Karen Azinger Guest Post: Advice to Indie Authors

We are very pleased to welcome our guest Karen Azinger back to the Salon. Karen is the author of The Silk & Steel Saga Books: The Steel Queen, The Flame Priest, The Skeleton King, and (to be published in Nov 2012) The Poison Priestess.

Advice to Indie Authors

Ten years ago I embarked on the dream of becoming a published author. In February of 2009, I landed a contract with a major international publisher offering a five figure deal for my epic fantasy saga. Sound the trumpets and send up the fireworks, I’d beaten the odds and won the lotto! I was over the moon with joy, but after three short months the dream devolved into a complete nightmare. After two torturous years, I reclaimed the full rights to my saga, escaped from the major publisher, and formed my own company. To date I’ve published the first three books of The Silk & Steel Saga, (The Steel Queen, The Flame Priest, The Skeleton King, and soon to be published, The Poison Priestess) as well as a collection of short stories entitled The Assassin’s Tear. My books are getting great reviews, I have awesome fans around the world, and I can honestly say I’m thrilled to be in control of my own destiny.

Having experienced both sides of the publishing business, I thought I’d pass on some hard-won tips to other indie authors.

First and foremost, you need to write the very best book you can. An essential element of good writing is getting feedback from critique groups, from alpha and beta readers, and from professional editors. The more ‘eyeballs’ you get on your work, the better. Search for alpha readers in your neighborhood, at parties, at coffee shops, at bookstores, or even on-line. I had fifteen alpha/beta readers for my first book and they gave me invaluable feedback. Some of them became my biggest fans.

Secondly, the sooner you start promoting your book, the better. Authors need to build an audience before their book is published. This might sound like putting the cart before the horse, but major publishers promote their authors for over a year in advance. If it’s important for the majors then it’s absolutely critical for indie publishers. For The Steel Queen, I started two years in advance with Facebook and then progressed to a website and other forms of social media. Be creative, be entertaining, and use the social network to spread the word.

A picture is still worth a thousand words…that’s why covers are crucial. Eye-catching artwork, even when reduced to a postage-stamp size, is the very best marketing tool an indie author has. A cover is your calling card on Amazon, on Facebook, on your website, so make sure it’s a great one. Covers should look professional and they should reflect your genre with a single glance. Commission your cover as soon as possible so you have it for advance marketing. Get the most out of your covers by branding their designs, so all your books are easily recognizable.

Word-of-mouth is still king when it comes to selling books, so encourage your readers to write and post reviews. The best gift a reader can give an author is a review, but indie publishers also need professional reviews. Search for book reviewers on-line and offer them a complimentary copy for an honest review. Unfortunately major publishers are also chasing reviews, so they flood established reviewers with their own books (my publisher was going to send 50 advance copies just to Amazon US reviewers!). Since most reviewers are swamped, indie publishers often need to discover new emerging reviewers. Once a review is posted, multiply its value by spreading links through the web.

Most likely ninety percent of your sales will be e-books, but spend the extra time and money to publish your books in a print format. Don’t miss out on the thrill of actually hold your book in your hands, and you’ll need paperback copies for many professional reviewers and for Goodreads giveaways.

And last, but not least, keep writing. The more good books you publish, the greater your chance of success. Write a saga or a series and publish new books at regular intervals. Keep writing good books and your audience will multiply. Best of luck to you!

         

Here is the blurb for The Poison Priestess, the fourth book in The Silk & Steel Saga, to be published in late Nov 2012:

While Kath and her companions chase the Mordant into the far north, the southern kingdoms erupt in Flames. The Lord Raven marches south, unleashing a holy war against Lanverness. Vastly outnumbered by a ruthless enemy, Queen Liandra spins desperate gambits in a dire struggle to save her kingdom.

New alliances and new awakenings hatch deeper levels of intrigue. The Oracle Priestess and the Lord Raven form a tenuous alliance, while deep in the Southern Mountains the Kiralynn monks stir, revealing more than prophecy.

Armies clash, battles rage, and cities fall, as lives, loves and crowns hang in the balance, but swords are not the only way to wage war. Treachery, deceit, assassins, and the power of seduction will face-off against steadfast courage, forgotten magic, and the power of truth. The Poison Priestess is the fourth book in this epic tale of Light versus Dark.

Karen L Azinger has always loved fantasy fiction, and always hoped that someday she could give back to the genre a little of the joy that reading has always given her. Ten years ago on a hike in the Columbia River Gorge she realized she had enough original ideas to finally write an epic fantasy. She started writing and never stopped. The Steel Queen is her first book, born from that hike in the gorge. Before writing, Karen spent over twenty years as an international business strategist, eventually becoming a vice-president for one of the world's largest natural resource companies. She's worked on developing the first gem-quality diamond mine in Canada 's arctic, on coal seam gas power projects in Australia , and on petroleum projects around the world. Having lived in Australia for eight years she considers it to be her second home. She's also lived in Canada and spent a lot of time in the Canadian arctic. She lives with her husband in Portland Oregon , in a house perched on the edge of the forest. The first four books of The Silk & Steel Saga have already been written and she is hard at work on the fifth and final book.

Pick up the entire series:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=karen+azinger

The Power of Backstory ~ guest post by Karen Azinger

Today, we're happy to welcome fantasy author Karen Azinger to the Speculative Salon. She has an interesting article to share. Be sure to check out her new book release, The Skeleton King. 

The Power of Backstory

By Karen Azinger

Author of The Silk & Steel Saga

Creating great fantasy is equal parts world building and character building. Characters are the true heart of any story. The deeper and more complex the characters, the more soul-catching the story will be. We all love to read about brilliantly strategic queens, dauntless knights, corrupt kings, and scheming princes, for it is the characters who sweep us away on tides of emotion. They make us weep for loves lost, shock us with betrayals, and thrill us when crowns are won or lost, but none of this happens unless the reader truly cares for the characters. So how does an author create characters that are both fascinating and believable? One way is by creating a compelling backstory.

Backstory is essentially the character’s background, but for literary purposes it is far more than just the character’s place of birth, his family status, or his schooling. To create a powerful backstory, a writer needs to give his characters emotional landmarks. It is the triumphs and the scars of life that forge the very soul of the character. These emotional landmarks steer the character’s choices like a relentless compass. They give the character hidden depths and make them believable and intriguing. One of the best examples of a powerful backstory is Professor Snape in Harry Potter. Until Snape’s background is revealed, he is a riddle to the readers, a character who seems to serve both the Light and the Dark. Snape’s abiding love for Lilly explains all his actions, all his difficult choices. Everything makes sense in the light of the reveal.

But creating a great backstory can have its risks. Once a writer constructs a detailed backstory, they often feel compelled to spill the beans and tell everything to the reader. Too much backstory will strangle a book to death, choking the story with meaningless detail and tiresome flashbacks. Backstory should be like an iceberg, with most of it hidden below the surface. It is only when the reader draws close to the character that they look down and see what lurks beneath…the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I’ll tell you a secret about backstory…it’s a secret! Who doesn’t love a good secret? Secrets are delicious story questions. The more secrets your characters have the more they will tantalize your readers. Give your characters lost loves, or thwarted ambitions, unfulfilled dreams, secret fears, or skeletons in their closet. Writing in the fantasy genre provides authors with iridescent dimensions that other genres don’t have. Rare magical talents, secret skills, or royal bloodlines are often hidden in the backstory of fantasy characters. But no matter the genre, backstory provides powerful questions that weave beneath the plot and draw the reader through the story.

In my epic fantasy, The Silk & Steel Saga, you’ll find characters with secret pasts, hidden powers, suppressed loves, shocking bloodlines, and buried crimes. From the brilliant Queen Liandra, to the seductive Priestess, to the cunning Lord Raven, you’ll empathize with the good and pray they prevail but you truly feast on the bad who are utterly compelling. 

By using backstory, authors can crate intriguing, multi-dimensional characters that pull readers into their books and keep them coming back for more. 

The Silk & Steel Saga - Set in a medieval world of forgotten magic, The Silk & Steel Saga is a faced-paced epic fantasy with stunning female leads. Kingdoms and characters come alive as they are woven together through twisting plots that surprise and delight the reader. You'll empathize with the good and pray they prevail but you'll truly feast on the bad who are utterly compelling.

Author Bio - Karen L Azinger has always loved fantasy fiction, and always hoped that someday she could give back to the genre a little of the joy that reading has always given her. Nine years ago on a hike in the Columbia River Gorge she realized she had enough original ideas to finally write an epic fantasy. She started writing and never stopped. The Steel Queen is her first book, born from that hike in the gorge. Before writing, Karen spent over twenty years as an international business strategist, eventually becoming a vice-president for one of the world's largest natural resource companies. She's worked on developing the first gem-quality diamond mine in Canada's arctic, on coal seam gas power projects in Australia, and on petroleum projects around the world. Having lived in Australia for eight years she considers it to be her second home. She's also lived in Canada and spent a lot of time in the Canadian arctic. She has a degree in chemical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and lives with her husband in Portland Oregon in a house perched on the edge of the forest. Having started as an engineer, she then became an international business strategist, and now she is an epic fantasy author and it is a dream come true!

Link to Author website http://www.karenlazinger.com/

Sales link http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=karen+azinger