Bateman's Bestselling Book Basics

Bateman's breakthrough

Mr Colin Bateman writes humorous crime fiction. If you have a funny bone in your body then he will tickle it within pages, leaving you to clean up a mess of dead villains and destroyed relationships with a smile on your face. That style of writing is what led me to attend Mr Bateman's weekend workshop on writing a bestseller.

First things first and let's establish the credentials of the mononymous Bateman: author of 23 novels, two of which are bestsellers by the 100,000+ paper copies sales definition (Divorcing Jack and Mystery Man); screen-writer of several films and TV series; most importantly, a very funny and modest man who is generous with his knowledge and experience. He describes himself as a mid-list author with an occasional bestseller. I describe him as a pain in the self-publishing arse because any attempt to put Barnes books on a shop shelf is swamped by a raft of Bateman titles.

Now to put the workshop in context. Sixteen people in a hotel conference room next to the marina in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. We were a mixture of beginners, burgeoning crime writers and Bateman groupies (me, obviously). Tea, coffee, scones, draught beer and weather to take the paint off a supertanker. Our hopes and fears ranged from how to expertly develop a plot for a crime thriller to touching the Bateman coat tails in hope of skills transfer by osmosis (me again). The learning was spread over two 9 'til 5 days of full-on discourse, discussion and group exercises.

We covered all the writing basics - research, planning, genre, plot, settings, characters, narrative voice, dialogue, self-editing and taboos (I can't mention those).

Join the ebook revolution!

I've been asked to run a series of small workshops here in rural Ireland on ebook publishing and social networks for authors. The basis of the workshops will be Ruby's top ten tips from The New Author:

1. You’re going to need a good book, one you believe in, one that has your author’s voice. That unique voice communicates your individual talent as a writer.
2. Test your book on honest people before you consider releasing it. Make it the absolute best you can. Don’t regret, be proud.
3. Ready to publish? Forget about it until you’ve considered the next two marketing steps of platform and brand. You can ignore them and still be successful. That will make you into a folklore hero whose name is on everybody’s lips, but they’re few and far between (and I’m not one of them).
4. You need a social networking platform. Ebook readers are internet users. That’s where you need to focus (and make sure you start that ball rolling before launching your ebook).
5. Brand is to an author what location is to real estate. Make your name your brand. Everything you do needs to enhance that brand. Exert caution at this point because, if you do it wrong, retracing your steps is difficult.
6. Now let’s publish. A cover, title and description that tells a potential reader what’s inside is worth reading. A digital manuscript that won’t cause that reader to trip over systemic errors in prose, grammar or format. If you baulk at any of this then pay someone who can do the uncomfortable parts for you (it can be less expensive than you might think). And keep backups and version control for everything that you write.
7. Aim to build a readership that will provide reviews, recommendations and support. Don’t be precious about initial pricing.
8. Leverage your social networking platform to gradually increase exposure of your book. Use subliminal marketing and influence strategies when you enter into the mêlée of the marketplace.
9. Build your brand team. Remember at every step that each virtual friend, follower and reader is your team. Never alienate, even when in receipt of negativity. Radiate positivity and calm confidence. People don’t just read your ebook, they also digest your blog posts, forum comments, tweets, facebook updates, everything that you write on the internet. Those readers read, enjoy and recommend. Word of mouth sells ebooks. This is the key.
10. Are you writing the next book? Never stop writing creatively. Always have a project in the first draft or edit stages. Blogging, tweeting, chatting and whatever is new, all good but you are an author and you must write. Allocate time for making friends and marketing. Ring-fence time for creative writing. Do both, in parallel, with an element of self-discipline. A satisfied reader asks for more. The reader market is effectively infinite and so is their appetite for good books.

You’ll find useful and proven content in the 44,000 words of The New Author by Ruby Barnes to help you with all of these ten tips.

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How do you write? The time, space, support continuum

An extract from The New Author

You’ve made the decision to write. So when, where and how are you going to do it? Here are some characteristic approaches.

The Hemingway - tortured author, tapping away on a typewriter in a mountain retreat. Wild hair, scant meals, sleep-deprived, continuously slightly drunk and chain-smoking.

The Media Junkie – listening to fast music on iPod or laptop, oblivious of the surroundings which might be a café, train, family TV room or workplace. Laptop has ten windows open for ‘research’ including email, twitter, facebook and Wikipedia.

The Midnight Oil – when the house is quiet and everyone else’s day is over, this one is just starting work. Typing through the tiredness and pain barrier. Pulling together the inspiration of observations and events from the preceding daylight hours. Pausing to reflect upon the words written, listening to the drip of the bathroom tap, the hum of a transformer in some electrical apparatus somewhere in the house.

The Peacemaker – a scented candle, Buddha Bar on the music system. Pilates exercises performed with control and precision, establishing the inner core. Elsewhere in the house family rampage at a safe distance, out of earshot. Writing flows from the spirit. Characters talk aloud and their dialogue falls upon the keyboard. 

The Early Bird – rising at the hour of milkmen from yesteryear, moving from bedroom to study and pushing the door firmly shut. Chapters formulated subconsciously during sleep are thrown onto the page to be edited during some lull in the day. As the family stirs, heading off to the bathroom and using time under the shower to think a way out of the present predicament of the main character.

What do you think of these approaches? I’ve tried them all at different times over the years. Any consistent method can be productive, providing you ring-fence the time and space. That needs support and understanding from the other people in your life. They need to understand and appreciate your needs as a writer.

The above post is an extract from The New Author, a non-fiction self help guide for writers, social media marketers and self-publishers. Available in paperback and various ebook formats through a wide range of internet stores including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords et al (see Ruby's Shop for full details).








If you've enjoyed reading Ruby's blog then please sign up to Ruby's News for freebies, advance review copies of upcoming novels and occasional updates. Thanks!
 

Now released - The New Author

Ruby's first release of 2012 is The New Author, a non-fiction self help guide for writers, social media marketers and self-publishers. Many thanks to Jim Williams, author of ten internationally published novels including the Booker Prize nominated Scherzo, for reading my book and writing an engaging foreword.

The New Author is available in paperback and various ebook formats through a wide range of internet stores including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords et al (see Ruby's Shop for full details).









If you've enjoyed reading Ruby's blog then please sign up to Ruby's News for freebies, advance review copies of upcoming novels and occasional updates. Thanks!