25 Things about My Sleuth - Delanie Fitzgerald of Falcon Investigations

Secret Lives and Private Eyes is the first in my Delanie Fitzgerald mystery series. She is a private investigator who lives in Central Virginia. And I’m often asked about what my protagonist is really like. Here’s my top-twenty-five list about my spunky sleuth.

1. Delanie is a redhead like 1-2% of the human population (and me). She has determination, grit, and a spunky spirit.
2. She drives a Mustang, and she calls it “Black Beauty.”
3. My private investigator graduated from VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) with a degree in business.
4. She lives in a Sears catalog home from 1939. Back then, people ordered kits from the catalog, and all of the pieces arrived by rail, ready to assemble. Hers is the Yates model. Many of the boards in her bungalow still have the Sears catalog number stamped on them.
5. Delanie's bungalow has an upstairs. Her bedroom and living space are on the first floor. She may have a remodeling project in her future.
6. Her partner is computer guru (and hacker), Duncan Reynolds.
7. She shares her office space with Duncan and his English bulldog Margaret.
8. One of Delanie’s guilty pleasures is her junk food habit. She also orders a lot of take-out from the nearby restaurants.
9. When she’s not sleuthing or trailing a suspect, she likes to stay home in her comfy jammies and watch reality TV.
10. Growing up, Delanie had a major crush on ‘80s rock star, Johnny Velvet from The Vibes.
11. Her middle name is Lynn.
12. Delanie has two older brothers. Steve is a Chesterfield County police lieutenant, and Robbie is a bouncer at a club in downtown Richmond.
13. She used her share of the money from her father’s estate to open Falcon Investigations.
14. Delanie chose the name for her company in honor of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon.
15. Her client, Chaz Wellington Smith, owns a strip club in the downtown area near where Edgar Allan Poe worked in Richmond.
16. Delanie had never seen an alpaca up close until she encountered Myrtle on John Bailey’s farm in Amelia County.
17. Delanie’s best friend from school is hair stylist, Paisley Ford.
18. Though she prefers the comfort of jeans and T-shirts, Delanie has a wardrobe full of outfits and shoes to create just the right look when she’s sleuthing.
19. Her favorite drink is iced coffee, and her go-to treat is always chocolate.
20. Delanie and Duncan usually investigate cheating spouses. She is thrilled when she lands an assignment from tell-all author, Tish Taylor, to track down leads on rocker Johnny Velvet, who purportedly died in a fiery car crash in the ‘80s.
21. While the story is fiction, many of the locales that Delanie visits are real. Some of these include: Amelia County, Belle Island, Byrd Park, Church Hill, The Diamond (Home of the Richmond Flying Squirrels), Kanawha Canal, Library of Virginia, Main Street Station, Shockoe Slip, Tredegar Iron Works, and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Readers who have been to Central Virginia will recognize some of the street and place names.
22. Delanie got her first name from my niece's friend, and her last name is in honor of F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of my favorite writers.
23. Delanie's home and office are in Chesterfield County, Virginia. I liked the location because it's close to the city and rural parts of the state. It's also within driving distance to the beach, mountains, and Washington, D.C.
24. She loves a variety of music, but rock 'n' roll is her favorite. A great escape is to blast the radio with the windows down.
25. While she has enough culinary skills to survive, cooking is not her forte, and she often forgets to keep the pantry and fridge stocked.

Playlist: Songs about Writing

Music is a big part of my writing journey (and life). I always have some sort of music playing while I write, edit, or work. And the organizer in me always wants to make lists, so here's my big playlist of songs about books, writers, and writing.

1. "Dancing in the Dark" Bruce Springsteen
2. "Everyday I Write the Book" Elvis Costello
3. "Eyes Without a Face" Billy Idol
4. "I Am A Rock" Simon and Garfunkel
5. "I Be Bound to Write You" Muddy Waters
6. "I Write the Songs" Barry Manilow
7. "Lady Writer" Dire Straits
8. "Losing It" Rush
9. "Mr. Writer" Stereophonics
10. "Open Book" Cake
11. "Oxford Comma" Vampire Weekend
12. "Paperback Writer" The Beatles
13. "Piano Man" Billy Joel
14. "Rewrite" Paul Simon
15. "The Book I Read" Talking Heads
16. "The Book I'm Not Reading" Patty Larkin
17. "The Book of Love" The Monotones
18. "The Book of My Life" Sting
19. "The Empty Page" Sonic Youth
20. "Unwritten" Natasha Bedingfield
21. "When I Write the Book" Nick Lowe
22. "Write Your Own Songs" Willie Nelson
23. "Writer's Block" Just Jack

Here are some about specific books and authors.

1. "1984" David Bowie
2. "Feed my Frankenstein" Alice Cooper
3. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" Elton John
4. "Hemingway's Whiskey" Kenny Chesney
5. "Hey, Jack Kerouac" 10,000 Maniacs
6. "Romeo and Juliet" Dire Straits
7. "Sylvia Plath" Ryan Adams
8. "The House on Pooh Corner" Kenny Loggins
9. "Walt Whitman's Niece" Billy Bragg and Wilco
10. "Tom Sawyer" Rush
11. "Virginia Woolf" Indigo Girls
12. "White Rabbit" Jefferson Airplane
13. "Wuthering Heights" Kate Bush

And don't forget about the band, American Authors.

7 Ways to Help Your Friendly Neighborhood Author

After my short stories and novel were published, I was a little surprised at how much marketing is involved in the writing journey. If you like a book, here are some quick ways you can help spread the news (and help out your friendly neighborhood writer).

1. Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or other book sites. It doesn't have to be a long, detailed literary analysis. It can be a couple of sentences. Book retailers use the number of reviews for ad placement, author ranking, and marketing.

2. Tell your friends about the book and the author. Word of mouth is the best endorsement.

3. Share the link to the book or a book review on your social media sites.

4. Request that your local library purchase the book.

5. If you're in a book club, nominate it as a future read. Many authors will visit or Skype with book groups.

6. If you blog, post about your favorite books and authors.

7. Buy the book for yourself or for a friend. Books make great gifts. My author friend supports other authors by buying the book and then doing a give-away on her site. I love this idea.

Authors are small business owners, and they always appreciate recommendations, referrals, and social media shout outs. Happy reading!

Which Author Events Should You Do? How Do You Decide?

I love meeting readers and writers at book and writing events, and I'm fortunate to have quite a few near me. But as a writer, how do you decide which ones to participate in -- especially when your primary job is to write your next work? Traveling and marketing are an investment of your time and money.

1. ROI (Return on Investment) should be a consideration. Selling books is important. But I've done events at indie book stores where we didn't have a great turnout, but the store ended up selling a case of books during the week when there was more foot traffic. I've also made some invaluable contacts at events. Sometimes, building relationships is worth more than selling tons of books. If there is a cost for a table or an event, you need to consider whether or not it is worth the effort and value. If you've never attended the event, ask around to see what other authors have experienced.

2. I try a lot of events (at least once). We've done several over the years where the readers weren't my target audience (mystery). I attended and had fun, but I probably won't go back.

3. I believe in helping other authors, so I do a lot of writing workshops. Again, you may not sell hundreds of books, but you do make contacts, build email lists, and pick up fans and followers.  

4. I am also fortunate to be a part of several writing groups, and we plan events and signings together. There is nothing worse than sitting alone at an author's table. When we band together, our social media and fan reach grows exponentially. Plus, we often carpool, and that saves some money.

5. We've done some signings at some unconventional places for mystery authors (e.g. a Hallmark/gift store, a gas/restaurant/gift store complex on the way to North Carolina's Outer Banks, a winery, several museums, and several farmers markets). You would be surprised. We've sold more books at places like this than traditional book stores. Be creative when you book signings.

6. Be prepared -- no matter what the event. Make sure you have business cards, bookmarks, or postcards. Sometimes, folks don't buy a book at the event, but if you have something to give them, you may make a sale or referral later. I even take bookmarks on vacation. We stop at a lot of little gift shops that sell books.

7. I appreciate the events that do a lot of publicity, and I always make sure to share, tweet, and post. I want to be a part of groups that are organized and interested in building their audience. (I've attended several events, where there was little to no publicity. Surprise, surprise, the attendance wasn't that great either.) 

Best wishes for the marketing of your book. It's a lot of work. I logged over 2,000 miles this year for book events.

Growing up as a "C.K." and How It Inspired My Love of Mysteries

I'm a "C.K." (Cop's Kid). I had a great, but sometimes unusual childhood. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I think it played a huge influence in my love for all things mystery.

As a small child, I'd go with my dad to the shooting range. One of my first jobs was to collect shell casings in a metal peanut can when he was done firing. Those suckers were hot. You had to be careful.

He was the SWAT commander in the 1970s, and they needed practice bullets. I sacrificed a ton of crayons for practice ammunition. What other elementary school kid knew how to melt crayons and fill shell casings?

In first grade, my dad was the BEST for career day. He arrived in a police car, and then he had the police helicopter fly over and land in the field next to the school. He was way cooler than the insurance salesman. I still owe him for that one. He and the helicopter pilot were a hit!

One summer evening, my sister and I learned how to use a night scope. It was fun to watch the neighbor's dog illuminated all in green.

But NEVER watch police shows with law enforcement professionals. There were very few police dramas that my dad liked because most were too "Hollywood" and not real. I loved "CHiPs," and I never heard the end of it about Ponch and Jon not even riding their own motorcycles. (I didn't care that they were towed behind a truck.) But this stuck with me, and as a mystery writer, I do a lot of research to make my stories as accurate and plausible as possible. And my dad, now a retired police captain, is my best resource on police procedures and crime scenes. (The only police shows that he liked were "Hill Street Blues," "NYPD Blue," and "Barney Miller.")

As a C.K., I learned respect for guns and law enforcement. I am still a fan. Our police, fire, and first responders are heroes. They risk everything every day. I too vividly remember when my dad was called out for emergencies, and I wondered whether or not he'd come home that evening. These men and women (and their families) give up a lot in service for us. He worked just about every holiday, and we was right in the middle of every emergency or crisis.

While it wasn't a "normal" childhood, we had some interesting dinner conversations, and it was a wonderful time that I wouldn't trade for anything. Happy Father's Day, Dad!

It's Almost Book Launch Day!

How to Market When It's Not in Your Nature

When I dreamed of being an author, I envisioned working at my computer and writing brilliant books. I never realized how much marketing and promotion was involved. These days, writers are expected to promote their books. It's in my contract.

Writing is a business, and marketing is a key part of that. The hard part is that it's often trial and error to see what works for you. I schedule my marketing campaigns, and then I track the analytics (e.g. sales numbers, blog hits, ad metrics, and costs) to see if there were positive results. Use your analytics on your website, blog, Facebook, and Twitter. There's a lot of good information there.  I created a spreadsheet to track this information. I'll have details when I get ready to run the next campaign. Make sure all your hard work is paying off.

It feels weird to post about myself all the time. There are people who are uncomfortable with it. Try to balance your posts. The 80/20 rule is a good guideline. Twenty percent of your posts should be "buy my book." The others should be about other interesting things. Post recipes, pet pictures, hobbies, or other interesting things you do. And make sure you share others' content.

There needs to be a balance. Look at your newsfeed and see what your last twenty posts look like. When I'm cruising my Facebook newsfeed, I tend to hide or ignore the noise. I pay attention to sales (but not the ones that run every week). We have a furniture store here in Virginia that has a SALE!!!!! every week. The joke at my house is, "Oh, look. They're having another sale." I pay attention to contests too, but the "Hey, I got another 5 Star review" posts get mixed up in the noise of the newsfeed.

There are a lot of Facebook groups and sites to post your book information. Be careful if you do your posting all at the same time. People will see a string of the same post to different sites. Spread out or schedule your posts. I would also mix the content up too because a lot of readers visit the same sites too.

It also helps if you can find a group of writers to assist you. I'm in several groups for writers and bloggers, and we comment, post, and share each others' information. This helps get the word out without you having to do all the "Hey, look at me" posts.

It is definitely a challenge to get the word out and to keep your book in front of people.  And sometimes, what works once, doesn't work a second time. Best wishes with your promotions. Drop me a note and let me know what works for you.

Should You Join a Blog or Other Online Support Group?

Over the years, I've been part of several online blog support groups. I think the advantages outweigh the negatives, and I've connected with a lot of interesting writers. But, before you join, you need to decide if it is worth the investment of your time and energy.

Promotion - A support network is a great way to promote your blog and writing projects. But you do need to make the time commitment to read and support the other members. It does take time, depending on the size and frequency of the events in your group.

I'm in one group with over 7,000 members. If you comment or post, expect a lot of email. It's a great way to find other writers and see what they're doing with their social media sites. But your inbox will be flooded when everyone comments or posts.

Social Media - This is a great way to increase your social media followers. I like the ones that make following others optional. You tend to get more true followers who stick around. It's disappointing when you get a boost and then a spike in unfollows quickly behind it. That happened to me once, and I learned my lesson.

Feedback and Support - I like to support other authors on their writing journeys, so I enjoy seeing what other bloggers are up to. I also appreciate the hints and suggestions that they make about marketing, social media, and blog content.

How Do You Find a Group? - Search Twitter or Facebook for "Blog Groups." There are a lot of them out there with different rules for membership and engagement. Visit a while before you join to make sure that your work fits. My goal was to increase traffic to my blog, so I chose several that were not book- or author-centric.

If you're willing to commit the time to spend on social media and your blog, then these groups are a good (free) way to promote yourself. If blogging isn't your cup of tea, there are also plenty of Facebook and Twitter groups to promote your books.

Best wishes with your writing projects!