How To Support Your Favorite Author

Over the last six years, I have personally witnessed the power of fans.  If not for their almost rabid support when I was writing AS THE WORLD DIES as an online serial, I may never have finished the story that would eventually lead to a three book deal with Tor.

If not for fans, I would not have won the Dead Letter award two years in a row.

If not for fans, I would not have had the sales that drew the attention of a producer from Hollywood.

If not for fans, I would not have reviews on Amazon.com and other online book sellers.

If not for fans, I would not have...more fans.

Fans are extremely important to any writer's career.  They wield the power to push you to greater heights -- like bestseller lists -- and better and bigger book deals.

The reality is that fans can enable a writer to keep writing and churning out books they will enjoy.  Though inspiration and dedication are a huge component to writing a book, any writer needs sales to keep them on the writing path.

Most writers have day jobs (either full-time or part-time), families, and social lives.  Writing is often something they do after everyone else is in bed, or early in the morning.  They struggle to carve out time to take hold of their inspiration and wrangle it into a cohesive story.  Most of the time, writers are not making one red cent off that writing. They're doing it because they love to write and are probably hoping it will lead to some monetary reward in the future.

I doubt there isn't a writer out there that dreams of writing full-time. But it is very hard to get to that point.  Hell, I'm trying to make my own full-time writing gig stick.

So here are some tips on how to keep your favorite writer(s) doing what you want them to do....write.

1.  Buy their books.

This seems like a logical way to support authors, but a lot of people don't realize how important sales really are.  On more than one occasion I have had someone tell me "I'll buy your book at Half-Priced Books when I find it"  or  "I'll get it from the library."  Though the initial sale DOES count toward an author's royalties, all second-hand sales and library loans do not.

If your favorite author is published through a major publishing house, sales will dictate whether or not that publishing house will buy the author's next project.

If your favorite author is an indie author, most likely the money they make off of self-publishing is going to fund their next self-published work. Cover art and editing are very expensive.

So when you buy a book (not second-hand), it really does help your favorite author.

Note:  I totally get buying second hand when you don't have the funds. I've done it myself.  Later on when I had money, I bought my favorite authors latest books at the bookstore.

2.  Write reviews (on goodreads, amazon.com, etc)
A lot of readers don't understand the power of their opinion to influence other readers to read their favorite author.  With so many books being published every week, people look to reviews by other readers to help them decide which book they should buy or avoid.  If you love a book, write a review.  Even if it is a short one, it does help out.

3.  Loan your books to friends.
You may think this contradicts #1, but it actually doesn't.  If you're trying to convert a friend to your favorite author, chances are they would rather read a borrowed book then risk spending money on an unknown author.  If they like the book you loaned them, maybe they'll buy a copy of their own, or later buy the author's latest work.

4.  Spread the word on your social media sites (or your blog!)
I was turned on to the JENNI POX series by J.L. Bryan when I saw the Bookish Brunette twittering about the books.  I read up the reviews on the series on goodreads and purchased the first book. I loved it!  I know I have gained new readers because they saw a fan talk about my books on facebook, twitter, or other media sites.  Blogging has also brought me a slew of new fans.

5.  Email your favorite author.
A short email to your favorite author really does help.  Writing is a lonely endeavor and hearing from fans about how much they like your work is very energizing.


So to sum up this post, if you want to keep your favorite author writing, buy their books, spread the word about them, and let the author know you appreciate them.

AS THE WORLD DIES Wikia Page is Now UP!

I've been contemplating putting up a Wikia for the AS THE WORLD DIES books for sometime now.  I just kept putting it off because I knew it would take a bit of time to set up.  After talking to the gentleman who optioned the TV/Film rights for AS THE WORLD DIES tonight, I remembered I had already a done a lot of the legwork for the Wikia.  Last year I wrote up short character biographies for most of the main characters as well as some of the supporting ones for the producer.

Excited, I went ahead and stared up the Wikia which you can find here.

I already have a few of the biographies up and I will be adding more very soon.

Since I know the fans of AS THE WORLD DIES can be very die-hard about their favorites, please let me know if you think anything else should be added to the character biographies.  I have a few ideas for categories, but I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Also, feel free to send me any fan art you're willing for me to put up.

Thanks again for all your support and enjoy!

Twilight-Sparkly Vampires and the People Who Love Them

My brush with fandom has been limited, but enjoyable. When I wrote my column Midnight Musings with the Goth Goddess for the Central Texas entertainment mag The Edge Magazine, I was surprised to receive fan mail. I was writing about the scene I love (Goth/Industrial) and it was actually quite a bit of fun. To end up having people writing in to me to tell me how much they were enjoying my column was a surprise, but also quite reassuring. To find out I had an audience was actually a very nice feeling. I wasn't just writing for myself after all.

Fast forward to the original posting of "Tiny Fingers" (the first scene in As The World Dies) a year later and the immediate response I received from people wanting more. Again, I was a little floored. My FIRST FAN, as I like to call him, was nice enough to PM me and encourage me when along with the praise and requests for more, I got a few really snarky comments from old timers on the board. I kept writing and the emails and messages kept coming in. If not for that first batch of die hard fans, I'm not sure if I would have kept going. I never did see myself as a writer of zombie apocalyptic horror, so to end up writing what ended up to be a fairly epic story, shocked me. I give full credit to the fans that kept me going.

Which brings me to the most powerful fandom out there right now. The Twilighters. They are die hard, fanatical, devoted and passionate about the Twilight series. In fact, I was not going to read Twilight at all (though I thought the cover was amazing) until someone in my book club selected that book for the month of August. I picked the book up in WalMart while grocery shopping and ended up devouring it in three days as I rode the Capital Metro bus to work.

I have to say the book was like crack. I could not freaking put it down. And yet I was annoyed with quite a few things in the book, yet I kept reading. I couldn't stop reading. I wanted to finish and figure out what was going on. By the time I hit the last page, I was glad I had read Twilight, but I honestly didn't feel like reading the rest of the books.

If I had read this book in my teens or even early twenties, I am pretty sure I would have plowed through to the end of the series. It definitely is in the tradition of old romance novels and very appealing if you're hoping for a true, romantic love to show up in your life. I think Edward is definitely part of the tradition of the brooding, almost cruel hero from classic literature from Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. I disliked him a good portion of the book, yet I sympathized with him. Bella came across like most teenage girls and she didn't really bother me at all.

I was disappointed to find out there were going to be three more books. I felt Twilight should have ended with Edward making Bella a vampire. Yet, I couldn't blame the fans for wanting more. I decided to check out of the series because I just couldn't see there being any possibility of a triangle that everyone was talking about (Bella was totally smitten with Edward). The last book, Breaking Dawn, recently came out and a lot of people have been disappointed in its resolution of a love triangle I found difficulty in even believing in after the first book.

Watching the posts flying back and forth between a lot of those who hated the last book and the ones who loved it, I couldn't help but wonder if the fandom had actually worked against their own writer and the series they loved.

What do I mean by that?

By the fans wanting more, the author may have stretched out the story too long. I believe strongly that a story should have a definitive arc to it that makes sense and doesn't feel forced. I believe that well-crafted characters need to operate within the structure of their personality. To force a character to do something that goes against their established nature just comes across as tampering and jarring. To force a story arc to last longer that it should makes the story seem long winded and watered down. And to break the rules of your established cannon, well, that's just wrong.

When you have a fan base, you definitely feel an obligation to give them what they want. Of course, you may take this in a wrong direction and give them what they literally want, point by point, and end up throwing off your own story. I remember The Lost World movie was a huge disappointment to many who had read the sequel to Jurassic Park and Steven Spielberg said he had basically filled the movie with scenes the fans wanted to see. The last of the Twilight series seemed to follow this pattern. One of the common complaints I read against the book was that the pregnancy of Bella and how she gets everything she wants with zero sacrifice, felt like fan fiction.

I adore my fans. I listen to my fans. But I also know what the characters and the story demand to make the books solid reads. Some fans lobbied hard for certain characters to stay alive in As the World Dies and I struggled with a few of the deaths. I'm a big ol' softie by nature, but I knew that certain characters were not making it to the end of the books. Their natural story arc would end in their deaths and to tamper with it would water down the overall story. It was HARD at times to write those deaths. I loved the characters. I loved their voices, but I knew I could not betray the world I had created.

Fans are a powerful force in the lives of a writer. They can lift you up when you're down and feeling overwhelmed. They can inspire you to keep going when you feel utterly burned out. But, I believe that a writer needs to not cater to the specific demands of a fan base, but do their best to give their fans the best damn story they can. No pulled punches. No easy outs.

I think the Twilighters are an amazing fan base. Devoted to a degree that is almost mind-boggling, but the disappointment of so many with the last book in the series did inspire me to deep introspection about my writing and my own fans.

I love you, guys and gals. I'll give you the best story I can. You just may not always be particularly happy with me.

I Love My Fans

This is a quote from a fan on a forum where As The World Dies was originally posted.

BOOYAAAHH HUZZAH HOORAY WOOT YEEHAWW YIPPEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

Ermm I mean, oh? really? that is good news.

HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE DA BOOK IS BEING RELEASED SOOOOOOOOOON

I love you, guys. Seriously. You encouraged me to get my zombie epic (now trilogy) published and now its happening.

You're my inspiration.

I have the world's greatest fans.