COMP LIT: Claiming Your Place on the Genre Shelf

By Damon Suede, @DamonSuede

Part of The How They Do It Series

One of the first thing any credible marketer will ask you is where your books fit. What are your comp titles and also-buys? As genre authors we write within a framework which we are constantly stretching and testing.

Even for authors working in the same genres and subgenres our books, our voices, and our fan bases often differ in wonderful (offtimes wacky) ways. Whatever their approach, all authors face the task of clarifying why their books are extraordinary. Attracting your unique readership starts with claiming your spot on the genre bookshelf: your niche.

Niche covers a wide spectrum of differentiators: subgenre, scale and setting, voice and vibe, heat/violence/suspense level, intensity, tropes, types, tone, and more. Some authors hunker down in a very narrow patch and never budge. Some folks wander the woods…peeing on trees all over the publishing forest, constantly marking out new turf for their fans. Essentially your niche is the stretch of the virtual bookshelf that your books fill perfectly and that your ideal audience and likely allies seek out instinctively.

WINNING WAY: Establishing Professional Writing Goals Worth Pursuing

By Damon Suede, @DamonSuede

Part of The Writer's Life Series

As writers we have the best and worst job in the world. We get paid to make stuff up. We are captains of our own destiny. The tools necessary are simple and ubiquitous.

When it comes to my career, I treat our industry as a giant, elaborate game because genre publishing really does have rules and roles, strategy and struggle, touchdowns and trophies… No matter how intense the conflict or dire the stakes, no one gets jailed or murdered because they didn’t hit the USA Today list. That perspective helps me keep my nuttiness and anxiety to a minimum no matter how vile or harrowing the experiences of a given moment.

Because I tend to think of writing as a game I'm always keeping the prize in mind. Every game has a goal that allows you to develop a strategy. If you're not the type of person who examines your personal goal motivation and conflict this can present a giant problem. The truth is we are not all the same and we don't seek the same rewards. Different players in different contexts seek different rewards and play radically different games. Some of us love brutal conflict. Some of us gravitate towards gentle, cooperative détentes the human heart is simply too complex to boil down to a single identity or path to happiness.

CON CHOICE: On Picking Events and Building Great Genre Experiences

By Damon Suede, @DamonSuede

Part of the Indie Author Series

Thank you as always to Janice for letting me chat with y’all about the challenges of promo and genre authorship. Today, she suggested we take a look at event selection: how to choose the venues best for your work and how to maximize your conference budget.

When I talk about cons I refer to conventions, conferences, and any large gathering of genre folk focused as a community on the books they love and we write.

Now, because I'm an obstreperous creature I'm going to state a few heretical beliefs that just keep right on saving my bacon in this crazy thing we call genre fiction. Some of this may fly in the face of things you've assumed or heard about author events. I make no claims as to provenance or wisdom, but these harsh truisms spring from over 30 years earning my crust in professional entertainment and the wild, wicked world of genre gatherings.

Event Goals: Getting the Most Out of Conference Networking

By Damon Suede, @DamonSuede

Part of the Indie Author Series

I’ve been with a niche press since I first started publishing romance, and despite some swanky offers from the Big 5, I find that I dig my neck of the niche woods. Of course working outside NYC’s hegemony requires moxie and flexibility, but it also gives me crazy latitude so that I can adapt and respond to market shifts on the fly.

Today, I want to speak to conference networking, which is something I adore and embrace with abandon. Full disclosure: unlike many authors I am an unapologetic extrovert and as a result I have some oddball insights into the way conferences can (and don’t work) for indie authors.

Obviously this is too big a topic for us to cover in one post so for today I'd like to talk about networking goals.

Character Alignment: How Authors Keep from Losing Their Minds

By Damon Suede, @DamonSuede

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Keeping all the moving parts of a story together can be rough. One detail gets forgotten or remembered incorrectly, and it can throw off an entire story arc. Luckily, Damon Suede visits the lecture hall today to share some tips and insights and keeping your characters and your stories in perfect alignment.

Damon grew up out-n-proud deep in the anus of right-wing America, and escaped as soon as it was legal. Though new to romance fiction, Damon has been writing for print, stage, and screen almost three decades and just released his first craft book: Verbalize, a practical guide to characterization and story craft. He’s won some awards, but counts his blessings more often: his amazing friends, his demented family, his beautiful husband, his loyal fans, and his silly, stern, seductive Muse who keeps whispering in his ear, year after year.

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Take it away Damon...