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!

My Six Favorite Tools for Book Marketing

I've found some interesting tools and websites to help authors with their social media and book marketing. Here are six of my favorites...

Social Media

Sometimes, my Twitter follows/unfollows gets out of hand. I have a paid subscription to Tweepi to help me clean up. I used to use the free version, but they altered their "unfollow" feature. I upgraded to the paid version, and it helps me keep all of my accounts in order.

I use the free version of Crowdfire to manage my Instagram follows/unfollows. It also manages Twitter. I may try that and consolidate my tools to one.

I use Rank Forest to see my daily Amazon ranking. The free version allows me to track one book. It's good to see where you are over time, but I try not to obsess over numbers. Don't make yourself crazy.

Website/Blog

I use Squarespace for my website and for another that I created for a group of authors. It is easy to use, and it provides detailed analytics. Previously, I used GoDaddy, but they dropped their blog option.

Marketing

I use VistaPrint for my business cards. They offer frequent discounts, and the quality is good.

I've had a lot of success from Next Day Flyers for my bookmarks. I've also used them for invitations for book launches.

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.

My Mustang Playlist...

I am a beach girl at heart, and Memorial Day weekend is the official kickoff to summer. My sleuth, Delanie Fitzgerald also drives a Ford Mustang. So put the top down, grab your flip flops, and turn up the tunes. Here's my Mustang playlist.

1. Bad English – “Rocking Horse”
2. Blues Traveler – “Last Night I Dreamed”
3. Chuck Berry – “My Ford Mustang”
4. David Bowie – “Young Americans”
5. Dick Dale and the Del-Tones – “Wild, Wild Mustang”
6. Eminem – “Echo”
7. Five for Fighting – “’65 Mustang”
8. Jack Ingram – “Mustang Burn”
9. Jan and Dean – “Move out Little Mustang”
10. Jason Aldean – “Tattoos on This Town”
11. Keith Urban – “Sweet Thing”
12. Leah Turner – “Take the Keys”
13. Martha and the Vandellas  - “Nowhere to Run”
14. Megan Nichole – “Summer Forever”
15. Power Supply – “My 5.0”
16. Rip Chords – “Hey, Little Cobra”
17. The Chesterfield Kings – “Shelby GT 356”
18. The Zip Codes – “Run, Little Mustang”
19. Toby Keith – "Whisky Girl"
20. Vanilla Ice – “Rollin’ in my 5.0”
21. White Zombie – “Black Sunshine”
22. Wilson Pickett – “Mustang Sally”

How to Avoid Too Much Backstory...

Backstory is the history or what happened to your characters in the past. When I listen to my critique group's discussion on all the manuscripts, they comment frequently that writers often include too much of the past in their mysteries. It's hard if you write a series. Not all of your readers will start with the first book and read in the order that they were published. You have to have some linkage to the previous works. And if key parts of the story affect your characters' lives, then you need to mention it.

The key is to sprinkle in the backstory. It should be a line or two - not paragraphs. When you do the latter, it causes the reader to move away from the story's momentum. If the plot jumps back in time for an extended period, it breaks the action and the forward progress. You will lose people if there is too much historical detail.

I like to know all about my characters, and sometimes, I include too much in my drafts. To help me avoid this, I created a document. It's nothing fancy. It's a table in Microsoft Word with a column for each book. I list each character and where they appear. At the character's first appearance, I include a short biography where I list everything that I can possibly think of (e.g. favorite colors, middle names, colleges, etc.). Most of this stuff never makes it to the book, but I have it in case I need to add it for some reason. I found that by writing these mini-bios, it cures me of wanting to overly describe each character. It also helps me keep the details like color of someone's car, eye color, and wardrobe preferences straight. I also have entries in my table for the key settings in the stories. I've described furniture in my sleuth's home and office, and I want to make sure that they are consistent from book to book.

History and details are good when used sparingly. Sprinkle them in, and it will help round out your characters. Happy writing!

Professionalism Goes A Long Way...

I thought when I became an author that I would sit at my desk and write one brilliant book after another. I had no idea how much marketing and publicity were involved. Then there are royalties, contracts, tax implications, and sales tax that make your head spin. I quickly learned that as much as I loved books and writing, this was a business, and I needed to treat it as such.

1. Know when to consult lawyers, CPAs, and tax professionals. Make sure you know about your tax bracket, deductions, business licenses, and sales tax rules.

2. Get a professional headshot. It's an investment, but it shows that you are serious about your writing.

3. Get an author website. Make sure that it has your biography, photo, link to your books, and a way to contact you.

4. Be prompt when responding to emails and phone calls. Publishers, publicists, agents, and book store owners expect to be dealing with professionals.

5. Always meet your deadlines and commitments. This goes for volunteer work too.

6. Thank people who help you, provide good reviews, and share your social media.

7. When you contact booksellers, reporters, agents, publishers, etc., be prepared. Make sure you have a polished biography, synopsis, and links to your social media sites.

8. If you're going to create a blog, website, or social media sites, make sure that you post regularly. If the content isn't fresh, visitors won't come back, or they'll drop you.

9. Proofread your stuff. Make sure that your sites, emails, and marketing materials are organized, easy to read, and current. You really only do get one shot at making a first impression.

Best wishes with your writing. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it.

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!