Over the course of this three-week jaunt down blogosphere row, I’ve received a number of emails, comments, and panicked pleas from authors I know and a couple I don’t. It’s all the same to me. If people need help, I like to help, because despite the sarcastic front, I’m actually a nice person. Well, as long as you don’t talk about the Baltimore Ravens or censorship in public libraries in Wisconsin, I’m a nice person. So this week, for my final entry, I’ve turned it over to you, the reader. You have asked; now, you shall receive.

Question from Sylvan Dell Publishing author Scotti Cohn: “I'm supposed to post ‘useful information’ to draw people to my blog. As a writer, all I can think of is ‘writing tips.’ However, there are at least 85 million blogs already out there that provide the same tips over and over again. I don't have anything new to share about how to write, when to write, why to write, etc. It's all been said over and over and over and over...How can I come up with something about writing that will stand out from the crowd and actually be worth writing and reading?”

Answer: First off, you’re a writer. You always have something original to say, because it’s your job. No, it’s who you are. You ARE original, and you can’t help it. So I know you have something to say. That being said, I understand your question. The whole “writing tips” thing is totally overdone. That’s why you need to do two things: find a niche and be an expert. First, find your niche. In other words, find your target audience. Are you offering tips to academic journals or YA mags? Are you reaching out to students or professionals? Are you talking to published authors or people trying to get published? The more targeted your audience, the easier it will be to get your tips some attention. The more targeted your audience, the easier it will be for you to become an expert. Develop Scotti Cohn’s “Tips for Literacy.” Develop a literacy program. Develop an in-class routine that you can offer to teachers. Develop SOMETHING that defines you as SOMEONE—someone people should listen to and take advice from. Then, your “writing tips” won’t just be tips. They will be in-depth advice from an expert in her niche field.

Question from Sylvan Dell Publishing author Donna Love: “Can anyone quote you from a blog? What if the quote is wrong, or they only use part of what you said? For instance, I know that you were being silly when you said, ‘I suffer from professional multiple personality disorder.’ What if someone left out the ‘professional?’ How can a blogger control what other people do with what they have written?”

Answer: Okay, Donna, I laughed when I read this, but only because I thought it would be great publicity if people actually thought I did have multiple personality disorder. What’s that they say? All press is good press? (Shrug.) It’s hard to control quotes taken from your blog, and honestly, you might not even be aware if someone takes a quote from your blog. From my perspective, there’s little harm done. If someone quotes me, so be it. At least they’re looking at my blog, and at least they think I’m important enough to quote. If someone warps your quote, take the direct approach and get in touch with him or her to clarify the situation. If someone is seriously guilty of libel, it can become a legal matter, but I doubt it’ll go that far in the blogosphere. Bloggers are good people, for the most part, and as I said, all press is good press, especially if it puts your blog under the media magnifying glass.

Question from author Victor Moubarak: “I understand and see how you can build traffic to a blog in your line of work, where you have opportunities to interview personalities or write reviews about restaurants, etc … But how do you build up traffic to a blog whose only object is to discuss one subject/issue, as well as promote/publicize a book? Traffic does build up slowly through word of mouth and entries in various directories, but short of spending vastly on advertising, how does one build traffic to such focused sites?”

Answer: Build your online reputation. Victor, I know you have a website and a blog, which is perfect. That way, people who visit your blog will also visit your website. It’s also good to follow other industry-related blogs (just like you’re doing with my blog, as well as ForeWord Publishing Insider). That way, you can comment/ask questions and post your URL at the same time. When people see your questions/comments, if said question/comment interests them, they’ll follow your URL back to your site. It’s about an online presence. (Think Field of Dreams. If you build it, they will come.) And OF COURSE always include your website URL in your email signature, on your letterhead, on your business card, on your forehead…you get the idea.

Question from author Joy Smith: “Uh, you're kidding about the banana spider catching the squirrel, aren't you?”

Answer: Yeah. (The spider actually caught a poodle.)

Blog on.

Clark Little takes photos inside waves. Seriously, have you seen this guy’s work? You’ve probably received an annoying chain letter style email about him before. Did you delete it? Your loss, because his photos look like rainbows, if only rainbows were made of bone-crunching ocean water. When I saw his work, I knew I wanted to interview him. I wanted to ask if he’s been injured on shoots (yes) and why he does what he does (he likes water). Lucky for me, I had a fully developed interview series already intact, so approaching him for an interview was easy as watching the Steelers win the Superbowl.

I’ve done tons of publicity interviews over the course of my career, and I love doing them. Not only do they give me an ego boost, but it feels good to spread some know-how to lost, bewildered authors who barely know the meaning of the word “promotion,” let alone “networking” or “TWITTER.” When I started my blog, I figured other people felt the same way about interviews. Seemingly, they do. I’ve approached authors and artists who have no idea who I am—who probably don’t CARE who I am—and yet, they’ve accepted my interview offers.

My blog interview series is “An H and Five Ws.” I ask a series of simple yet difficult questions, utilizing How, Who, What, Why, Where, and When?  I give my interview victim free reign on where to take his/her answers, and so far, I’ve been impressed with the response—not only from the interviewee, but from my readers. In other words, thanks to “An H and Five Ws,” my blog has often exploded with hits, and the hits keep on coming. Most notably, Clark Little. When people search “Clark Little,” they end up on my site. In turn, they learn about Clark, but they also learn about me. The hope is they’ll like what they learn, and they’ll keep coming back.

The art of interview is another form of plotting, but it’s plotting with permission. Not only does posting an interview make your life easier (YOU’RE not the one writing, postulating, being oh-so-clever), but it makes your interviewee feel special. It lifts up your fellow artiste, and said artiste will lift you up in turn. They often post links to your blog on their sites (thank you Nathan Durfee and Karin Olah); plus, they tell their fans about the interview they just did, and their fans then find your site.

AND let’s not forget search engines like Google! Like I said about Clark Little, people search for his work all the time. And when they search his work and/or name, they end up finding SARA DOBIE, and isn’t that what this is all about in the first place? Ways to make your blog stand out and grow in notoriety? It seems backwards—interviewing someone else to make yourself look better—but it isn’t. It works. My blog was at 2500 two weeks ago, and it’s over 2700 right now. I must be doing something right, and I think this interview series has been a big part of it.

A question for you! What did we learn today?
1)    Sara misses the Steelers.
2)    Start your own interview series on your blog immediately.
3)    Give your interview series a catchy name and start getting in touch with people who interest you NOW.
4)    Go see Clark Little’s other-worldly work:  http://saradobie.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/an-h-and-five-ws-with-ocean-photographer-clark-little/

Next week is the last week of my series! (TERRIFIED SCREAMS.) I have a list of questions building, thanks to my Sylvan Dell Publishing clients, and comments from some ForeWord followers. Keep the questions coming, and I will address those issues next week. Until then, blog on. Now, if you’ll excuse me. The banana spider outside my office just caught a squirrel, and the little voices are whispering “Tweet Tweet” in my ear.

So last week I left you with a teaser: “we’ll discuss what David Sedaris, Band of Horses, and Peter Shankman have in common.” I’m sure you’ve been posturing. However, the answer is not “They’re all totally cool.” Instead, the answer is, they’re all people I want looking at my blog. This, in turn, equates to plotting.

From the start, I knew I wanted Peter Shankman to know me. Public Relations folk know Peter. He’s the founder of HARO: Help a Reporter Out, a daily mailing of media queries that keeps PR nerds updated on places to pitch. Thanks to HARO, I’ve gotten interviews for my authors, and I’ve developed some clutch media connections I will never give up. So I wrote about HARO/Peter within the first couple weeks of starting my blog. Thanks to his adept PR skills (and probably a Google Alert), Peter found my blog and sent me an ego-boosting email, thanking me for the shout out. Success. Excellent.

The same goes for Band of Horses (one of my favorite bands) and David Sedaris (one of my favorite authors). I want to interview Band of Horses; I want to interview Sedaris. So I did a write up about Band of Horses, and their rep was nice enough to forward my blog link to the band. They’re planning to do an interview with me in celebration of their next album release. I did a write up about Sedaris’ new collection, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. I sent a link to his publicist. Not sure if anything will ever come of it, but thanks to my blog stat tracker, I know a bunch of SOMEBODY was looking at my short stories on my site. Was it Sedaris? That’s what I tell myself. Excellent.

Although I love the above-mentioned people, it’s not about affection. This boils down to plotting—plotting to get the attention/admiration of people I admire. Plotting to use that admiration to spread word of my blog and my writing. In your case, you need to be plotting to get attention for your book. This plotting equates to networking; networking equates to buzz. In other words, let’s say David Sedaris DID happen to enjoy my blog. Then, maybe he told his literary agent, “Hey, you should check out this chick’s blog.” Then, maybe his literary agent saw my blog and said, “Well, this girl needs a two-book, million dollar contract deal. Obviously.” Voila. Plotting; networking; buzz. Excellent.

This is what needs to happen on your blog. You need to get the attention of people in your industry who could maybe, someday help your career. So take some time and think about it. Who do you respect? Who do you admire? With whom would you want to enjoy a pleasant cocktail while discussing the relevance of social media in the publishing industry? Hmm? Whoever he/she may be, write about them. With any luck, he/she will find your blog, find you, and perhaps, return the admiration.

 So, to recap:

1)    I have a Snidely Whiplash complex.

2)    In the blogosphere and in life, when you admire someone, tell them.

3)    Go read about David Sedaris, Band of Horses, and Peter Shankman on my blog: http://saradobie.wordpress.com.

4)    Keep the questions/comments coming. I’ll tackle ‘em in Week 4.


Next week, we’ll discuss the art of interview and how ocean photographer Clark Little made my blog blow up. This morning, I can’t decide what scares me more: Facebook photo tagging or the banana spider outside my office window. Blog on. Excellent.

I wanted a blog as much as I wanted to join Facebook three years go. In other words, I didn’t want a blog. It seemed time-consuming and self-centered. I mean, who wants to read about ME? But then I started talking myself into it. (I’m a writer, okay? I have conversations with myself all the time.)

So one side of my brain started saying, “Sara Dobie, you’re a writer. You’re a publicist for a publishing house. Therefore, you should write about publicity, in turn getting publicity for your company.” The other side of my brain said, “But I don’t have time, Sara Dobie. It’s so much work. I would much rather spend my nights being a lump on a couch, as opposed to being creative and intelligent.” The first side of my brain won, though, with the help of a couple elbows in the ribs from coworkers and friends.

I started my blog in February of 2009, but I already have 2500 hits. This is not because I’m famous. It’s not because I spend my mornings click-click-clicking on my blog all by my lonesome. It’s because I know PR. I know how to spread word, and I want to tell you all about it. For the next four weeks, let’s chat. Let’s delve into the mysterious community of BLOGGERS and learn how to use those blogs for the benefit of you, your book, or your company.

Let’s start simple this week. Let’s talk technicalities. For instance, do you know my name? If you don’t, it’s not for lack of trying. I’ve already mentioned my name twice, so if you don’t know it by now, you’re suffering from short term memory loss. This name thing seems obvious. Is it, though? How often do writers make things confusing? For instance, how often do authors use some catchy name for their blog? They use blog names like “SmartWriterLady.com” or “StoriesInSanFran.” Yeah, yeah, you’re so clever, but you’re also hard to find in a Google search. A rule to live by: Name your blog after yourself. Use your name as the name of your blog. It’s so simple, and yet, it is often overlooked.

Another dangerous faux pas: How often do people forget to post contact info on their blogs? Cardinal sin! You’re not playing hard to get on your blog. Unlike life in the singles pool, blogging is about making yourself available. You have to be open to interview and commentary. Yes, people will leave comments on your blog (I hope), but some people don’t want their comments out there. Some of your readers want to get in touch with you personally. So LET THEM.

What have we learned today?

1)    I suffer from professional multiple personality disorder.

2)    Name your blog after your name.

3)    Make yourself available.

4)    Oh, my blog: http://saradobie.wordpress.com.

Next week, we’ll start plotting. In other words, we’ll discuss what David Sedaris, Band of Horses, and Peter Shankman have in common. Until then, blog on. And if you have any comments/questions you’d like me to address next week, just leave them here. I’ll get back with you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go hide from the people forcing me to try Twitter.

“Be careful what you wish for,” goes the old saying, “because you might just get it!”
I love being the author of a craft cozy, and I know that other writers envy me my secondary market of crafters. My scrapbooking friends are convinced I have a dream job. Their perception is that I have turned my hobby into gainful employment. “You get to scrapbook all the time,” they say.

They’re only half right. Mainly I get to write about scrapbooking. When I actually get down to the business of sticking photos on paper, it’s usually in response to an assignment. Point of fact, my most recent scrapbooking project was a page for a charity auction. This week, I’ll work up cool projects for the online scrapbooking magazine I send semi-regularly to subscribers. (You can sign up for the magazine at my website www.joannaslan.com) It’s my job to show off the latest and greatest techniques. Now that I have a reputation to uphold, sometimes scrapbooking is almost as stressful as it is fun.

My craft cozy author friends and I share a dirty little secret: Writing a hobby-based mystery is like doing double-duty. I have two masters to serve: my crafters and my readers. The downside is that I rarely get to take on projects of my own choosing.

Granted, I do get to attend prestigious scrapbooking events. But while I’m there, I’m often too busy selling books to take in the sights.

I’m even busier at conferences where I’m scheduled to appear both as an author and a guest instructor. This week I did prep for a class at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington TX. “Somebody” has to put together the curriculum and the handouts. “Somebody” has to get those handouts duplicated. “Somebody” has to pre-kit all that stuff, which is industry jargon for prepping all the tiny pieces of paper, supplies, and what-nots. That “somebody” is me.

Why do I put myself through all this? Three simple reasons: 1.) To stay current 2.) To make contacts and 3.) To sell books.

That’s the proper order. I can’t count on the fact that I’ll sell books at any given venue. My dear friend, Shirley Damsgaard, author of the Ophelia and Abby series, has taught me to “look for the pearl.” Often, that “pearl” is a new contact who might be willing to mention my new book Cut, Crop & Die on her blog.

So, yes, I’m one lucky girl. I’m blessed to have found two creative endeavors that provide me with endless hours of joy: scrapbooking and writing murder mysteries. It’s a good thing we don’t actually have to kill people to write about that!

Booksellers from coast to coast like craft cozies (traditional mysteries with a craft or hobby focus) and find them popular with their customers.

“Cozies in general, and those where the reader learns something new, are big for us and have been over 18 years. I have long been a supporter of the paperback original mystery books and these often fall into that column. I always thought that publishers were willing to take more risks in this category but the publishing landscape has changed. Still, it is a big favorite among women for whom reading is their principal form of entertainment and often they enjoy a craft or two,” says Mary Alice Gorman of Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, PA.

“In our store we have two different kinds of mystery shoppers. One is going for a ‘pop’ mystery thriller like James Patterson or Vince Flynn, but the other wants to give something new a chance,” explains Brent Humphreys, book team leader at Davis Kidd Booksellers in Nashville TN. “These are some of our more loyal customers; they play a more critical part of an independent booksellers’ customer base. This type of person who comes for a specific read, whereas someone who buys the ‘pop’ mysteries is more of an impulse buyer. In other words, cozies drive traffic to our store.”

Craft cozy authors are a regular feature of many writers’ conferences, where they are popular panelists, appealing to fans of all ages and sexes. This year at Malice Domestic, the Killer Hobbies blog sisters appeared as a panel to discuss “the hobbies that drove them to murder.” (http://killerhobbies.blogspot.com) Among the authors’ many revelations came the admission that they take their crafts very seriously. “We’ve all seen how hobbies can heal,” said Camille Minichino (aka “Margaret Grace”) author of Mayhem in Miniature, one in a series of books about dollhouses. “Working on a favorite pastime can help people through times of stress, build bridges between the generations, and bring joy to life.”

Jim Huang of The Mystery Company in Carmel, IN, likes craft cozies enough to spotlight them this fall at Bouchercon. The huge fan conference will include an ongoing craft room where authors will demonstrate crafts all day and invite attendees to try their hand at a new hobby. “Crafts have brought generations of women together," Jim said, "The craft room may be new to the convention experience, but the familiar ritual of working together on a project will help readers and writers to connect in a comfortable environment."

Bringing generations together is another special feature of craft cozies. Many of our books are “clean” enough for parents to share with their teens. Our genre maintains a taboo on explicit sex, shocking violence, gore and other staples of more mainstream mysteries. In short, we’re called “cozies” because we offer a cozy reading experience.

“I think it’s only natural that crafts and cozy mysteries have found a successful coupling, all in the word cozy,” explains Jessica Faust of BookEnds, LLC, A Literary Agency. “The crafts that seem to resonate most with readers are those that are the most cozy—anything relating to yarn or needlework for example, or any craft that can be done in that same cushy chair in front of the fire. The rise in popularity of knitting among not just crafters, but anyone and everyone made the knitting mysteries a natural hook and that’s ultimately what publishers are looking for, a craft that transcends the crafting community and extends to anyone looking to take up a new hobby or learn a new skill.”
            
Ah, so the authors of cozies have two missions: We must teach a new skill and write a good story. Next week I’ll share with you some of the ongoing industry research that a successful craft cozy demands.

Posted by: Joanna Campbell Slan

For one blissful year, my family and I lived in the tiny village of Sunningdale, Berkshire, United Kingdom. I’m not surprised that Dame Agatha set her traditional mysteries in small English villages. I can tell you why: There are no secrets in a village.

At the tea shop, we gossiped with the proprietor, who knew exactly which couples were having fights. At the vet’s office, we cooed over the neighborhood dogs. We knew which pooch had a bad case of fleas. On the train, we rode next to the village estate agent. We knew exactly which houses were for sale and could list all their features.

Every cozy features an amateur sleuth who unravels the crime. For an amateur snoop to solve a crime, to match wits with the experts, he or she must have special skills and knowledge. In cozies, that means the suspects must all know each other.

Unfortunately, most of us don’t live in an English village.

But crafters form their own tightly knit (sorry!) communities, complete with their own jargon, inside jokes and celebrities. From that perspective, crafts and hobbies are custom-made for the traditional mystery genre.

Mentioning specific products is one way authors prove they are citizens of their “villages.” When Terri Thayer writes about quilting, she can mention Eleanor Burns and all her readers know (wink, nod, wink) that Terri is a quilter. When Betty Hechtman writes about crocheters being looked down upon by the knitting community, readers who prefer hooks over sticks commiserate.

As further proof we know our topics, craft cozy authors are expected to include hints, tips, projects, patterns and/or recipes. In fact, the quality of those extras is one of the ways our readers can judge our expertise.

Did Agatha Christie have hobbies? I can only infer from her character Mrs. Marple that she did. The elderly sleuth engaged in bird-watching, knitting, gardening, and doing needlepoint. One of her pastimes proved the perfect training ground for an amateur crime solver. “My hobby,” she said, “is studying people.”

Next week I’ll cover what booksellers and publishers think about craft cozies.

Wikipedia defines a “tipping point” as a level at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable. This year craft cozies achieved that status when four of the five Agatha Award nominations given by Malice Domestic for Best First Novel went to books in this sub-genre.

What exactly is a craft cozy? It’s a mystery book featuring an amateur sleuth who is either a practitioner of a craft/hobby or involved in the craft/hobbies world. In other words, the protagonist could be a scrapbooker (like my own Kiki Lowenstein in Paper, Scissors, Death), a golfer, or a knitter, or a caterer (like Diane Mott Davidson’s Goldy Schulz, one of my personal faves).

A craft cozy follows a certain set of rules: no explicit violence or sex, no (or minimal) foul language, and no real danger to kids or animals. The mystery must be fair-play, which means an astute reader might be able to solve the crime by following the clues. The protagonist is usually female, and she is part of a community. A subtle contract between reader and writer also demands that the protagonist actively unravel the mystery herself, as well as get herself in and out of hot water. No fair calling in the cavalry!

Readers have grown to expect a little more from a craft cozy than just a good story. The best books include recipes, tips, projects, and/or patterns. I went a little further than most by actually including a coupon from Snapfish.com for 50 free digital prints.

There are lots of reasons why craft cozies are so popular. And misunderstood. Over the coming weeks, I’ll share the inside scoop on writing, marketing and selling a craft cozy.

First, let’s explain why craft cozies matter in this industry. And why a publishing insider (that’s you, dear reader) should nod your head approvingly the next time you see one of our books at your local bookstore.

“I figure there are only 30,000 dedicated mystery readers out there,” says Jon Jordan of Crimespree Magazine. By that he means people who would tell you that they ONLY read mysteries. We’re not including those who add a few mysteries here and there to their well-rounded diet of book choices.

Let’s do the math: If every one of those 30,000 folks bought a copy of my Agatha Award nominee Paper, Scissors, Death, I’d sell 30,000 books. Cool beans. I’d be a publisher’s dream. After all, by one estimate 97% of all titles sell less than 1,000 copies.

But what if every scrapbooker in the U.S. bought a copy of the second book in my series, Cut, Crop & Die? Then I’d sell 4.5 million copies.

I’m not the only author who can point to a large “alternative” market for her title. Rosemary Harris wrote Pushing Up Daisies, the first in a series featuring gardener and landscaper Paula Holliday, to appeal to the 35 million folks who call themselves gardeners.

“It’s less about being a slamdunk (if you garden or scrapbook you must buy this!) than it’s way to show that our heroines have something in common with the average American reader,” says Rosemary. “It’s familiar but new, which is what most of us are looking for, including mystery readers.”

The impact of the economy makes cozy mysteries more and more appealing as people turn to their hobbies for ways to save money. Julie Hyzy, author of State of the Onion, the second book in a series featuring a White House chef, has discovered that the interest in cooking is growing—in part because more folks are eating at home. Julie appeals to her fan base by not only giving them the inside scoop on how the White House kitchen functions, but also by sharing yummy recipes.

In a crowded, competitive mystery market, finding a niche is just good business. Next week, I’ll explain why crafts and hobbies offer a great setting for a whodunit.

Posted by: Joanna Campbell Slan