Story arcs drive the popularity of TV series. Can it do the same for a book series?

In novels, a story arc usually refers to rhythm of a story from introduction, to big trouble, to resolution. Basically, the rise and fall of tension and emotion in a story. In most novels, this story arc is self-contained in a single book. Not so, for television.

How does a story arc work different for television? Dictionary.com defines it as "a continuing storyline in a television series that gradually unfolds over several episodes." I would add "or seasons." Think about the hunt for Red John in the Mentalist, or the quest for the throne in Game of Thrones, or the feud between Deputy Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder in Justified. In television, a good story arc threads it's way through multiple episodes that tell self-contained stories with a beginning, middle, and end. 

Despite the pervasiveness of the term, everything carried along from one episode to another is not a story arc. "Space: the final frontier" from Star Trek is setting, not story arc. The solution of the crime in Bosch takes an entire season, but this television program is more akin to what we used to call a mini-series. Same for the old television program 24. These are dramatizations of a novel or single story over many episodes. A true story arc involves an embedded, larger mystery in a series of smaller stories. Without closure to this grand mystery, the series is hard to put aside. It's also important that a story arc can be resolved. In fact, it is the promise of resolution that draws in the audience week after week. They want the answer to this puzzle. 

So, can the television style of a story arc help pull along readers of a book series? I'm not an expert, but J. K. Rowling is. Each Harry Potter included a self-contained story, along with the gradual reveal of the Lord Voldemort mystery. Handled deftly, a long running story arc can pull readers through the entire series. The problem is you can't string along readers forever. Readers feel they are owed resolution. The trick is to present this resolution in a manner that is not the death knell of the story.

Crossing the Animas resolves the series-long story arc of the Steve Dancy Tales. It's yet to be seen if I did it in a manner that allows me to reboot the series with a wholly new story arc.

I bet I did. Just wait. See where the story goes next.

The Evolution of a Big Diehl Book Cover

Book covers are a big deal. People really do judge a book by its cover. The Steve Dancy Tales always use black and white photos with only my name in color. For those who follow this blog, you already know my son designs my covers. (I joke that I'm getting his pricy art school tuition back one book cover at a time. In truth, his billing rate to real clients makes me embarrassed to ask him to do yet another cover.)

For Crossing the Animas we picked a great photo by William Diehl. Admittedly, this is a modern photograph, but the subject matter is vintage. Here is the original photo and resulting cover side by side. It may look simple, but there's craft in the cropping and lettering.

We didn't just select this photo on a whim. Here are some of the concepts covers we considered.

The construction of Denver & Rio Grande line between Durango & Silverton plays a key role in the story, and Diehl's iconic photograph fit the plot perfectly.

If you like trains, the Old West, or just great photography, visit the William Diehl website. Here are a couple more samples of his art.

The Hateful Eight— Tarantino mailed it in

I like westerns and I like Quentin Tarantino films, so I had high expectation when I rented The Hateful Eight. Bummer. It's not only a crummy movie … punishment is compounded by its interminable length. Long is usually good for Tarantino, but it’s a bad sign if you ever consciously wonder when this thing will be over. The movie desperately needed editing by someone unintimidated by the grand master.

The Hateful Eight came across as a parody of a Tarantino movie instead of the genuine article. His good films are characterized by stylish cinematography, clever and incongruous banter, startling and extreme violence, and artful revelation of plot through time displacement. The Hateful Eight included all of these elements, but without charisma. It felt flat and uninspired. Tarantino dispassionately applied his formula without the artistic essentials that make it work.  Too bad. He’s tried twice to hit one out of the park with a western. Django Unchained was a ground-rule double, and he may have barely beat out an infield grounder with The Hateful Eight.

I have watched Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bill films many time. I’ve also re-watched other Tarantino movies. I can’t imagine spinning up The Hateful Eight again.

Look and Listen

Whispersync is an Amazon feature that allows you to switch between an ebook version and an audiobook of the same title. It’s a pretty cool way to read at home and listen to books on commutes or jogs. (This link explains Whispersync.) Not all books sold on Audible.com are set up for this synchronization feature, however. For my own audiobooks, only The Shopkeeper is Whispersync ready. Bummer. But at least Amazon says they’ll eventually get to the other books in the Steve Dancy series.

How do you know which books in your Kindle library are set up for Whispersync? Amazon has made it easy. To reference your Kindle library against existing Audible Whispersync titles, you can just log into Amazon.com/matchmaker which automatically lists every Kindle book you ever bought that has a Whispersync companion. This list will also give you the discounted cost to add the audiobook to your library. This may not be very valuable for books you’ve already read, but when I showed the list to my wife, she immediately added several of these titles to her to-read list.

If you buy a print book, the Kindle version may be discounted—sometimes to 99 cents—and if you buy an eBook, the Whispersync audiobook is discounted. Consuming books visually and/or audibly has become a snap. If you don’t have lots of idle hours to read, try a combo approach. 

The Hateful Eight—I Can't Wait

I like Quentin Tarantino films, especially the Kill Bill duple. I wasn't over-enthusiastic for Django Unchained (I prefer my spaghetti Westerns al naturel), but from all appearances, Tarantino has caught it just right with The Hateful Eight. The movie looks like a solid western with an exceptional cast and all the Tarantino goodies.

Here's the plug for the film:

In post-Civil War Wyoming, bounty hunters try to find shelter during a blizzard but get involved in a plot of betrayal and deception. Will they survive?

Sounds like Hitchcock's Lifeboat in a frozen cabin.  Or perhaps, Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None with six guns (Originally Ten Little Indians in novel form). Knowing Tarantino, it's all the above and more. Much more.

Whatever the story line, the movie seems to be a true western set on the frontier after the Civil War. Nasty weather, bad guys, mysterious shenanigans, and unbridled violence. Sounds like a Tarantino buffet!

Boy, will I be disappointed if the movie doesn't live up to the trailer. 




You can read an interview with Quentin Tarantino here.

The Steve Dancy Tales Goes Audio

Honest westerns filled with dishonest characters.

My son reads magazines and listens to books. He doesn’t have a lot of time for recreational reading, so he listens while he runs, works out, or drives. He keeps telling me that I’m missing a big audience by not having audio versions of the entire Dancy series. Well, we rectified the situation and you can find the audio books here.

I love audio books, but they’re only as good as the narrator. For more than 35 years, Jim Tedder has read Voice of America (VOA) news and features. He has hosted a number of VOA morning programs and is responsible for the VOA Pronunciation Guide. Before joining VOA, Jim worked in broadcasting in several major markets in the United States. I sure Steve and the crew are in good hands.

The Steve Dancy Tales has sold well in print, e-book and large print, and I’m sure it will do well in the audio format.

A guy from the East ventures west. Where have I heard that story?

10 Tips for Holiday Book Giving

Books are a perfect gift ... and a great way to avoid the crowds. 

At times, friends and relatives can be hard to buy for. Some seem to have everything. Due to age or illness, others may be less mobile than in years past. Some don’t really want much. Families scatter across this huge country and selecting a gift, packaging, and shipping can be a chore.

A book, however, is always a great gift … especially if you take the time to match their taste in fiction or nonfiction special interest. Suddenly, your thoughtfulness becomes part of the gift. Whether your relatives or friends are interested in the Civil War, literature, romance novels, Westerns, paranormal fiction, railroads, guns, cooking, collecting old comic books, antique automobiles, or anything else, there's always a book that will bring a smile to their face. 

1. Shop or search online for a book specific to the interests of your relative or friend—Goodreads is a good source for ideas
2. Write a personal message on the flyleaf that won't get tossed out like last year's Christmas card
3. Give a bookseller gift card for e-book and audio book enthusiasts
4. Search out an author signing for your recipient’s favorite author or give a collector’s version of the recipient’s favorite book
5. If you need professional help or want something unique, shop at an independent book store, or specialty bookstore (like the Poison Pen in Scottsdale that specializes in mysteries)
6. Remember, if you subscribe to Amazon Prime then shipping is free, or mail books early to take advantage of media class at the Post Office.
7. Give a book as a piece of art, like a fine print book, unique coffee table book, favorite book as a child, or collectable cover art (I collect early 20th century Western pulp fiction books for the cover illustrations)
8. Make a highly personal photo book with ShutterFly or Apple iPhoto or Apple Aperture
9. If you’re giving a gift to a student—or me, for that matter—tuck a crisp $100 bill into the book as a bookmark
10. Finally, if your  friend or relative already owns piles of books, give a unique set of book ends to hold them in their proper place

One final tip that comes close to re-gifting—find an Amazon hardcopy and that includes a “Match Book” deal with the simultaneous purchase of the e-book format. Gift the printed version and get an e-book for yourself.

Books are the best entertainment value. They provide hour after hour of personal pleasure, and then they can be passed on to another person.

Children's books are also great gifts. We search for autographed storybooks for our grandkids. Bookstores always have children book signings around the holidays, and this is one area where we join the crowd. The icing on the cake is that we get to read them a story from one of these books when we visit.

Here are Amazon links to bestselling books in a few categories. There are many more categories a click away. Topic searches also work with Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers.

Golf

Carpentry

Children's books

Cook books

Crafts & Hobbies

Action Adventure

Romance

Westerns

Amazon Bestsellers

If you choose to gift one of my books, thank you.  I appreciate it.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays. And have a great 2015.

Jenny's Revenge at The Fictional Cafe

The Fictional Café has previewed the first chapter of Jenny’s Revenge, the fifth novel in the Steve Dancy series. 

If you enjoy fiction, bounce around the Fictional café. You’ll find author interviews, sample writings, book reviews, and pod casts. Membership is free.

Honest Westerns ... filled with dishonest characters

Why print books are different

Mike Shatzkin

Mike Shatzkin has posted a discerning article about how print books are different than digital books. It’s common to assume that books will proceed along the same path as the digitization of music and film. Shatzkin disagrees. He claims books are very different from their digital cousins and make a number of good observations.

• Readers routinely switch between print and digital
• Whether digital or analog, music and film require power and a device to be consumed. Books require neither.
• Compared to the digital variety, Shatzkin contends print books are easier to navigate, and that navigation is not a critical function for music or film which for the most part are consumed serially.
• Print presentation can be more aesthetic. Digital book devices inhibit interior design. For music and film, there is no difference “between the streamed and hard-goods version.”
• Motivation is different for book buyers. Music and film are consumed mostly for entertainment.  Books are frequently bought for educational purposes, making the ability to browse more important. This gives bookstores an advantage over online retailers.
• Digital music and film is superior to analog which drives digitization. This driver does not exist for books.

Shatzkin argues that there are innate differences between books, film, and music which will alter each media’s adaption to the digital world. One of the most significant being that ebook readers still buy and consume print. Music and film buffs seldom go back to the prior generation technology.

Although I tend to agree with Shatzkin, he did miss a few advantages of e-books. First, they’re lighter. I’m reading a big, heavy print book at the moment and I don’t take it to bed with me because my hands get tired holding it up. Currently, I fall asleep with Tom Wolfe on a kindle. A second advantage of e-readers is the ability to read them one-handed. My wife makes fun of me, but when one of my hands is busy shoveling breakfast into my mouth, I turn the page on my Kindle by bouncing it against my nose. Try that with a print book.

The Homesman ... A Good Western Film?

Will The Homesman be a successful Western. Too early to tell, but at least it's not a tricked-out mash-up. The film is based on a Glendon Swarthout novel. Swarthout also wrote The Shootist, as well as a number of other great Westerns. The film is due to be released in the United States later this year.

Too few cooks in the kitchen

As a Western writer, I keep an eye on Hollywood Westerns. Last night I saw A Million Ways to Die in the West. I wish I could say the movie exceeded my low expectations, but it was worse than anticipated. A couple laughs, but far too much mind-numbing nonsense in between. Seth MacFarlane sought his laughs by using modern-day allusions, genitalia references, and potty jokes, all punctuated with f- bombs aplenty. These devices have been used so much, they're now cheap groans. The problem with being edgy is that you constantly need to go further out. MacFarlane took gross-out over the edge, especially for diarrhea absurdities.

I suppose the movie is meant to be a parody of traditional Westerns, but the film uses so many anti-Western clichés that it ends up being a parody of itself. A Million Ways to Die in the West comes across as dull and repetitive.

Movie making is a collaborative art form. The tagline for this movie is "From the guy who brought you Ted." The singular noun is purposeful. Seth MacFarlane produced, wrote, directed, and starred in this farce. I believe a major theme of the movie was how everyone needs a helping hand on occasion. MacFarlane would be wise to seek help on his next film. When he works collaboratively, he's done some good stuff.

The big question was why this movie was ever made. In McFarlane's script, the character played by McFarlane constantly says that he hates the West. It sounded like serious damnation, not witty self- deprecation. Did McFarlane see the Western rearing its ugly head and feel compelled to knock it back down again. When Mel Brooks made Blazing Saddles, he was having fun with a tired genre. A Million Ways to Die in the West comes across as ridicule, not comedy.

Amazon Changing its Customer Rating System?

This seems like a good time to discuss Amazon’s ratings because The Shut Mouth Society has reached 100 Amazon customer reviews. Amazon appears to be in the middle of changing its rating system. (Ratings are the number of stars that customers give a product.) Or at least I presume it is in the middle of a change because the calculation for print/audio and Kindle ratings is different. At the top of the page for print/audio editions, there are now two numbers associated with the star ratings. The first number is the number of ratings without reviews and the second number is the count of reviews. The new rating appears to be a weighted average of these two numbers.

For example, The Shut Mouth Society has 100 reviews for 4.3 stars. The print/audio editions also display 162 ratings without reviews. There is a nifty roll-over chart which shows a combined 4.1 stars with a bar graft and sample review comments. (A roll-over chart is displayed automatically when you roll the cursor over the review count.)

100 Reviews for 4.3 Stars

Some authors seem upset with the new system because their ratings declined. Mine did as well, but I favor the new system. I believe a larger sample size adds credibility to the quality assessment. I suspect those most upset were gaming the old system and their bogus reviews were diluted under the new system.

My remaining question is what is the source of these additional ratings. Amazon acquired GoodReads over a year ago, but the numbers don’t correspond to their ratings. I suspect these new ratings come from Kindle readers, who can assigned a star rating upon completion of a book.

Whatever the case, as far as I’m concerned, the more, the merrier.

Update, 06/04/14:

Ratings seemed to have reverted back to their old selves, so ... never mind.

Book Titles that Grab Attention

Coming up with a good book title is difficult, at least for me. Ideally, you want the title that will grab a buyer’s attention in three or so words. The title is actually only half of a selling partnership. The cover and title work together to entice a purchase. People do judge a book by its cover and the cover entails an image with a few words. If either appears incongruent, buyers move on to the next offering.

My favorite is Tempest at Dawn. Since the book is a dramatization of the Constitutional Convention, I wanted the title to sound like a novel, not a nonfiction history book. The cover design put the title in context: a stormy sky over the Pennsylvania State House flying a thirteen star flag. For me, the title evokes a troubled nation at its founding, but some, who otherwise raved about the book, criticized the title as unrelated to the story. I still like it.

In my Western series, I wanted the sub-title prominent to remind readers there were more Steve Dancy Tales, so I chose simple titles that include: The Shopkeeper, Leadville, Murder at Thumb Butte, The Return, and Jenny's Revenge. I’m currently working on Crossing the Animas. 

The covers are black and white because I wanted a design that indicated that these were a different type of Western: different from books with loud and colorful cover illustrations showing action or looming violence. The series has been very successful, so hopefully this is partly due to the covers and titles because I intend to continue the pattern for the remaining books in the series.

My approach will not work for everyone, but viewing the cover design and title together as a selling unit will garner sales. For a confirming case study, read about my blunder with The Shut Mouth Society.

By the way, The Meta Picture has a fun article titled “These Books Actually Exist,” which lists 20 outrageous titles and covers. Wonder how some of these sold.

My sojourn in direct marketing

I semi-retired early and went into consulting to forestall boredom and to help make ends meet.* I ended up consulting for a Boston direct marketing travel company. I expected to consult with them for a few weeks, but ended up working for them for over a decade.

Direct marketers are a different breed of retailers. This travel company never advertised and you could not buy their trips through a travel agent, yet they were the largest tour operator in the country. All of their sales came through their call center. How did they get customers? Like Land’s End, L.L. Bean, Crazy Shirts, and other direct marketers, this company promoted its products primarily through paper and online catalogs … and then depended heavily on repeat business.

Direct marketing is a specialized segment of the retail business and it is far more data-driven than store-front retailing. Because everything is ordered directly, they know each customer and how they behave. They know what they buy, how often they buy, their price sensitivity, and their product satisfaction level. They are fixated on customer data because their business models are based on what they call lifetime value. Once a customer is acquired, they know statistically how much business that customer will generate in future years. Since they focus on lifetime value, direct marketers are obsessed with customer satisfaction. They are constantly measuring every aspect of their business, analyzing the data, and adjusting their practices.

What brought this to mind was a New Yorker article by George Packer: “Cheap Words: Amazon is good for customers. But is it good for books?” Amazon is arguably the best direct marketer in the world. The following alleged comments by Bezos may or may not have been made in 1995, but they fit perfectly with the direct marketing business model.

“Bezos said that Amazon intended to sell books as a way of gathering data on affluent, educated shoppers. The books would be priced close to cost, in order to increase sales volume. After collecting data on millions of customers, Amazon could figure out how to sell everything else dirt cheap on the Internet … Bezos had realized that the greatest value of an online company lay in the consumer data it collected. Two decades later, Amazon sells a bewildering array of products: lawnmowers, iPods, art work, toys, diapers, dildos, shoes, bike racks, gun safes, 3-D printers.”

I believe Amazon has been good for books. The Kindle—and other e-readers—have revitalized reading. Amazon has, however, been bad for bookstores. But whenever I start to feel bad for Borders, Barnes and Noble, et al., I just download a streaming copy of You’ve Got Mail from Amazon.

*  I’m interested in etymology of phrases.  “Where it (this phrase) comes from is hard to be sure about. It’s often said that it’s from bookkeeping, in which the total at the bottom (“end”) of the column of income must at least match that at the bottom of the expenditure column if one is not to be living beyond one’s income”—worldwidewords.org

Go On A Blind Date... With A Book

Here's something you can't do on Amazon... go on a blind date. Chris Jager at lifehacker reports that a Sydney independent bookstore, Elizabeth's Bookshops, is wrapping novels in brown paper and selling them as blind dates with a book. These books are hand selected, staff favorites, so the promise is that each will be a good read. That's not always true with a blind date, so take a book out to your favorite café instead

Jennifer Hillman Interview

On Tuesday I took a break from being a tourist and grandparent in New York City to do a BlogTalkRadio interview with Jennifer Hillman.

Are Box Sets a Good Idea for Series Authors?

The Steve Dancy Box Set

Many series authors issue box sets, including me. A box set includes multiple e-books presented as a collection. I was asked about the profitability of box sets at the Tucson Festival of Books. Not having kept close track, I gave a weak answer. Now that I have my spreadsheets in front of me, I can say categorically that my wishy-washy answer was probably not wishy-washy enough.

The Steve Dancy Box Set includes the first three novels in the series for $9.99. If bought individually, The Shopkeeper, Leadville, and Murder at Thumb Butte would cost $12.97, so the collection is offered at a 23% discount. Since introduction, I've sold over 300 of these sets.

What does this mean? The royalties for these sales are welcome, but short of what I need for my dream house in the Hamptons. I’d be disappointed, but I didn’t issue a box set for the direct income. I wanted to draw new readers into the series. The Shopkeeper was published over six years ago, so anyone coming into the series this late would be a new reader, and hopefully they’ll become a fan who would buy the more recent books.

Will 300 make a big difference? Who knows? But, I don’t think of it as only 300. I believe word-of-mouth is the paramount sales tool for books. After reading three Steve Dancy novels in a row, these happy readers will likely tell their friends, family and neighbors about the books. Three hundred new sales people is well worth the minor effort of putting together a box set.

Building a Franchise

Platforms, branding, franchise, fans, discoverability. There are many words bandied about that all represent the same thing: how does an author build a base of loyal readers. Forbes recently published an article by David Vinjamuri  titled: The Strongest Brand In Publishing Is ... The premise of the article is that brand is more important than platform. He argues that if platform was key, celebrity books would all be successful. One of his interesting observations is that consumers are willing to pay a 66% premium for a book by a favorite author over an unknown author. This means favorite authors sell more books at a higher price. It does seem that brand loyalty is more important than a social media platform.

So, how do you build a literary brand? Although not called out specifically by Vinjamuri , it appears that characterization is the most crucial element. Granted, authors need to know how to write and tell a good story, but readers develop the greatest loyalty to a character. A good character draws readers back to an author faster than fame, storytelling, or exceptional writing skill.

The strongest brand in the most recent Codex survey is Jack Reacher, who is a character created by Lee Child. Reacher is completely different from the stereotypical thriller hero. Jack Reacher novels have sold over 70 million copies, making Child comfortable enough to buy a Boeing product. Vinjamuri writes, “Child carries a higher percentage of his readers with him to each successive book than any other bestselling author.”

If you’re interested in finding out how Child accomplished this, get it from the horse’s mouth. In Vinjamuri’s article, Child gives three perceptive reasons why Reacher has strong brand loyalty.

Now, if I can just get Steve Dancy an introduction to Jack Reacher, all will be right in the world.