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The CHAUCER Awards for Historical Fiction – Official 2014 Finalists List
The CHAUCER Awards recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Historical Fiction Novels. The Chaucer Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Blue Ribbon Awards Writing Competitions.

More than $25,000 dollars in cash and prizes will be awarded to Chanticleer International Blue Ribbon Awards Winners annually.

The Chaucer Awards for Historical Fiction has twelve categories to compete in for First Place Category Positions. The Chaucer First in Category award winners will compete for the Chaucer Grand Prize Award for Best Historical Book 2014. Grand Prize winners, blue ribbons, and prizes will be announced and awarded on September 29th at the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala, Bellingham, Wash.

We are proud to announce last year’s award winners and this year’s Chaucer finalists at the Historical Novel Society’s 2015 Conference in Denver, Colorado that will take place on June 27, 2015.

The CHAUCER Historical Novel Competition Categories are:
- Women’s Historical Fiction
- Legacy/Legend
- Pre-historic
- Ancient History
- Medieval, Renaissance, Dark Ages
- Elizabethan/Tudor
- 1600s
- Regency, Victorian, 1700s & 1800s
- Turn of the 19th century
- Turn of the 20th century
- World Wars
- Young Adult/New Adult
- World/International History
Congratulations to following CHAUCER 2014 FINALISTS and good luck to all as they compete for the twelve First In Category positions:
- Michael S. Pritchett for Saints and Strangers
- P. Lorraine Buck for By Blood and By Vow
- J.S. Dunn for Bending the Boyne
- Mary S. Black for Peyote Fire
- S. Thomas Bailey for Forest Sentinels: The Gauntlet Runner
- Kerryn Reid for Learning to Waltz
- Sandy James for Runaway
- Michael J. Cooper for The Rabbi’s Knight
- J. P. Kenna for Beyond the Divide
- R.N. Vick for Wings of Fury
- Patricia Averbach for Painting Bridges
- Rebecca Lochlann for The Year-God’s Daughter and The Thinara King
- Jared McVay for The Legend of Joe, Willy, & Red
- Syril Levin Kline for Shakespeare’s Changeling: A Fault Against the Dead
- Emma Rose Milar and Kevin Allen for Five Guns Blazing
- Elizabeth Soloway for The Great Deception
- Anna Angelidakis for The Icon Thief
- T.E. Taylor for Zeus of Ithome
- J.L. Oakley for Timber Rose
- Susanne Petito Egielski for Nelson’s Castle: a Bronte Fairy Tale
- David Brendan Hopes for The One with the Beautiful Necklaces
- Lilian Gafni for The Alhambra Decree: Flower of Castile
- Gloria Javillonar Palileo for The Indios
- William Jarvis for The Partisan
- Helena P. Schrader for St. Louis’ Knight
- Michele Rene for I Once Knew Vincent
- Jodi Lew Smith for The Clever Mill Horse
- Catherine A Wilson and Catherine T Wilson for The Lily and The Lion
- Gregory Erich Phillips for The Love of Finished Years
- Chelsea Lemon Fetzer for The River Map
- Ben Sharpton for 7 Sanctuaries
- Jeff Ridenour for The Art Procurer
- Elisabeth Storrs for The Golden Dice: A Tale of Ancient Rome
- Sharon Short for My One Square Inch of Alaska
- Ruth Hull Chatlien for The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte
- Ginger Cucolo for The Knoll and Beyond the Knoll
- Wendy Roberts for Where the Foxes Say Goodnight
- Jeff Braun for The Secret of the Just
- Dr. Evan Mahoney for Nongae of Love and Courage
- Steph A Amey for Holloway 8632
- Jeni Renner for Puritan Witch
- James Zerndt for The Korean Word for Butterfly
- Michael Hugos for Leptis Magna: Emperor’s Dream on the Edge of a Desert
- William Meisheid for The Partisan
- Donna Scott for Shame the Devil
- Karleene Morrow for Destinies
- Gita Simic and G.T. Simm for As for Costanza
- Michael D. McGranahan for Silver Kings and Sons of Bitches
Finalists will continue on to compete for a first place category win in their sub-genre, and then for the overall grand prize of the 2014 Chaucer Awards. The First In Category award winners will receive an award package including a complimentary book review, digital award badges, shelf talkers, book stickers, and more.

We are now accepting entries into the 2015 Chaucer Awards. The deadline is May 31, 2015. Click here for more information or to enter.

More than $30,000 worth of cash and prizes will be awarded to the Chanticleer Novel Writing Competition winners! Ten genres to enter your novels and compete on an international level.

Who will take home the $1,000 purse this September at the Chanticleer Awards Gala and Banquet?

Last year’s Chanticleer Grand Prize winner was Michael Hurley, for The Prodigal.

You know you want one!
May 5, 2015
The WAY of HARMONY: ANCIENT WISDOM for MODERN TIMES

The Yi Jing, the most ancient of the Chinese classics, is both a book of philosophy and an intuitive divination tool. Its timely wisdom maps the world of change through its sixty-four Hexagrams, each representing a distinct message and point of view. Chinese culture pays deep homage to The Yi Jing as a source of the highest truth. It has many benefits and is especially useful as an intuitive approach for delivering wisdom and understanding. The Yi Jing is also called The I Ching or The Book Of Changes.

The author makes no claims that his version is either complete or authoritative. Rather the text offers a “sincere attempt to faithfully express the Spirit of the Yi Jing themes.” The Oracle works through the Hexagram, a message in six parts. This is achieved by casting three coins, each with a heads and tails side (or a Yang and Yin side, the two complimentary forces that guide the universe). The seeker throws the three coins at the same time to determine each line of the six line reading.

Hexagram readings are both simple and practical. They offer specific advice for balance, harmony, and creative action. They run the gamut from advising seekers that the moment is right for powerfully moving ahead, as in “The Creative” (Hexagram 1), to advising on how to deal intelligently with a time of “Conflict” (Hexagram 6). An essential principle found in The Yi Jing is that all human affairs follow a cycle of growth and decay.

The philosophical voice of Confucius resonates through these pages, adding the message of “universal benevolence” to the original texts. That Confucian goal is not merely to gratify the self, but rather to create a society where humanity can be harmoniously connected to self, family, community, King, and Heaven. Like many versions of The Yi Jing this one offers some Chinese-style illustrations of the adage “as above, so below” which is a way of describing how earthly nature reflects and compliments cosmic Heavenly influence.

A brief illustration may show how The Yi Jing speaks to us.

A recent family crisis led me to seek a Yi Jing Oracle reading for guidance. My first impulse was to move swiftly with little reflection and make rapid changes, such as evicting one of my family members and placing another in care. The Oracle advised me that such a course of action would not work. I received “Restraint” for the first Hexagram and a second Hexagram, “Discipline”, which further clarified the situation. A few weeks later I recognized how appropriate the advice was that the Oracle had given me. Impulsive action would have destroyed significant relationships, possibly forever. While unresolved, the way has been left open for deeper bonding and mutual understanding among all the conflicting parties.

The Way of Harmony is clearly and elegantly written while providing a lucid, highly intelligible, and sensitive account of the three thousand-year-old masterpiece The Yi Jing and introducing readers to its spiritual counterpart The Dao De Jing.

Readers are invited to take the time to explore their own capacity for intuitive wisdom by using The Way Of Harmony as a guide. It is a way to quiet your mind and encourage feelings of deep harmony.

My advice is to make a cup of tea, take some time to relax, and read The Way Of Harmony, a modern text that draws on ancient wisdom, making it accessible and practical in these hectic and over stimulating times.

Note: The Way Of Harmony is available in three versions: as a print book with color illustrations, as a print book with B&W illustrations, and as an ebook with color illustrations where the e-book format display allows for color. There are only three illustrations, each distributed several times through the book. These original creations are meant to evoke a peaceful mood that compliments the Yi Jing experience. We are told that the illustration on the cover of the color books, a misty mountain painted in the traditional Daoist style, was inspired by a famous centuries old handscroll and interpreted by a classical brush and ink artist living in China. It also appears within all the book’s versions.

April 29, 2015
CONFESSIONS of an ASSASSIN by Linda Heavner Gerald

Catherine Carnegie, daughter of the Black Sheep of the New York Carnegies, enjoyed the idyllic childhood of wealthy parents. She and her brother Nathaniel attended only the best schools and were cared for by a loving family retainer who made certain they never wanted for anything. However, when Catherine at age eighteen naively asserts her independence, choosing to go to the University of Alabama instead of a northern Ivy League school, her position in the household immediately becomes second-best to her Nat, who has chosen to follow in his father’s footsteps, attending Harvard. And though she has even severely disappointed her beloved grandfather, Catherine holds firm, leaving to attend a southern university to, as she envisions it, become her own version of Scarlett O’Hara.

Thus begins a series of life-changing mistakes Catherine makes in the name of independence that will cause her heart-wrenching regret in her later years. Once at university, Catherine will come under the influence of a friend who urges her to go to work for a secret government agency. In the beginning, the work is glamorous and exciting. Eventually, though, Catherine will accept the assignment that almost destroys her life.

Heavner begins this novel as a reminiscence by Catherine who, at fifty years of age, is looking back on a life of bad choices and regrets. She has become a woman who rarely leaves her house for fear of being “discovered” by the agency she worked for, or of taking an action that will cause them to eliminate her. She is tormented by the loss of the only man she has ever loved, and experiences frequent nightmares of the events of her past. As the story unfolds, Heavner hints at the possibility that Catherine’s salvation may come in the form of a package, the contents of which may free her from her pain, regrets, and grief.

Although Heavner has employed the well-known literary device of telling her story in the style of a memoir, readers may become frustrated with the lack of action in the story, particularly in the early chapters. The story premise is unique and engaging, and many will find it fascinating, though they may become irritated with its obvious craft and editing flaws.

April 29, 2015
The VINEYARD by Michael Hurley

Martha’s Vineyard, an island located south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, provides the tradition-laden setting for a summer reunion of three long-time girlfriends, who were roommates in college. Dory, Charlotte, and Turner are now in their early thirties, single, sharing their mistakes and their lives’ courses, which find them alternately in heaps of tears and laughter as they get reacquainted.

For as pleasant a place as a well-appointed island guest-house should be for a reunion, a cloud of ominousness hovers over it. One of the girlfriends, Charlotte, has a darker purpose for attending the gathering. We, the readers, are accompanied onto the island with Charlotte and her well-thought out plan for self-destruction. Charlotte is distraught over a decision by the Catholic Church over her deceased daughter, and would rather be with her little girl than to try to find purpose or happiness in this life. However, the best laid schemes of mice and men (or in this case, women) often go awry.

Dory, the host with the Vineyard estate, connections, and an overbearing mother, is staying the course of all familial expectations, driven by decades of what was handed down to her. Turner, the last to join the trio, has reason to doubt her course, but is too ashamed to confront Dory with what she knows.

Mysteries, both major and minor, are introduced in the form of a stealthy blue-eyed fisherman – the only one who can find shrimp in the area; a glowing red light, and unexplained occurrences that have miraculous results for two of the ladies. The story takes unexpected twists and turns, as it meanders into the history of some of the local men and their relationships with the women.

Surrounded by wealth, deception, opulent parties, and the high life of summer at the Vineyard, the fisherman stands in contrast as a beacon of innocence and light; a moral compass in a world of selfishness, extravagance and greed – an almost Christ-like figure some presume to be a prophet. That makes him a target of those with lower impulses and motivations, and one of the women will betray him in an effort to save herself.

Trust is violated in multiple ways as the women seek justice for some of the wrongs inflicted upon them by those with self-serving motives, motives that are in conflict with the trust their posts should elicit. Intimate situations arise, or in some cases, barely arise, and not always to the satisfaction of both parties. Blackmail, manipulation, and ulterior motives abound. Meanwhile, one of the three is leaking out the miracles and the oddities of their summer via her blog, causing a stir none of them could have anticipated.

Michael Hurley’s signature style of metaphor and allegory runs delightfully just below the surface of the storyline adding dimension and intrigue. Scandal and betrayal juxtapose the idyllic and captivating setting of Martha’s Vineyard in this enigmatic work that encompasses tragedy and hope, human frailties and strengths, of contemporary American society.

The Vineyard is a multi-layered modern tale of women’s self discovery and coming into their own, of men getting their comeuppance, and mysteries begging to be solved. An exposé of marriage and the Catholic Church drive the events and the histories of the characters and place. But where tradition may be lost, hope is not. As the final pages approach all too quickly, The Vineyard delivers the satisfaction one hopes for, just as the rising tide carries a beached vessel back to safety of the deep.

Michael Hurley’s The Prodigal won the Chanticleer Grand Prize for Best Book 2013 and the Somerset Grand Prize for Literary Fiction. The Prodigal was optioned for film rights by Diane Isaacs, executive film producer August 2014. His memoir, Once Upon a Gypsy Moon, is published by Hachette. We are looking forward to reviewing his next work, The Passage, that will chronicle his solo Atlantic Ocean crossing on his 30-foot sailboat, The Prodigal.

April 26, 2015
Top Snippets Overheard at the Winter Conferences by Kiffer Brown
I am always jotting down little snippets of interesting information that I come across while attending writing conferences. Friends and colleagues often ask me when I return home did I learn any interesting tidbits that I could share. And I do. This last time, my friend and fellow WWP & Upstart Crows board member, Amanda Hagarty suggested that I should share my take-aways with the Chanticleer Community in a post. So, here we are!

I truly wish that I could give specific attribution to each snippet, but please know that this collection comes from Cevin Bryerman (CB), publisher of Publisher’s Weekly, Shari Stauch of Where Writers Win, Porter Anderson of Porter Anderson Media, Claire McKinney, NYC book publicist; and best selling authors: Robert Dugoni, Mike Lawson, Joanna Penn; along with assorted literary agents and publishers. As anyone who has attended a writers conference knows, it isn’t easy trying to stay on top of all the great information garnered.

So, without further ado, here are some of the “soundbites” that I picked up and would like to share with you, the Chanticleer Community.

These snippets are not listed in order of importance or in any order for that matter.
- “The mass paperback has gone the way of E-book.”
- “Eighty-percent of the readers of Young Adult novels are older adults (who are definitely not young adults).”
- “Audio is a new format that is gaining popularity with older and younger audiences.”
- “Remember that in the Digital Age of Publishing, an author’s back list never disappears.”
- “One-off books are a hard sale. Series are what book sellers want.”
- “Deconstruct what was popular to predict what will be popular in upcoming trends. Look for the core elements.”
- “Take a trending trope and add it to your genre.”
- “What is considered to be doing ‘extremely well’ in Amazon sales for Indie self-published authors? The top 100 Amazon books sell 5,000 to 10,000 books a month for six months straight. Top ten sub-categories have the potential to bump up to the top 100 to top 1,000 best-selling titles.”
- “Build Your Platform, Build Your Author Career.”
- “The first thing I do when considering an author is to check out his author platform. Does he have website? Does he have an online presence? Does he participate in social media? If not, I usually pass.”
- “All roads should lead to an author’s website.”
- “Each and every reader counts!”
- “Book reviews are the foundation of every author’s promotional platform.”
- “Eighty percent of the U.S. population say that they do not ‘read.’ Reading is associated with reading boring school texts. Authors must find a way that their books appeal to people’s interests and hobbies, and never forget that “publishing for the trade” is about entertainment.”
- “Dialogue is considered the white space on the page.”
- “Dialogue is action. Action is dialogue.”
- “Only put in back-story info when the reader needs it and only what is specifically needed at that time.”
- “The first and last sentences in a chapter are the most important.”
- “Publishers Weekly receives more than 50,000 books a year to review–only about fifteen percent are reviewed.”
- “The only thing certain in today’s publishing world is continuing change.” CB
- “Understand who your reader is.” CB
- “Act quickly. Stay relevant with your communications and promotions.” CB
These snippets were overheard at the PubSense Summit in Charleston, S.C. and the Left Coast Crime Conference in Portland, Oregon that took place in March 2015.

I invite you to attend the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will take place late September at the Hotel Bellwether located on Bellingham Bay, Wash. Find out more info here. New speakers and sessions along with more information will be added weekly!

Up-to-date practical, effective marketing and promotional skills for today’s golden age of publishing are Kiffer Brown’s forte.

Honed business experience and an entrepreneurial spirit, along with a true understanding “that nothing happens until something is sold” is what Kiffer Brown brings to the table. Kiffer presents at numerous writers conferences and publishing conventions. She is a media scout for executive film producers, literary agents, and publishing houses. She searches for today’s sparkling gems that will become tomorrow’s best sellers. She truly loves what she does and her passion shows.

She has presented at Writer’s Digest National Conferences in NYC, RWA National Conferences, Emerald City Writers Conferences, PubSense Summits, PNWA conferences, and others. She is the founder and president of Chanticleer Book Reviews and International Writing Competitions, L.L.C. and the publisher of Chanticleer Reviews. She is active in her community’s local writing as organizations and is currently serving as the president of Whatcom Writers and Publishers, a board member and co-founder of the Upstart Crows Writers Association, an is active in the Salish Sea Writers Consortium. She is the organizer of the Chanticleer Authors Conference, which focuses on the business and marketing side of being an author in today’s world of publishing. You may reach her at KBrown@ChanticleerReviews.com
April 25, 2015
Redirect – MYTHBORN: RISE of the ADEPTS by V. Laksham

A classically high-fantasy styled novel that is a satisfying layered read full of battles and skirmishes, mages and wizards, dwarves and elves, dragons and royalty, and its own complex lore and magical systems, V. Lakshman’s Mythborn: Rise of the Adepts will leave dark fantasy enthusiasts clamoring for more.

After a powerful mage allowed a demon named Lilyth to enter the world of EDYN, causing a devastating war, King Galadine declares that all those with magical talent be put to death. For over two hundred years, mages have been hunted down and killed, except for a select few that escape and train to be adepts under the tutelage of the mage council.

Forced to keep themselves hidden, even the most powerful mages have lost the deepest knowledge of their craft, and their abilities are only a shadow of what the generations before were capable of. When it seems as though the demon Lilyth has begun to stir again, the council is ruthlessly determined to act.

Arek Winterthorn is an apprentice with a power that even he himself doesn’t understand. Unable to produce even the simplest of spells, he can disrupt the magic of others with a single touch. When his master, Silbane Petracles reluctantly agrees that Arek’s abilities might be the only way to save the world, the two embark on a journey full of twists, violence, intrigue, and even a dragon.

They seek the kingdom of Bara’cor, where the current King Galadine is under siege by a barbarian horde. Inside the castle walls, we are introduced to his court and advisers, including his teenage son and young niece, next in line to the throne of the neighboring kingdom. All of these diverse threads weave together as the characters clash, attempting to discover the true nature of the demonkind and the heart of the conflict two centuries ago.

Lakshman’s epic is told in several diverse voices from every side of the conflict, creating a complex web of loyalties and motivations. This leads to some initial confusion, as the reader is introduced to several different point of view characters in rapid succession. Flashbacks, integrated into the narrative under the heading “Histories,” are at first difficult to distinguish from the novel’s present day events. But after the narration settles into a pattern, fans of fantasy will be engrossed in his world and the envelopment of its familiar tropes. As the multi-faceted characters and their motivations are revealed, readers will come to care about what happens to them as they come to understand what motivates them.

Lakshman’s experience in the game industry and his martial arts background are evident in the novel’s many detailed battle scenes in this fast-action and complex fantasy. The Rise of the Adepts’ cliffhanger ending will leave readers clamoring for the next volume in this fast-paced and suspenseful Mythborn series, the sequel to which is now available.

First Place Dark Fantasy, 2014 CYGNUS Awards for SciFi and Fantasy Fiction, a division of Chanticleer International Writing Competitions.

April 22, 2015
MYTHBORN: RISE of the ADEPTS by V. Lakshman

A classically high-fantasy styled novel that is a satisfying layered read full of battles and skirmishes, mages and wizards, dwarves and elves, dragons and royalty, and its own complex lore and magical systems, V. Lakshman’s Mythborn: Rise of the Adepts will leave dark fantasy enthusiasts clamoring for more.

After a powerful mage allowed a demon named Lilyth to enter the world of EDYN, causing a devastating war, King Galadine declares that all those with magical talent be put to death. For over two hundred years, mages have been hunted down and killed, except for a select few that escape and train to be adepts under the tutelage of the mage council.

Forced to keep themselves hidden, even the most powerful mages have lost the deepest knowledge of their craft, and their abilities are only a shadow of what the generations before were capable of. When it seems as though the demon Lilyth has begun to stir again, the council is ruthlessly determined to act.

Arek Winterthorn is an apprentice with a power that even he himself doesn’t understand. Unable to produce even the simplest of spells, he can disrupt the magic of others with a single touch. When his master, Silbane Petracles reluctantly agrees that Arek’s abilities might be the only way to save the world, the two embark on a journey full of twists, violence, intrigue, and even a dragon.

They seek the kingdom of Bara’cor, where the current King Galadine is under siege by a barbarian horde. Inside the castle walls, we are introduced to his court and advisers, including his teenage son and young niece, next in line to the throne of the neighboring kingdom. All of these diverse threads weave together as the characters clash, attempting to discover the true nature of the demonkind and the heart of the conflict two centuries ago.

Lakshman’s epic is told in several diverse voices from every side of the conflict, creating a complex web of loyalties and motivations. This leads to some initial confusion, as the reader is introduced to several different point of view characters in rapid succession. Flashbacks, integrated into the narrative under the heading “Histories,” are at first difficult to distinguish from the novel’s present day events. But after the narration settles into a pattern, fans of fantasy will be engrossed in his world and the envelopment of its familiar tropes. As the multi-faceted characters and their motivations are revealed, readers will come to care about what happens to them as they come to understand what motivates them.

Lakshman’s experience in the game industry and his martial arts background are evident in the novel’s many detailed battle scenes in this fast-action and complex fantasy. The Rise of the Adepts’ cliffhanger ending will leave readers clamoring for the next volume in this fast-paced and suspenseful Mythborn series, the sequel to which is now available.

First Place Dark Fantasy, 2014 CYGNUS Awards for SciFi and Fantasy Fiction, a division of Chanticleer International Writing Competitions.

April 22, 2015
Creating Shared Content to Engage Readers and Build a Fan Base
Welcome to Chanticleer Reviews Part Three of a Four Part Series on How to Market Your Books in Today’s Publishing World with Leadership Communication Skills

Writing craft is the key to being an author, but engaging people is the key to building a readership and a fan base.

As an author, lead the way to creating the digital paths that will help people discover your books. And today, that means communicating via the Internet.

Author Leadership Communication has Four Cornerstones
1. Creating an Author Identity & Branding
2. Establishing Author Credibility and Competence
3. Creating Shared Content
4. Committing to Action and Making a Plan (forthcoming)
We have discussed the first two cornerstones: 1) Creating Author Identity and Branding, and 2) Establishing Credibility and Competence as an Author. Links are above.

Part 3. Creating Shared Content

Authors must engage with their readers to maintain TOMA (Top of Mind Association) with them or another author definitely will.

Authors can share the experiences of their works (novel) with their readers with the following Interverse platforms:
- Blog posts, website
- Facebook
- Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Reddit, KBoards, Wattpad
  Find the social media platform that appeals to your target audience of readers
- Google+ Community posts & G+ Pages & G+ postings
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Keeping Engaged with Readers

What Types of Content should Authors Create to Keep Readers Engaged?
- Photos & Visual Graphics
  - Inspiration for the novel: Do not underestimate how interesting it is to readers to have a sneak peek into what inspired you to create a work. Was it an historical source, an experience, a landscape, a person, a piece of clothing? Are there photos or graphics that communicate these ideas. One of my favorite authors, Joannah Miley, has a Pinterest Board with photographs of clothing and accessories that the goddesses in her novel, The Immortal Game, wear. Her readers love it! When Joannah launches her second in the series, her readers will be ready to read it because she has kept them engaged!
- Tweet out (about one in ten tweets) intriguing passages of your book with a Bitly.link to your website – not Amazon! This is about building and maintaining reader relationships–not selling your book.
- Create posts about how you write:
  - Do you write first thing in the morning? Late at night?
  - Can you only write in coffee shops?
  - Does your cat sit on your lap? Your dog by your side?
  - Are you a pantzer or an outliner?
  - Did you research a particular area or geography?
  - What kind of music do you listen to while you write?
  - Be sure to put this kind of information in a context to make it an emotional, personal connection, but not too much personal information–only the information that moves your author branding forward.
- Are you thinking of your next work? If so, let your the people who connect with you in the Interverse know. Better yet, ask your followers what their thoughts are about specifics of your work.
- Make your posts relevant and meaningful according to what is appropriate for the social media platform.
- Tag others in your social media posts if the post is flattering, fun, or inspirational.
- What activities do your characters engage in: cooking, photography, selling real estate, making pottery, tattoo artistry, working in a coffee shop? Seek out social media communities who can relate to your characters’ traits, occupations, and hobbies.
- Reference other authors who write in your genre. Readers are always searching for other authors to read while their favs are in between book launches (which is why you need to maintain your connection with them). Authors, even NY Times best selling authors are more apt to give your book a quote or a blurb when they see that the request is coming from a strong social media connection and not just out of the blue.
- Make sure that your followers know that it is okay with you that share your content, create links, and tag you in social media and blog posts. Better yet, thank them profusely when they do and then reciprocate when possible.
- Acknowledge who inspires you, where you learned a particular writing craft skill, personal relationships that have impacted your own life, public figures whom you admire, and other authors and their works that have inspired you. This type of leadership communication will help you build trustworthiness with potential readers whom you may never meet in person, so you must show and share strong credentials along with what motivates you to write.
Most Importantly > START THE CONVERSATION

Be the first one to make the move to say ‘Hi!’ Make the “friend request,” follow on Twitter, circle on Google+. Remember that the Interverse is one big cocktail party. You don’t want to be the wallflower, nor the gal wearing the lampshade, nor the obnoxious relative selling whatever. What you do want is to make new connections and expand your network of potential readers.

Please do not be the bore who dominates and hijacks social media conversations. You can be selective about which posts to interact with, but do stay on topic.

Be sure to reciprocate by LIKING, COMMENTING, RE-TWEETING, INTERACTING, and SHARING with potential readers.

Communication is a two-way street. You can’t expect people (readers) to interact with you in social media if you don’t interact with them–that is unless you are a celebrity with hundreds of thousands of fans.

As an author, lead the way to creating the digital paths that will help people discover your books. And today, that means communicating via the Internet.

Be courageous in creating the digital pathways that will lead your targeted audience of readers to your books. Let your passion for writing and storytelling shine! Then allow evidence of your competence and credibility of being an outstanding author encourage engagement. The evidence should come from others: editorial reviews, notable authors, experts in the field/genre, writing award competitions, and quotes from readers. Be sure to post on your website, in your social media posts, and on the platforms where you books are sell. Make sure that your accolades give credit, attribution, and links to their sources.

INFORM, INVOLVE, ENGAGE

As an author, lead the way to creating the communication paths that will help people discover your books.

My next post in this Leadership Communication Series will be about Committing to Action by Developing a Communication Strategy to Engage Readers.

Up-to-date practical, effective marketing and promotional skills are Kiffer Brown’s forte.

Honed business experience and an entrepreneurial spirit, along with a true understanding “that nothing happens until something is sold” is what Kiffer Brown brings to the table. Kiffer presents at numerous writers conferences and publishing conventions. She is a media scout for executive film producers, literary agents, and publishing houses. She searches for today’s sparkling gems that will become tomorrow’s best sellers. She truly loves what she does and her passion shows.

She has presented at Writer’s Digest National Conferences in NYC, RWA National Conferences, Emerald City Writers Conferences, PubSense Summits, PNWA conferences, and others. She is the founder and president of Chanticleer Book Reviews and International Writing Competitions, L.L.C. and the publisher of Chanticleer Reviews. She is the organizer of the Chanticleer Authors Conference, which focuses on the business and marketing side of being an author in today’s world of publishing. You reach her at KBrown@ChanticleerReviews.com

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April 18, 2015
HOW to INCREASE BOOKS SALES: Tips from Joanna Penn
I had the pleasure and the good fortune to attend the PubSense 2015 Summit in Charleston, South Carolina. Attending the sessions and presentations was like drinking in information from a publishing fire hose!

Information was emanating from some of the brightest stars in today’s publishing world: Stars like Joanna Penn.

Joanna Penn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, voted one

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Joanna Penn
Photo credit: Mim Saxl, Oxford photographer

of The Guardian UK Top 100 Creative Professionals. Also voted one of the Top 10 Blogs for Writers and one of the Top 10 Blogs for Self-Publishers.

The following is my blog post recap of the highlights of Joanna’s keynote luncheon presentation at the PubSense Summit. Please keep in mind that I was taking notes as fast as I could at her dynamic presentation.

Joanna Penn opened with this concept:

Create Value from Ideas > Create Once, Sell Forever

“Create assets that put income in your pocket for years to come.” JP

JP: THINK SCALE-ABLE, THINK COPYRIGHT

She reminds us to remember the life of an author’s works is her lifetime plus 70 years thus making an author’s intellectual property a potentially valuable part of his/her estate. This is the length of time granted by the U.S. Copyright law.

Create works and then make your back list work for you for years to come.

KB’s Note: Remember that in today’s digital age of the Interverse that an author’s back list never disappears.

JP: Authors need to THINK INCOME STREAMS

Increase Book Sales by Reaching More Customers

Joanna’s Action Items:

Reach different customers by exploiting all formats
1. Kobo, Smashwords, Apple, Amazon, Nook, Google Play, OutBound Words….
2. Audio> ACX
3. Printed Books
4. Plus subsidiary rights
  1. Country markets
  2. Territories
5. Always be on the lookout for new avenues of distribution and publishing
6. Reach different customers by language > Start in English, then expand to German, then Spanish, and so on.
KB: Remember that all the little streams of income flow into a river of revenue.

JP: Authors need to THINK GLOBALLY

Joanna’s Action Items:

Reach customers globally by using multiple retailers
1. Kobo platform is available in 65 countries
2. iBooks are available in 51 countries
3. Amazon Kindle is available in 171 countries
  1. Use print-on-demand for global reach with print books
4. Be on the lookout for new retail platforms and distributors
JP: Authors need to THINK about the MOBILE and DIGITAL MARKETS

“Between 2013 and 2017, mobile phone penetration will rise from 61.1 percent to 69.4% of the global population. eMarketeer

KB: Notes, Background Information, and Definitions:

Demographic shift into cities and smaller living spaces with trends towards less stuff is predicted. The rise of the “digital native” means more digital purchases and more digital products.

“Digital Native” is one who was born after smart phones, the Internet, Social Media, and the advent digital publishing. The Digital Native is totally comfortable with digital technology and tends to absorb new technology tools and applications with the ease of one how one learns one’s native language. A digital immigrant is one who is exposed to digital technology later in life.

Aging population is a big potential market for digital e-books and audio books. It will do nothing but increase.

JP: Apple Carplay and Google Auto will be adopted and come standard by mainstream car manufacturers before 2017.

KB: Notes, Background Information, and Definitions:
- Reading and Writing is now Listening and Dictating.
- Podcasts and Audio books will be instantly available to automobile drivers, mobile smart phones, and tablets.
Joanna’s Action Items:
1. Make sure your website is mobile optimized with responsive design and your books can be purchased via mobile devices.
2. Consider offering your works in audio format to reach a larger audience.
3. Begin podcasting for marketing. Start immediately including pod-casting into your outbound marketing strategy to take advantage of this major shift.
JP: AUTHORS NEED TO THINK AHEAD

The Virtual Reality Market is expected to grow to $407 million dollars and reach more than 25 million users by 2018. Report by Markets and Markets.

“Expect the transformation of online environment to an immersive virtual reality for shopping, gaming, education, community building, and books.” Joanna Penn

JP: Background Information (paraphrased by KB)

For example: Most of the population of Africa had basically no technology at all available to them, but they quickly and fully embraced cell phone technology because it demanded a reduced amount of infrastructure as compared to the old land-lines technology and was more affordable. This shift in technology opens up an entire new market to authors because books are no longer dependent upon brick and mortar stores and transportation highways for potential new readers to access their digital books.

Joanna Penn’s Bottom Line to Authors:

CREATORS of CONTENT will be at the TOP of this HUGE Economic and Societal Shift.

Authors who embrace the digital age will be poised to increase the income potential.

To wrap up: Create Value from Ideas > Create Once, Sell Forever in as many formats and platforms as possible!

Thank you, Joanna Penn, for sharing your marketing and publishing experiences with us.

This is the first post in Kiffer Brown’s Takeaways from the PubSense Summit 2015. I do hope that you find these tidbits tantalizing and informative.

Closing remarks from Kiffer Brown:

I would advise authors to visit The Creative Penn website for more valuable information and resources from Joanna Penn, author, entrepreneur, and professional speaker.

For more information on how to increase book sales, build an effective author platform, and the business side of writing, please consider attending the Chanticleer Authors Conference in September that will be held in the Bellingham, Wash. of the great Pacific Northwest.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
April 11, 2015
A Sawmill and a Few Gutsy Women: CHEATING the HOG by Rae Ellen Lee is on SALE for 99 cents

Gritty and humorous is what Rae Ellen Lee writes best! “Echo needs a miracle. She’s turning fifty, lives with her gun-toting mom, and her lover’s been killed in a logging truck accident. She made front-page news as a Salvation Army bell ringer, but that job ended and she’s digging for change to pay off debt. The local sawmill hires her to do cleanup and odd jobs, like ‘cheating the hog’….When tragedy does strike, she leads the other women mill workers to fight back with earthy humor, a few leveraged threats, and wit as sharp as band saw teeth—earning her respect on the job and the attention of a strong-hearted man.” Click here to download your copy from Amazon.

April 10, 2015

Chanticleer Book Reviews