What’s on Your Nightstand?

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By Lois Winston

I’m an extremely eclectic reader. There are a few genres I don’t read because they turn me off. My apologies to the vampire and werewolf fans out there, but I just don’t get the allure of falling for someone who wants to drain me of my blood or sup on my entire body.

I used to read a wide range of science fiction and fantasy, everything from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy to Arthur C. Clark’s Space Odyssey series to the Harry Potter books. At one point in my life, I devoured books by Leon Uris and James Mitchener, then Michael Crichton.

These days, though, besides reading books by other cozy authors, I find myself drawn to novels featuring historical people, women’s fiction, literary fiction, and books that cross genres. For my post today, I thought I’d tell you about some of my recent reads, all in different genres, and what I enjoyed about them.

The Unexpected Mrs. Polifax by Dorothy Gilman

I don’t know how I didn’t know about this series of books, but I’m so happy I stumbled upon them. Mrs. Polifax is a New Jersey widow who walks into the CIA one day and offers her services as a spy. Surprisingly, they take her up on it! And that’s the start of a very entertaining book featuring an extremely endearing character. The author wrote fourteen books in the Mrs. Polifax series before her death at the age of eighty-eight in 2012. I’ve already started the second one.

 

 

 

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

If a book doesn’t draw me in by the third chapter, I won’t waste any more time on it. There are too many books to read and not enough leisure hours in my day. Even so, there are books I finish but soon forget. Then there’s The Dutch House. I first picked this book up because it takes place in a town where I went to college and later lived for several decades. But I kept reading because the author is so adept at crafting both characters and plot.

 

 

 

11/22/63 by Stephen King

I bought this book several years ago but just got around to reading it this summer. At 880 pages, it’s quite intimidating and requires a huge commitment of time. Because I don’t care for horror stories, I’d never read anything by King other than his book on writing. However, I’m old enough to remember the day Kennedy was shot, and the concept about a man who goes back in time to prevent the assassination fascinated me. I flew through it, unable to put the book down until my eyelids grew heavy each night.

 

 

The Colony Club by Shelley Noble

Disclaimer: the author is a dear friend, and I was lucky enough to read this book prior to publication. Daisy Harriman, one of the main characters in the book, was a real person. When she requested a room for the night at the Waldorf Hotel, she was turned away because she wasn’t accompanied by her husband. Appalled by her treatment, she set out to change history, creating The Colony Club, the first woman’s club of its kind in not only New York but the world. The novel also incorporates other historical people of the Gilded Age, including Stanford White, who designed the building, and actress-turned-interior designer Elsie de Wolfe, who decorated the Colony Club’s rooms. The author is a meticulous historian who creates a richly accurate depiction of the times, especially in the treated of women, making the book extremely au courant for today’s readers.

What’s on your nightstand? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free download of any one of the first ten audiobooks in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series.

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

Bad Boy from Winona Kent

Guest Blogger: Winona Kent

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Winona KentWelcome to Winona Kent!

The Stiletto Gang welcomes Winona Kent as our guest blogger today as she celebrates the upcoming release of her musical mystery Bad Boy. Winona Kent is the current Chair of the Crime Writers of Canada, and is also an active member of Sisters in Crime-Canada West. She lives in New Westminster, BC with her husband, and a concerning number of disobedient houseplants, many of which were rescued from her apartment building’s compost bin after being abandoned by previous owners.

CLIMBING PRIMROSE HILL

Most of my Jason Davey stories take place in England. Jason himself is English, it’s where I was born, and it’s the country I’ve always been happiest writing about. So when I flew over to London in 2022, I knew there were a few locations I really had to visit—not just for old time’s sake, but for practical research for my next mystery, Bad Boy, which was then in its earliest planning stages.

Even if you don’t recognize Primrose Hill’s name, I guarantee you’ve seen it in countless films and tv episodes. Every time a character ends up in a place that offers a high-up panoramic east-to-west view of London’s church spires and skyscrapers, 95% guaranteed, they’re standing (or sitting) on Primrose Hill. (The other 5% are probably at Parliament Hill, which is a little bit further to the north, on the edge of Hampstead Heath.)

Not uncoincidentally, I spent the first three years of my life in a flat which is an eight-minute walk from Primrose Hill. My mum used to wheel me there often, in my pram and then in my push-chair. After we moved to Canada, I kept faint pictures of it in my mind (I’m apparently one of those exceptional people who can remember back to when they were aged two, and occasionally, even earlier.) And each time we returned to England to see relatives, there was that obligatory pilgrimage to reinforce those memories.

No Ashes Here

My mum died in 2021 (aged 95). The primary purpose of my visit in March 2022 was to scatter her ashes. I won’t tell you where in London my sister and I left a small part of her, because, while not technically illegal, it is very highly discouraged. I will add that we had a little ceremony that involved a blanket (to sit on, and also a handy cover); some gin (mum’s favourite tipple, good for encouraging absorption into the ground); lots of handfuls of tufted grass; and several startled earthworms.

There is a place in Bad Boy, near the end, where Jason has the opportunity to scatter the ashes of a dearly departed friend. I thought about sending him to the same spot where my sister and I nearly drowned the worms, but thought the better of it, and (spoiler alert) sent him to Level 72 at the top of The Shard, instead.

Kite Flyers, Bike Riders, and Macaws

It’s quite a steep hike up the paved path to the summit of Primrose Hill (64 metres, or 210 feet). On the day we visited, there were people flying kites, a few kids on bikes, and there were two guys exercising three brilliantly coloured red, blue and yellow macaws. I’d never seen macaws up close before—they’re immense!—and apparently these ones are quite famous—if you pop onto YouTube you can see videos which feature them. They’re entirely free-flying, but they don’t ever abandon their owners. They always come back. We asked how this could be, and were told that they knew who was going to be feeding them their dinner.

I thought, how absolutely marvellous. The top of Primrose Hill in London’s probably the last place in the world you’d expect to see huge tropical birds flying around free. And, since I was in the middle of researching Bad Boy, I wondered if I might include them—as well as the bike riders and the kite flyers—in the story.

Of course, I did. And in quite a spectacular way, too. In the novel, Jason finds himself at the summit of Primrose Hill, following clues which will, presumably, lead him to a collection of stolen manuscripts by the well-known British composer, Sir Edward Elgar. There’s a bit of subterfuge and some clever diversions (after all, there’s a nasty Russian who’s also after the collection, as well as a notorious Soho crime lord). And those macaws prove to be highly effective when chaos is called for.

Chalk Farm Murderer?

Oh, and I also managed to work in the block of flats—and, indeed, the individual apartment—where I spent my first three years, just up the road from Chalk Farm tube station. Different chapter and no macaws. Just a beautiful art-deco lobby in a posh building constructed in the 1930s, with a porter guarding the front door, and an inscrutable woman living upstairs who may or may not be a murderer. She’s highly connected to London’s musical past, anyway…a fact which isn’t lost on Jason, who is, himself, a professional guitarist with a permanent gig at a Soho jazz club—and an amateur sleuth, on a bespoke basis only, when his skills are called upon to solve just such a mystery.

Bad Boy from Winona KentNext from Winona Kent…

Bad Boy, Book 5 in The Jason Davey Mysteries, is released on September 26, 2024. You can read the first two chapters on my website: http://www.winonakent.com/badboy.html and you can find it on Amazon (ebook and paperback) here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001KDWQ9E

 

The Stiletto Gang wishes Winona Kent the best for her new release!

Remember to check out books from the Stiletto Gang as well on the Our Books page: https://www.thestilettogang.com/books/

 

 

A New Beginning that Feels Like Groundhog Day

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A New Beginning that Feels Like Groundhog Day by Debra H. Goldstein

I’ve started a new work in progress. I’m only nineteen pages into it, but I’ve rewritten those same nineteen pages at least five times. My initial goal was to write 1000 words a day while I was at the beach. For the most part, I think I was close to making that goal. The only problem was that each day, I tended to delete six hundred to seven hundred when I revised what I had written.

A friend, another author, said “Stop it! Simply write the first draft and then go back and fix it.” That sounded like a great idea, but my brain doesn’t work that way. I’ve often said that I only write when the muse strikes me. That’s true for me staying stuck in the chair, but not for the way my mind works on what I’m trying to write. Quite a bit of my writing process is subliminal. The ideas work their way through me until they come to a point where they can’t be contained. That’s the moment of the muse taking control.

But then, I need to revise the paragraph, chapter, or complete manuscript that was created. I’m back to the bogged down aspect of my writing. In the end, what I produce, I hope, is the best work product that I can achieve. But, who knows?

What process do you use?

Creativity is a process.

Creativity

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Is it Creativity or Goddess?

As someone who works in a creative field professionally, I’m endlessly interested in how creativity functions. Where does anyone get their inspiration?  Heck, where do I get my inspiration? The Greek idea of a muse—a goddess who comes by to inspire an artist—makes sense to me because sometimes ideas do feel external to myself.

Well, how did you come up with that?

Well, first I was doing the laundry while listening to Pandora (can’t get away from those Greek myths today, can I?) and the song used the phrase “bad for business” which reminded me of Risky Business, which made me think of Tom Cruise, and then I started to wonder why so many people were confused by the original Mission Impossible plot.  Thirty minutes later, I was jotting down an idea about what would happen if a demon burst through the floor of a non-profit fundraiser.  Basically, I came up with the idea by having a lived experience and feeding it all into the hopper of my brain and letting everything pinball around like one of those kid’s mower toys with the balls that go pop-pop-pop.

a representation of the brain of bethany maines and her creativitySo You Live With that Brain All the Time?

I do!  And I like it!  I worry about people who can’t connect completely random dots.  Don’t they get bored just going from A to B to C?  It’s so much better to go A to Q to C to R.  But that’s not to say that creativity is just something that happens.  There are ways to lure the muse into the house and trap her in a box.

To be clear, I’m referring to a computer where my muse has full reign to create whatever she wants. We are not shoving women in boxes over here. (I never saw Boxing Helena, but I have been troubled by it since I read the back of the box in a Blockbuster in the 90s.  Who greenlit that?!  Don’t Google it.  You’re happier not knowing.)

The trick is to gather both the correct input (Read books! Watch movies! Experience the creativity of others!), and make sure I have the space and time to create. But probably my number one trick is to look for a problem to solve.

What problem?

I love James Bond, but when I wrote my first novel, there weren’t a lot of female spies in the marketplace.  So I solved that problem.  I wrote Bulletproof Mascara about a girl who starts by selling make-up and ends up saving the world. Want to know what other problems I’ve solved? Check out my website to find out.

BethanyMaines.com

Or head over to the Stiletto Gang’s books page to see what the Gang’s creativity has produced: StilettoGang.com/books/

***

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She participates in many activities including swearing, karate, art, and yelling at the news. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter, or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay). You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Confessions of a dormant writer

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By Donnell Ann Bell

I have three problems when it comes to writing fiction. Simplicity bores me, I have a perfectionist problem, and I write above my pay grade.  Don’t get me wrong. I’m far from perfect. But I work hard to make sure my research is accurate. I also carry “What if?” and minutia to the extreme.

Combine this with life events over the last three years and writing has been a struggle. My Stiletto blog partner Debra Goldstein offered me sage advice when I expressed this problem. Familiar with my situation, she empathized and let me know my writing pause might take some time. Was she ever right!

I’m here to announce, “Times up.”

One of the things that brought me out of my funk was writing a short story. The excitement that comes with creating, plotting and follow through from beginning to end was in a word, “Thrilling.”

Somewhere buried inside me, yet dormant, was the writer I used to be.

And so I’m back to writing, which I consider progress. However, I’m still a perfectionist and still interested in topics I don’t fully understand. But to write something that doesn’t interest me would bore me silly.

Thought I would share some of the things I’ve been researching in case you’re interested.  In my work in progress, the month is October
2019.  My antagonist has escaped and he’s traveling on foot at night. Several issues crossed my mind while writing this scene, including: How will he get from Point A to his temporary objective of Point B when he faces all kinds of dangerous impediments?  Namely, he doesn’t know the area or the terrain, all he’s wearing are the clothes on his back, law enforcement is in pursuit, he’s being tracked by a fellow escapee, and it’s dark!

Which led me to research:

How to hike at night – crazy as that sounds, avid outdoorsmen (and women) do this. But they hike aided by night vision tools, GPS and compasses, walking sticks, appropriate clothing, and the ability to slow their pace, if necessary (which my antagonist mustn’t do at the risk of apprehension.) There are several videos and articles dedicated to night hiking.  I found this one particularly interesting and useful.  https://greatmindsthinkhike.com/hiking-at-night/

The phases of the moon. (Remember when I said I carry minutia to an extreme?) Here’s an example. It occurred to me that October is known for Hunter’s Moons and Harvest Moons, which I could use to my antagonist’s advantage. Then again, what fun would that be? I’m writing a suspense. Another complication occurred to me because the year is 2019. I can’t remember that far back; can you?

There are times I love the internet. There is a site called MoonGiant, which allowed me to narrow down the exact days of my WIP. It also pointed out that the days I referenced were in the Waxing Gibbous phase, which I will reluctantly leave out because my antagonist probably wouldn’t know that. 😊 Want to learn more about MoonGiant. Check out https://www.moongiant.com/

Thank you for allowing me to confess my writing sins–the others you don’t need to know. While I’m trying to break this useless perfectionist quality, I am setting goals and word count challenges.  How about you? Do you have any writing confessions you’d like to share?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clicking Our Heels – Where We Would Live if Money Was No Object

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If Money Was No Object – Where Would We Live?

Have you ever wondered what you would do if a fortune fell into your lap? Today, we share where in the world, if money was no object, each of us would live in the world?

Barbara J. Eikmeier – I’m pretty happy living right where I am in Kansas. However, I’d love living in a charming little craftsman style home with a big front porch. I have a floor plan I’ve kept for over 35 years and every time I come across it, I still think I could totally live in that house!

Saralyn Richard – Possibly New Zealand? But I already live in paradise.

Dru Ann Love – Paris, France.

T.K. Thorne – In a warm land with a small garden surrounded by trees on a mountain overlooking the ocean … with no mosquitoes. (Let me know if you find such a place.)

Lois Winston – Manhattan! That was the plan. It never happened. And now I’m living in Tennessee!

Gay Yellen – I’d have three houses: one on a lovely beach somewhere, one near Glacier National Park, and for the third, a cozy pied-à-terre in Paris.

Donnell Ann Bell – Oooh, I’m finding I really like warm weather. I’d probably stay where I am part of the time, and when the weather wasn’t cold, live in Colorado closer to my kids and grandbabies.

Debra H. Goldstein – The beach! I’d like an air-conditioned place big enough for guests that overlooks the water so that I could stare at the waves for hours without sweating.

Debra Sennefelder – Such an interesting question. I think I’d stay in the town where I am. I love it here. But I would love to have a summer house in Wyoming or Montana.

Anita Carter – I’d love to live in Australia! If for some reason if that couldn’t work out, I’d consider Portugal.

Mary Lee Ashford – If money were no object, I’d move nearer to the beach. I would need a lot of money though, as I’d have to move the whole family. Because though a lovely beachside home would be perfect. I couldn’t be that far away from my grandchildren.

Donalee Moulton – Nova Scotia will always be home. But a villa in Tuscany sounds wonderful. I would be okay with Portugal. Or Hawaii.

Bethany Maines – Hm… I really like where I’m at, but I guess I would like to try living in Greece for awhile.

Check Your Rearview Mirror

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I adore mysteries. As a reader, I carefully scour the page for clues and try to figure out “who done it.” Part of the fun is deciphering which are red herrings. If the ending has a surprising twist, I search out the breadcrumbs leading to the solution. If those tiny hints don’t lead me to an “A-hah” moment, I feel cheated. As a writer in this genre, I strive to balance a surprise conclusion without giving away the ending or misleading the reader. And sometimes that’s a hard thing to do.

Have you ever imagined an ingenious crime and know how the villain did it, but haven’t the foggiest idea of how to solve it? That’s where I recently found myself.

This Photo by Unknown Uthor is licensed unced CC_BY_SASo I decided to borrow an old screenwriter’s trick. In the mystery genre, the reader expects the stalwart detective to have discovered all clues and put them together by the end. So rather than driving my story engine from beginning to end, I threw it in reverse. I wrote the climax first.

Now that I knew how the mystery was solved, I could envision what must have happened immediately prior to that point and write that scene. I repeated this process. By retracing the steps that must have been taken, and only could have been taken to arrive at the ending, I dribbled out the clues in previous scenes. The middle of the story magically filled itself in.

But what is a mystery without red herrings? Just like authentic clues, the false trails can be reverse engineered and sprinkled throughout. The same goes for the B and C plots.

This technique may not work for all writers, but I found it a handy tool. First check your rearview mirrors before shifting into high gear.

Killing It at Killer Nashville

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At the Killer Nashville book signing

By Lois Winston

Most writers are introverts. We spend much of our days alone with only our laptops or computers (or paper and pen for those who are still old-school) and rarely step foot into the real world. We’d rather spend our time in the world of our imagination with the characters we’ve created. However, every now and then, we venture out onto Earth One and mingle with actual humans.

One of the best places to do this is at a writers’ conference. Hanging with our peeps is our happy place in the real world because they’re the only people who truly “get” us. Because they’re just like us. Writers’ conferences are a chance to spend time with others of our special community. We renew friendships, make new friends, network, learn from some, and teach others. Conferences also occasionally give us a pat on the back, validating that this odd life we’ve chosen, with all its solitary hours of clicking away at the keyboard, is worthwhile.

Such was the case this past weekend when I attended Killer Nashville. Once upon a time, I attended three or four writers’ conferences a year. Then, life changed. I made the decision to “go indie” and no longer had a publisher willing to pick up some or all the expense of attending conferences. Between the conference fee, airfare, hotel, and meals, conferences are not cheap. I cut back drastically, only attending local conferences.

And then Covid hit.

As some of you know, in the middle of the pandemic, my husband and I made the difficult decision to pack up and move to Tennessee to be closer to family. Within days of settling into our new home in July of 2021, I discovered that after a two-year hiatus, the annual Killer Nashville writing conference was about to take place less than two miles from where I now live. Serendipity!

With few exceptions, most writers are introverts. Hence, those writer caves. But I missed my writing peeps in New Jersey. Killer Nashville gave me a chance to connect face-to-face with many other writers I only knew from online writing communities. I also made some new friends and have continued to do so each year I’ve attended since 2021.

The 2024 Killer Nashville conference was this past weekend, and it was a blast, even for this confirmed introvert. On Friday, I was on a panel discussing Writing Compelling Synopsis, Back Cover Copy, and Design. Saturday, I was on two panels, One Trait at a Time: How to Build a Character and Not Just One Book: Writing a Series. I was also one of ten authors who allowed attendees to pick our brains for four minutes each during Speed Date your Way to Author Marketing Success. On Sunday, I was on the Creating an Irresistible Hook for Your Book panel and the Writing Strong Protagonists panel.

Vertically challenged Lois and Gay during an after-dinner stop for ice cream

And then there was Saturday night. Author Gay Yellen and I, along with our husbands, went out to dinner, something we’d also done last year. Upon returning to the hotel, our husbands headed for the bar while Gay and I ducked into the awards ceremony. Not ten seconds later, Clay Stafford, MC for the evening and Killer Nashville head honcho, announced the winner of the 2024 Silver Falchion Award for Best Comedy. Much to my surprise, he called my name!

I never expected to win. With few exceptions, throughout my writing career, I’ve always been the bridesmaid, rarely the bride. I hadn’t prepared any remarks because the one time I had attended the ceremony back in 2021, no one made any remarks. Winners were handed their awards, shook Clay’s hand, and a photographer snapped a picture. Maybe it was because we were all still coming out of Covid.

This time, I was expected to say something. My mind still reeling over actually winning, I stepped up to the mic and thanked whoever it was who’d determined that A Crafty Collage of Crime, the twelfth book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, deserved the award this year. As I walked away, I heard Clay tell the audience that I was a woman of few words and there were probably plenty of people who wished that he was! (a person of few words, that is, not a woman!)

With my Best Comedy medal the next morning

Well, at least I didn’t bore anyone in the audience by droning on and on by thanking everyone, going all the way back to my kindergarten teacher!

Writers, what’s your favorite aspect of conferences? Readers, have you ever attended a readers’ convention or other book event? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free audiobook of any one of the first ten Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery.

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website where can also sign up for her newsletter and find links to her other social media: www.loiswinston.com

Discovering the donair

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Food seems to weave its way into my writing uninvited.

In my latest book, Conflagration!, food is the foundation for a friendship that springs up in 1734 between the main character Philippe Archambeau, a court clerk, and the jailer he befriends. Lunch becomes a means to extract information, then it becomes much more.

image of a donair

In my first book Hung Out to Die the main character, an American transplanted to Nova Scotia, discovers the delicious joy of the donair. Many people have never heard of this juicy, meat-filled, garlicky concoction, but it is the official food of Halifax. Popular history says the donair – spicy meat wrapped in a pita and embraced with lots of sweet sauce – was invented in Halifax in the 1970s where it rapidly became a must-have menu item for late-night partiers, snackers, and food aficionados.

As my main character, Riel Brava, discovers, the donair can be a little difficult to eat. There is an art to juggling a stuffed pita while licking sauce off your face and adjusting foil wrap to get more donair in your mouth.

The recipe below avoids that dilemma. It’s an appetizer compliments of the Dairy Farmers of Canada. I have adapted the recipe slightly.

Let me know how it tastes.

Donair Dip

 Ingredients
  •  1lb (450g) lean ground beef
  • 1 tsp (5 ml) dried oregano
  • 1 block (250 g) cream cheese
  • 1 cup (250 ml) shredded old cheddar cheese (or cheese of your choice)
  • 2 tsp (10 ml) paprika
  • 2 tsp (10 ml) garlic powder
  • 2 tsp (10 ml) onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp (2,5 ml) salt
  • 1/2 tsp (2,5 ml) black pepper
  • 1 cup (250 ml) donair sauce (see below)
  • 1/2 diced tomato (optional)
  • 1/2 diced onion (optional)
Donair Sauce
  • 1 can (300 ml) sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/3 cup (80 ml) white vinegar
  • 1 tsp (5 ml) garlic powder
  • Add all ingredients in a bowl and combine.
Preparation
  1. Preheat oven to 350 °F (180 °C).
  2. Cook the ground beef and the spices together, mix well in a frying pan.
  3. Drain off excess grease.
  4. Mix the softened cream cheese, cheese and Donair sauce together.
  5. Place ground beef mixture on the bottom of 9”x9” cooking dish (or equivalent).
  6. Add the cheese and Donair sauce mixture on top of the ground beef mix.
  7. Bake for 20 minutes.
  8. Top with diced veggies after removing from oven (optional).
  9. Serve hot or cold with tortilla chips or baked pita slices.

Marketing for Authors

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Can an Author Really Do Marketing Too?

Example of a common marketing graphics.

For traditionally published authors the marketing happens without much input.  Whatever ads are placed are done by the publisher who can adjust the price point at their discretion. This can be frustrating or blissful for an author depending on their viewpoint.  I swing between the two. I love not doing the work, but I hate it when I don’t think enough marketing is being done.

However, for independent author things are a bit different. While can we run ads and control the price point (yay!) I must also keep track of ad vendors, types of ads, marketing copy, all the things that a traditional publisher pays another human being to do. It can be overwhelming and impossible if an author doesn’t have the skillset to do these tasks.

What’s New from Amazon Marketing?

So recently, when I got a message from Amazon saying they wouldn’t be showing several of my ads due to policy changes, I groaned. What did the ‘Zon want now?  Well, it turns out that they want custom graphics on series ads.  But–and here’s the challenge–there is no text allowed and the images can’t be too sexy or too violent.

The problem is that for most other marketing vehicles—social media, newsletters, BookBub—text is always paired with a graphic. So when looking at my collection of already created marketing images, finding one with no text is impossible.  So now we’re making compelling custom graphics that tell the story—without words—and oh, yeah, it has to also crop to a square.

What did I do?

I figured for a few hours of work I could create some images and see if the ads really did make an impact.

For my San Juan Islands Mystery series I tried to pull imagery to match my heading: Deceit, deception, death… and a dog. The series is about Tish Yearly, her grandfather Tobias Yearly, and his Chocolate Lab Coats solving mysteries in the San Juan Islands. So I tried to select images that support the premise.

Interested? Buy at any online book retailer: https://books2read.com/AnUnseenCurrent

For my Shark Santoyo Crime Series with the heading, “An anything but typical new adult thriller” I used imagery that had already been created for Facebook.  The series features an unusual mobster who is faced with finding the bosses money or ending up in cement. His solution is creative and relies on a mysterious teenager who is fast with her mouth and even faster with a knife.

Interested? Buy or read on Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/3NgCX2h

What were the results?

Surprisingly, I’ve seen a sharp uptick in people reading the Shark Santoyo series.  This delights me because I love the series. It was written during a phase that I wasn’t particularly interested in writing “to market” (crafting a book to meet specific genre expectations).  I wanted to write something gritty, action-packed, violent, AND funny.  All of those vibes combine to make something that’s a little hard to place genre-wise, so I love that people are enjoying it.

While I’m fortunate in that I do have the skillset to create graphics I’m not sure how Amazon expects most indie authors to fulfill these requirements.  Or perhaps, as per usual with the Zon, they don’t care—they have selected the course that’s best for them.  However, it does make me wonder what the future of indie publishing looks like.  As more indie writers become outclassed by the marketing environment, what will we need to do to adapt?

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Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter, or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay). You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.