Epilogues
* Back story, Character names
* Stepping on HEA


VM: Well, we’re back at it.

JMS: I’m glad you could come out to the ranch.

VM: I wanted to see where you lived and your work area. Six hundred and forty acres gives you some breathing room.

JMS: That’s Jack. He doesn’t like neighbors to be too close. He likes them at least a mile away.

VM: I could land a plane in your back yard.

JMS: Don’t try it. There are enough gopher holes to tear your wheels off.

VM: OK, down to work. Did you read the workbook?

JMS: Yes, and I have a bone to pick with you.

VM: What?

JMS: I’ve been to many seminars and workshops and there is no way you could give that seminar in just six hours. There’s at least twelve hours of work there. And a lot more if people ask a lot of questions.

VM: Hold on a minute. Do you realize that I’ve written over 115 different three-hour seminars that have been approved by the state and that I’ve given over 3,000 seminars?

JMS: Does that mean you don’t like criticism? Because I am going to be frank with you.

VM: No, it’s just means that you’re right. I could only do that workshop in six hours if I didn’t cover everything and if I didn’t get too many questions. It really needs to be a two day seminar but that’s asking too much of the students. Six hours is even a hard sell unless you’re well known.

JMS: Let’s talk about my book then. Did you finish “When God Answers”?

VM: Yes, I did.

JMS: And what is your verdict?

VM: I can see why it was published. You are very literary and you have an interesting way of saying things.

JMS: What do you mean by literary?

VM: Your sentence structure is more varied than is found in the typical romance writing. You are more poetic in that you use word combinations that I have never read before, or at least, never read before being used to describe the things that you describe. Your writing is fresh, creative, and interesting.

JMS: But, there must be a ‘but’ in there somewhere. You don’t sound as enthusiastic as you do when you give a positive review of a book.

VM: I’ve got a lot of ‘buts’ but first what do you think I am going to point out? Do you feel that the book has a weakness that you could fix next time?

JMS: My 'rewards-per-page' score was only between 2 and 3. The authors you gave me to score were all between 8 and 10.

VM: Your score was between 2 and 3 but when you take into account your lost points for being ‘reader unfriendly’, your score was really down to 1 and 2.

JMS: I just don’t understand the ‘reader unfriendly’ thing. You need to cover that better in the workshop.

VM: The ‘reader unfriendly’ lost point system is a very late addition to the course. I might have to take it out but let me give you some examples.

JMS: OK.

VM: Please understand that my comments have to do with making your book more marketable. You write far better than I can. I’m sure I don’t know as much as you do about writing a romance. Probably a lot less. I’m just going to go over some things that impact on the reader’s ‘reading experience’.

JMS: Don’t worry about me. I can take criticism. I mean, I better be able to, right? Because if you never criticize me, that would mean I’m perfect and I wouldn't need your help in the first place.

VM: That’s a good attitude. Let’s see how it works. My first problem is the dedication: “For Jack”. That’s all you wrote.

JMS: That’s all Jack wanted me to write. He’s not a mushy man.

VM: What’s marketing? The definition?

JMS: Marketing is everything you do in providing your product.

VM: The dedication is part of marketing. As a reader, when I read “To Jack”, I think the author is uninspired, unromantic, has little good to say about her husband and is perhaps even a little cold. Is that how you want to start the reader’s ‘reading experience’? Is that the first impression you want the reader to have of you? Remember the old saying: You only get one chance to make a first impression?

JMS: But you don’t understand Jack.

VM: I may not understand Jack but I do understand marketing. I am sure Jack would allow you to write whatever you needed to -- as long as he understood it was part of the marketing plan.

JMS: What should I have written?

VM: Let’s use a real example. Read the dedication in this book by Missy Tippens, “Her Unlikely Family”.

JMS: OK, give me the book.

“To my husband, Terry, who has read every word I’ve ever written.

To my children, Nick, Tyler, and Michelle, who have cheered me along on this journey.

To my parents, Frank and Cellia Conley: my sister Mindy Winningham; and all my extended family who love me no matter what.

And for God for giving me the stories.”

VM: Well? What do you think?

JMS: It’s a nice dedication.

VM: If you didn’t know anything about either author, Janette Marie Sherrill or Missy Tippens, who would you think is the more romantic and in touch with her feelings? Who would you think would make the better friend? And who would you think would be writing with the most authentic voice?

JMS: If the dedication was all I had to go by, then I’d pick Missy Tippens. But no one judges an author by her dedications and, besides, the dedication is very personal. I should be able to write anything I want to.

VM: I agree one hundred percent! You should be able to write any dedication you want to and you can. I will also agree that it is a very small thing and in itself is not very important. However, when you do all the little things I am going to mention, then the ‘cumulative effect’ can be very big.

Also, doing everything right has a multiplier effect in that the fans you win early in a career help develop more fans down the road. It’s a little like compound interest. Don’t do anything I suggest that you don’t want to do but try to do as much as you can.

JMS: What’s next?

VM: You sound jaded already. Next are your acknowledgements.

JMS: I don’t have any acknowledgements in “When God Answers”.

VM: That’s the problem. No acknowledgements. This is even more important than the dedication. You should always have a lot of acknowledgements for two very good marketing reasons.

JMS: I suppose Missy Tippens has a full page of acknowledgements.

VM: Let me look. I count seventeen people and organizations which take up sixteen lines of copy. Look for yourself.

JMS: OK, OK, so why are acknowledgements so important?

VM: The most important thing about acknowledgements is that they show that you did your research. This enhances the ‘perceived value’ of your work in the reader’s mind. It goes to credibility. It means the reader can relax when you speak on a technical topic and take it in as being authentic. This is especially true when you are writing a medical romance. I feel very good when I read a medical romance author acknowledging specialists in the medical field that is a subject of the novel. It just shouts to the reader that this author cares about her craft.

JMS: I’ll buy that. I won’t fight you on having acknowledgements. What’s the other reason that acknowledgements are so important?

VM: The other reason is networking. Every person you name is likely to buy your book. Even some of their family and friends will buy the book or more likely be given a copy of the book by the person you acknowledged. People you acknowledge are also more likely to remember your name and talk you up as a writer.

They are proud of being acknowledged in your book and they are likely to let others know about it. As a marketing person, I just want to scream when I see a romance without any acknowledgements. Has no one really helped the author? Does she really have no one to acknowledge?

JMS: What if the book is simple and does not need any technical information?

VM: Then make the book a little more interesting. You can even ask someone for advice even when you are an expert in the area yourself. But let’s say there really is nothing in your book that deserves acknowledging someone. You could have the heroine decide to make a garden. So she goes to the garden center and asks about what kind of seeds she needs to use for the part of the country the story takes place. If you did this you could then acknowledge the guy at the garden center. Wouldn’t he be pleased or, better yet, make sure the garden expert is a woman. Women read romances.

JMS: I see places now in "When God Answers" where I could have done this.

VM: One other thing: try to pick COIs to acknowledge.

JMS: COIs? That would be what? Conflict…Obstacles…Inspiration?

VM: Not this time. COI is a marketing term meaning: ‘Center of Influence’. These are people who know a lot of other people who tend to trust them -- COIs are often asked for advice. COIs could be ministers, teachers, librarians, and the like. If you acknowledge a COI or two, this would enhance the marketing value of the book's acknowledgements.

JMS: You’ve sold me on having acknowledgements. What’s next?

VM: Next I’m going to be talking about being ‘reader unfriendly’. Just as rewarding the reader improves the reading experience, being ‘reader unfriendly’ reduces the reading enjoyment. So we need to consider both here.

JMS: You’re saying that I’ve been ‘reader unfriendly’?

VM: Very much so.

JMS: I certainly didn’t mean to be unfriendly.

VM: "Reader unfriendly" is just a term. You can fix things in your next book.

JMS: Tell me the worst first.

VM: OK, the first fifty pages were very rough and read like you had rewritten them dozens of times. Did you rewritten them thirty to forty times?

JMS: More like fifty times. I’ve been working on those first chapters for ten years. But they read fine to me and my editor.

VM: Not to me. They read just like copy I’ve rewritten dozens of times.

JMS: What do you mean by rough? Can you really tell if copy has been rewritten many times or were you guessing?

VM: There is a lot to knowing copy has been vastly overwritten. The flow is rough and choppy. It reads like more than one person has written it. It also reads like the author forgot what was written on the pages the come just before the page you are reading. This phenomenon comes about when you have rewritten something so many times you no longer remember what is behind you or what is in front of you. There are so many versions in you head that you can’t be sure what’s in the current version you are working on.

You also tend to make mistakes that a one or two draft manuscript would not have.

JMS: Like what?

VM: Think of your novel. You start the story with too many characters. You name eight different characters that are also immediately in danger. As a reader, I don’t know one character from the other at this point. I don’t know who is good or bad or who the hero is or who the heroine is. I’m just lost in the action. Then after a few pages you drop two long paragraphs of back story in an effort to let the reader know something about all these characters that have names but no identity. These back story paragraphs are like stop signs to the reader. The action staggers and this slow down blunts the opening ‘hook’ you tried so hard to create.

JMS: Those back story paragraphs were the editor’s revisions.

VM: I know why your editor did it. You started the action with too many named characters. And doing that is reader unfriendly. It’s like asking the reader to juggle eight balls in the air. Start with a few named characters and add the others slowly.

JMS: I needed all those characters. The wagon train was under attack and they were circling the wagons. There was a lot of action.

VM: Fine. But why do I need to know the first and last names of so many people within three pages? As a reader, I have to make a mental image of each name when it first appears. The next time the name appears, I have to call up a mental image of the character in order to make sense of the story. There is an analog to this on TV shows when all three main characters all look alike in size, facial features, and hair color. I hate this because it is hard to figure out which character did what in the story.

JMS: Look, I revised that first chapter so many times I just couldn’t do it any more. At some point you have to stop and say, it’s finished.

VM: It gets worse. Your two main male characters are named ‘Richard” and “Robert”! Your three main female characters all have first names that begin with ‘C’.

JMS: Yes, Carla, Caren, and Carrie. Those are the names these characters wanted to have. I tried to change the names but it just wouldn’t work. The characters put up such a stink, I had to give in.

VM: Couldn’t you have at least spelled ‘Caren’ with a ‘K’?

JMS: No I couldn’t. She had a habit of introducing herself by saying “That’s Caren with a C”. It made her feel special. I used this often in the book. In fact, it was a kind of leitmotif. That’s something I thought you would appreciate.

VM: I liked it in Wagner. I’m not sure it worked in “When God Answers”. Anyway, did all these woman have to have the same second and third letters in their names?

JMS: I never thought of that and I don’t see what difference it makes.

VM: I am a ‘sight’ reader. I don’t read the names of the characters when I read. I just see the R in Richard and think ‘that’s the R character’. When you have Richard and Robert I can’t do that. I have to pronounce the name in my mind and then I have to try to remember what has Robert done in the story and what has Richard done. Frankly, your naming of characters drove me nuts.

JMS: What would be reader friendly?

VM: Plan the names very carefully. In “Characters in a Romance” no major character has the same first letter in their first name. There’s Tina, Victor, Missy, Plato, Lenny, Herb, the Wicket Witch of the Eastern Establishment, and so on.”

JMS: There was also me: ‘Janette Marie Sherrill’.

VM: I said major character. Sorry.

JMS: I’ll agree with you there. I could do a better job naming characters next time but what do I do with unruly characters who just demand a given name?

VM: Fool them. Give them the names they want. No problem. But just before you send the manuscript to your publisher, do a ‘search and replace’ on the names. The characters will never know you did it.

JMS: My characters are too smart for that. They work their initials into the story line to where I would have to make a lot more changes than a ‘search and replace’ would not take care of.

VM: OK then. But I think you need to work on getting better control over your characters.

JMS: What else was wrong?

VM: This is a part of the rewriting problem but go to page sixteen.

JMS: I’m on page sixteen what’s wrong?

VM: Half way down the page there is a scene change. It’s hard to tell it’s a scene change because the publisher only put one extra line between paragraphs. Do you see it?

JMS: Yes, I see it now but what’s wrong with it?

VM: I'm sure you didn’t realize this but you ended one scene with quotes where two characters were talking to each other.

JMS: Characters do talk to each other you know? It’s called dialogue.

VM: Yes, but then you also started the next scene with quotes – dialogue -- between two different characters who had not even been introduced to the reader yet. The reader thinks it's still the first conversation going on between the same two people.

I had to read those passages over several times because it just so happens that either interpretation makes sense. That is, it makes sense as a carry-over conversation between the same two people in the last scene but it also makes sense as a different conversation between two different people in the new scene.

JMS: I wouldn’t do something like that. Let me read it.

VM: Well?

JMS: You’re right. That’s terrible. Why didn’t I see that?

VM: The problem probably wasn’t there in the first forty-five of your fifty rewrites. This is what I mean by it reads like it has been rewritten dozens of times. I doubt you would ever make that mistake on a first or second draft.

JMS: How do I fix something like that?

VM: It’s very hard. When it happened to me in writing long advertising copy sometimes I would just give up and let someone else in the department write the ad for me.

JMS: I can’t do that. I’m not writing advertising. I don’t have someone else in the ‘department’ to write my novel.

VM: In that case, I would suggest that you write a brand new opening -- from scratch -- without even looking at what you’ve written before.

JMS: Is there any more wrong with my book?

VM: Your chapters are too long. They average thirty pages each. I’d like to see them no more than ten pages long.

JMS: Ten pages! “When God Answers” is a long book. I’m entitled to long chapters. Besides every chapter has to end with a cliffhanger to keep the reader reading into the next chapter. I’d have to come up with three times as many cliffhangers if I had three times as many chapters.

VM: Look at this book, “Land of Milkweed Manor” by Julie Klassen. It’s a long book and she has nice ten to twelve page chapters. Long chapters are reader unfriendly. Readers like short chapters and lots of white space. They get a feeling that the book is moving faster with short chapters. Look at Mary Higgins Clark's books for very short chapters.

JMS: “Land of Milkweed Manor” is just one book.

VM: Here’s another thing. Take this copy of ““Land of Milkweed Manor”. Good, now look at the top of each chapter heading. There’s a famous quote. Having famous quotes is another way to reward the reader. Also notice that Julie Klassen’s quotes fit into the time period of the book and add to the flavor of the book. Quotes like these make the reader feel like she is learning something.

M. C. Beaton does this too with her Hamish Macbeth mystery series. I love that series and I always look forward to the start of a new chapter. I even make a game of it. I read the quote and then try to guess who said it.

JMS: Would you actually want me to place quotes at the head of each chapter?

VM: Your book is ideally suited for such quotes. And there are a lot of good quotes from the 1800’s you could have used. Always be thinking of ways to enrich the reader’s reading experience. That’s all.

JMS: I don’t like that idea. I think quotes are pretentious. They just slow down the story line.

VM: What you say could very well be the case. It all depends on the skill of the writer and the nature of the story.

JMS: I’m almost afraid to ask but what else did I do that was reader unfriendly?


VM: This is a biggie. Right after the ‘black moment’ when the HEA is soon to begin, and the reader is vicariously about to feel wonderful, you have the hero ride off into the mountains where he has a mystical experience! It read like Saint Teresa’s ecstasy poetry.

JMS: It was like Saint Teresa’s poetry. The editor loved it. It’s my most poetic writing. It’s beautiful. It’s what I think you would call ‘literary’.

VM: Was your editor once a Carmelite nun?

JMS: She was a nun but I don’t know what kind she was. The convet was in New Jersey.

VM: She was actually a nun, are you kidding?

JMS: No. There's nothing wrong with having been a nun. She also has a BA from Smith. Besides, I'm with a Christian publisher.

VM: There’s nothing wrong with nuns. They taught me for eleven years. It’s also fine writing. But it stepped all over your HEA. It ruined it. You had half an HEA, then you ran off for forty-eight hours, and then you come back for the other half of the HEA. From a reader’s point of view -- it's pure frustration.

JMS: But my editor was OK with it.

VM: Rule number one: Don’t step on your HEA. The HEA is the reader’s emotional payoff for reading the book. A reader wants the HEA feeling to last as long as possible.

JMS: I don’t know if I can take any more of this. I’d say you hated my book!

VM: I love your book. It’s not that I love your book less, it’s that I love the book it could have been more.

JMS: Brutus said that didn’t he? You'd make a fine Brutus.

VM: Brutus never read your book, Janette.

JMS: You know what I mean.

VM: Just one more thing and we’ll be done for today. OK?

JMS: What is it?

VM: The epilogue.

JMS: “When God Answers” does not have an epilogue. The story didn’t need one. After God speaks, what else could there be to say?

VM: Every story needs an epilogue. The epilogue is a second helping of the HEA. It’s like having two HEAs for the price of one. And it comes at the very end of the book when you want to make the reader like your book so much she will go right out and buy another one. Not having an epilogue is a major marketing mistake.

Ideally the epilogue should give the reader a second ‘surprise of happiness’ they did not expect. Put a happy twist in the epilogue. And I don’t mean the heroine has twins instead of a single birth. . Be creative. Delight the reader.

JMS: I suppose, “Her Unlikely Family” has an epilogue.

VM: Let me look. Yep, it does.

JMS: So what is my homework for the next session?

VM: I want you to read my post on the series romance. Be thinking about a six-book series. Think multi-theme. Next time we are going to talk about themes, series, and locations.

Go To Part III

Congratulations! Audra Harders!

Another Seekerville Friend Gets the Call!

Audra Harders' Steeple Hill Inspirational romance is scheduled for release in January 2011.

Here’s what Audra writes the story is about:

“Let’s begin at a place called the Circle D Ranch in Hawk Ridge, Colorado.

Gabe Davidson struggles with the endless responsibilities of the family ranch after his brothers escape the tediousness their small hometown like rats escaping a sinking ship.

Stung by deceit and disapproval, single mother Melanie Hunter operates on a tight budget and strives to make a life for herself and her son, guarding her wounded heart against any chance of further pain.

When a lucrative job opportunity arises in the mountains of Colorado, she jumps at the chance to leave her past behind and build a new future. Unfortunately, things don’t go the way she’d planned. Melanie is stranded in Hawk Ridge when she wrecks her truck until a surly rancher offers a solution to her problem. Together, Gabe and Melanie discover the spirit of compromise and sacrifice as they learn to let go and let God.”

Way to go Audra!

“The Bartered Bride” is full of Surprises!

The Bartered Bride

Erica Vetsch

Heartsong Presents, 2009. 170 pages


“The Bartered Bride” is full of Surprises!

I bought “The Bartered Bride” because I just wanted to read a book by this author. I didn’t know what to expect because “The Bartered Bride” is not so much a title as it is a theme like “The Hidden Child” or “Baby on the Doorstep” or my favorite, “ The Marriage of Convenience”.

However, I did have expectations. I thought the book would take place in Regency England and I thought the heroine would be bartered to a rich titled older man so as to save her family from ruin because of her father’s gambling debts. None of this is true. This bartered bride is a surprisingly different, fresh, and new story.

The story takes place at the turn of the century (19th to 20th ) America on the Great Lakes in the city of Duluth. It is a very exciting time. There is great energy, homes have gas lights and electric lights, the streets have horse drawn carriages and automobiles, there are even suffragettes and planned demonstrations. This is all in addition to storms, shipwrecks, piano recitals, high society, tycoons, oppressive mothers, and absolutely wonderful descriptions of home interiors.

The author’s attention to detail and the research that must have gone into the short novel is amazing. I am very excited about reading more books by Erica Vetsch. I hope her publisher allows a little more creativity in the next title. For example, I would have preferred a title like: “The Unsinkable Melissa Brooke” – that’s not too far off. ‘Melissa Brooke’ is pretty closer to ‘Molly Brown’ and the young heroine is certainly feisty given her secret nighttime activities. (You’ll just have to read it yourself!)

By the way, the book is also a very nice example of Christian fiction.

As much as I loved the book, I would have edited two sentences towards the end because the reality presented is so strong, for me at least, it stepped on the happy ending and lessened the good feelings I expected to enjoy. However, other readers may enjoy the realism. If you read the book, and I hope you do, I’d like to know your comments on this matter.

Excellent Reading Enjoyment!

Vince

"Do You Know It’s Erotica? "

The Demon Next Door

Kate Austin

Cobblestone Press, eBook, 69 pages, copyright 2009


“Do you know it’s erotica?”

That’s what the author asked me when I chose this title from among her many books after wining a romance blog drawing.

“No but that’s not a problem. I've read erotica before,” I said.

Now here’s the problem. I’ve only read about six female erotica stories in my life and I didn’t ‘get them’. Maybe that’s because they were all paranormal stories. The problem was the heroes. One was about a werewolf, one a vampire, one a beast (it seemed like a big dog), one was a jaguar, one was a shape-shifter, and one was a demon – but not just any demon, this demon was one of the mean nasty demons and in fact the leader of the mean nasty demons.

From reading all this erotica, one message comes through very clearly: if you are female and you want great sex, don’t choose a male human. It would seem that almost any non-human creature is better than a man.

I must say that of all the erotica I’ve read, “The Demon Next Door” is the best. In fact I’d give it my highest rating of five stars.


The hero, Ali, was once the king of the really mean nasty demons, but he has since left the demon life and is trying to learn how to be a human. He lives on an almost abandoned cul-de-sac in a failed housing development on the edge of a forest. The other house belongs to the heroine.

Now both heroine and hero are hiding out and never have anyone over to their houses. Ali, who has a perfect body as shown in the cover art, has his demon brothers trying to track him down so they can torture him forever. The heroine is into very casual sex with many one night stands. Given that some man might get attached to her, she keeps her home address hidden from everyone.

I think the story setup is ideal for the characters involved. What makes the story so good however is the writing style. Kate Austin’s voice is fresh, new, surprising, exciting, strange, and great fun to read. If there were no erotic passages, it would still be a great story. Everything is in this story that you’d want in an serious romance. There's great motivation, the goals are very clear, and both the hero and heroine experience tremendous personal growth and are different people by the time the story is over. Also sex becomes elevated to an abiding love with the couple caring deeply for each other.

I don’t know how this story could be written any better. Nevertheless, I still don’t understand this erotic passion for non-human lovers! At least, Ali is a ‘human-in-the-making’ with a perfect male body. (The cover art is very accurate with Ali, the roses, and the night setting.)

If you are comfortable with erotica, “The Demon Next Door’, is a great read.

Five Star Erotic Reading Enjoyment!


Vince

Marketing Janette Marie Sherrill & Her New Book: Part 1

This conversation covers:
* “Edgy” Writing, * People Media
* Marketing, Publicity, PR,
* Personal Marketing,* Specialty Advertising
* Rewards-per-page
* Selling ‘the reading experience’

VM: Welcome to the “Philosophy of Romance” Blog. Do you know that you’re our first author interview?

JMS: Yes and I hope I’m not the last.

VM: Well, we’ll have to see how this interview goes first.

JMS: It’s good to be working with you again.

VM: I guess we should disclose that you were a fictional character in my book, “Characters in a Romance”.

JMS: Yes and that was a lot of fun.

VM: Did you turn out in the end to be a real character or a fictional character?

JMS: You don’t know? I thought you wrote it.

VM: There are over a hundred characters in that book. I had to use an Excel spreadsheet designed by Myra Johnson just to keep track of them all. I could open the spreadsheet but it would be quicker if you just told me.

JMS: OK, I turned out to be a real person which is ironic don’t you think since I’m actually a fictional character in real life?

VM: Well, I like irony and having a fictional character play a real person fit in well with the spirit of the narrative.

JMS: Don’t you think you should mention that the book starts with a cosmic cataclysm and all the fictional characters are knocked out of their novels and get mixed up with the real people and neither group can remember if they are fictional or real because everyone has partial amnesia?

VM: No, but you’ve already done it. I might add, however, that having everyone wondering if they were real or fictional did add to the tension.


JSM: It was also hard on the characters. Who wants to fall in love with a fictional character if, at the end of the story, you turn out to be real person?

VM: Or vice versa. But let’s talk about your book.

JSM: It’s an ‘edgy’ Christian fiction book that takes place mostly in west Texas in 1876.

VM: What do you mean by ‘edgy’?

JSM: I guess I mean what everyone else means. Is there more than one meaning?

VM: Let’s think about it. Is the book ‘edgy’ because of the type of characters in it? I’m thinking here of gamblers and prostitutes. Or is it ‘edgy’ because it is a little more sexually adventurous than a typical Christian romance? You know, a couple kisses and are almost carried away but pull back just in time to overcome temptation. By ‘edgy’ here I mean the hero and heroine almost sin, realize it, and feel the proper remorse for what they almost did.

Then there is also ‘edgy’ in a dogmatic way where you might have ghosts or a dispute between the hero and heroine about the truth of the belief in predestination. There are probably a dozen ways to be ‘edgy’. How is your book ‘edgy’?

JMS: I’m ‘edgy’ in that my characters talk to God and He answers them.

VM: Do you mean God answers in ‘signs’ or does He actually talk from heaven with a deep resonate voice?

JMS: Let’s put it this way, the characters hear voices that they take to be God’s. Whether it is God or not is up to the reader to decide. But the characters hear voices with their ears.

VM: And you got this book published?

JMS: Here’s the book -- all 476 pages of it.

VM: “When God Answers” It’s an appropriate title, I’ll say that.

JMS: It was the editor’s choice. My title was “Echoes from Heaven -- Traveling the Goodnight-Loving Trail”.

VM: I like your title better. How long did it take you to write this book?

JMS: Ten years. It’s taken me a long time to learn the craft.

VM: As I understand it, you want me to market you, your career, and your books as they come out.

JMS: Actually, my husband wants you to do it. He only trusts you.

VM: That’s because I saved his backside when I marketed all those spec homes he was sitting on. He may be a little biased in my favor. But I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you my best marketing advice and you can take it or leave it. How’s that?

JMS: That’s more than fair. My husband’s company is taking care of the bill, right?

VM: Yes, but we don’t need to get into that here. Now before we start I have to know this: what is your goal in writing?

JMS: How do you mean?

VM: Do you want to write the great American novel and win a Pulitzer Prize? Because if you do, there is very little I can do for you. I’m all about marketing and selling books.

JMS: No, my goal is to make money with my writing. We have two children in college and I’d like to be able to make enough money to support them and myself if my husband were to become unable to work.

VM: In that case you don’t plan to Diva me or the publisher. You’ll be willing to change your writing if it means you’ll be more successful in advancing your career and making money.

JMS: Yes, absolutely.

VM: And you don’t intend to take ten years to write your next book.

JMS: I want to write two books a year to start out and work my way up to four to six books a year.

VM: Well, then you are going to have to write shorter books.

JMS: The publisher also as a 172 page line of shorter romances. I’m working on proposals for that line right now.

VM: That’s great. If you do this, I can help you the most. But here’s something else. Marketing, even the best marketing, can’t make you successful alone. In fact, good marketing will kill a bad product faster than anything else. That’s because with good marketing everyone runs out and tries the product right away and then when they find out it is not good, their bad word of mouth kills the product before the manufacturer can fix the problem. So if you have a bad product, it really helps to have bad marketing as well. Fortunately this is often the case.

JMS: I don’t have a bad product. I think it’s good and will get better.

VM: I’m not only talking about literary merit. I’m talking about a product that provides the most enjoyable reading experience on a page- by-page basis. This involves my research on ‘rewarding the reader’ for reading. You know, I’ve written over three million words of direct response advertising copy and since people will not be bored in print, I had to write copy that people would read and read all the way to the end. To do that I had to become an expert in rewarding the reader, paragraph by paragraph, so they would not stop reading.

JSM: How do you reward a reader other than have enough tension to keep them turning the pages?

VM: I’m glad you asked that. I am going to give you an advanced copy of my six-hour seminar workshop manual to read. The title is, “Rewarding Your Reader: Workshop Manual". Please, don’t let anyone else read it. It’s not finalized and no seminar dates have been set yet.

I want you to study the manual. The best selling authors that I have studied all reward their readers many times per page. It’s important that you know how to do it.

JMS: You’re giving me a homework assignment? You want me to read your workbook on ways to reward readers?

VM: Yes, if we are going to exert the effort necessary to grow your career and sell your books, then I’d like us to have the potential to make you one of the mega selling authors in your field. To do this we need books that reward the reader as much as the best selling authors do. We also need books that are reader friendly.

JMS: Reader friendly?

VM: Yes, absolutely. Just as you get points for rewarding the reader, you also lose points when you are not being reader friendly.

JMS: Why would an author do that?

VM: I am sure that they do not know that they are doing that. But we will get into this in more depth the next time. Right now I’d like to cover a few marketing terms that it is important for you to know.

JMS: Marketing terms?

VM: Yes, when we talk about marketing in the future, I want us to be using the terms in the same way or else there will be a lot of miscommunication.

JMS: What are the terms?

VM: First is ‘marketing’. Marketing is everything you do that involves your product. That’s yourself as an author and your books.

JMS: Everything I do?

VM: Yes, marketing covers everything: advertising, publicity, public relations, personal marketing, and people media.

JMS: So marketing covers everything.

VM: Everything. Now, advertising is paid and placed commercial speech. With advertising you are paying to run an ad with your message in a given medium. On the other hand, publicity is what the media says about you. You can try in influence publicity but often you cannot. You don’t pay for publicity.

JMS: Can’t you pay for publicity. You know, pay money and the medium runs a favorable story about you or your book?

VM: You can do it but it is as dishonest as hell. We used to call newspapers ‘whores’ that would run favorable news stories about you based on how many column inches of advertising you bought. I will not have anything to do with paid publicity which is designed to deceive the public. So then, publicity is what the media says about you.

JMS: What about PR isn’t that the same as publicity?

VM: Not at all. Public Relations has to do with how you or your company interacts with the public. For the most part you control this. Often it deals with product return policies and price guarantees and making in-kind donations to charitable events, how your employees behave, things like that.

JMS: What about personal marketing? Is that like holding book signings?

VM: Yes. Personal marketing is how you as a person interact with other people. Book signings are a form of personal marketing. They are also part of marketing. What you wear to a book signing is also part of marketing. How you handle the book signing is also part of marketing. Often the best thing you get out of a book signing is the publicity in announcing it. Your book signing itself might reach ten people while your publicity could reach 250,000. You’re going to find out that you’ll be doing a lot of personal marketing in order to generate publicity.

JMS: Is having a blog and being a guest on blogs part of personal marketing?

VM: Yes and no. ‘Yes’ if you actually manage your blog and ‘no’ if you are not personally involved in the running of the blog. That is, if it is just a picture, bio, and catalog of your books.

JMS: What’s ‘people media’?

VM: It is well known that ‘word of mouth’ is a very powerful form of marketing. Advertising people have tried to co-op this area by saying they can actually do things to create favorable ‘word of mouth’ advertising. By doing this they can earn more money. It’s not all smoke and mirrors because advertising agencies, at least the good ones, measure results. They test, test and test to see what works best. So instead of ‘word of mouth’ being something an advertiser has heard about and hopes to get at some point, it is something that can be manufactured by advertising.

JMS: I don’t see how they can do that.

VM: It’s not easy. It would involve tie-ins to other products for which there in a natural affinity. I also think this is dishonest to an extent. For example, you have a lady who sells you cosmetics and she is paid to mention how she tried a new product and how good it was. This looks like a sincere recommendation and it could be but it is still a disguised advertisement.

JMS: I don’t like the sound of that.

VM: I don’t either and I don’t think it has been very successful because it is very hard to get your sales people to do it. However, the term ‘people media’ has taken a foothold and when I talk about it, I’ll be taking about our efforts to generate favorable word of mouth.

JMS: What about giving away bookmarks and pens and other things with your name on them?

VM: That’s called specialty advertising. It is a very big market in the U.S. With an author it is going to be part of her personal marketing. But we can get into all this next time. I just want us to be clear on what we are talking about.

JMS: So what is my homework assignment?

VM: First read my workbook on Rewarding the Reader. I need you to understand the concept and be able to count the rewards in a piece of writing. The workbook is divided into six chapters which represent one hour of lecture. Try to do the exercises at the end of each chapter.

I’m going to give you three books. One each by: Louis L’Amour, Janet Evanovich, and Nora Roberts. I want you to read the first 50 pages in each book underlining each place the author has rewarded a reader. When you are done, add up the rewards and divide by the number of pages. Write down each author’s reward per page score. I’ve already done this so we can compare scores. Then I want you to do the same for your book. Do the other books first, however, so you can get some practice.

JMS: What if I don’t do it right?

VM: It’s not science yet. A machine could not do this. At this point it is an art. I don’t get the same exact rewards per page when I count the same writing over again at a later date. Since I cannot get reproducible results, it’s not science. But that’s not important because the system works. The best selling authors that I have scored have very high scores. I want you to also have high scores. The best way to get good word of mouth is to have readers who really enjoyed reading your book.

Remember this: You are not selling a book. You are selling a ‘reading experience’. Best selling authors produce the best ‘reading experiences’ and not necessarily the books of greatest literary merit. All this is explained in the workbook.

JMS: Will this change my writing style?

VM: It will make your writing better, more reader friendly, and keep the pages turning --but it shouldn’t change you style or voice.

JMS: What are you going to do?

VM: I’m going to read your book and see how often you reward your readers and how reader friendly the book is. Next time, I will critique it in a basically different way than you’ve probably seen before.

Everything all the romance writing books teach you is fine. You don’t have to unlearn anything. I’m interested in improving your reward score and that is something I don’t believe anyone else is doing, at least, not in a direct fashion.

JMS: OK, until next time. We both have work to do.

VM: Just to be clear then. We will meet often over the next year. Each session will be spent on specific ways to market you and your books.

JMS: Will we be able to talk about anything personal? You know, to give it more human interest?

VM: A little bit, maybe. Like what’s the name of your horse?

JMS: Archibald. But we call him Archie.

VM: Until next time, give Archie a hug for me.