Blog Archives

An Idea for President Obama to Help the country and Strengthen His Legacy: A Bi-Partisan Commission on the Culture

1/30/2014

Back in the late 90s, President Clinton formed a bi-partisan commission to have a dialogue on race in America. It was called "One America in the 21st. Century: The President's Initiative on Race. It helped to accelerate a conversation that was already taking place and was one of the major catalysts that helped improved race relations in the United States.

That to me, is a major part of Bill Clinton's legacy. As a matter of fact, America's record on race this Century has been one of our major accomplishments. While not perfect, certainly the underlying framework, belief structure, and momentum is firmly in place to where we are truly on our way to becoming One America. I truly believe that in my children's lifetime, race will no longer be an issue that serves to divide. I make that statement based upon the huge positive strides I have seen in my lifetime.

The same cannot be said for our culture. No matter where you stand on the ideological spectrum, I'm fairly certain you agree that our popular culture is not in a very healthy condition. As a matter of fact, our popular culture does not come close to measuring up to the decency of the American people.

That to me is a huge disconnect. On an individual basis, the vast majority of Americans treat each other with respect, empathy, generosity and kindness. Look around at any of our local communities and you'll see people (from all different sides of the political landscape) working together to improve their communities.

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to translate to our overall culture. While the American people are kind and respectful, are culture is rude and coarse. While the American people are generous and caring, our culture is increasingly vulgar and vapid. It is truly a shame and the biggest victims of the coarsened culture will be our children raised in it. That's a fact. No matter how people say it's parents responsibility to raise their children right, the fact of the matter is that culture has a huge, at times seemingly insurmountable, influence on our kids. No matter how much you try to protect your kids, it's impossible if you plan on letting them lead even remotely normal lives.

I'm not going to list all our societal ills because I'm sure you have your own list. What I am going to do is ask President Obama to form a commission, similar to what Bill Clinton did, to address and improve the culture. Even in divided Washington, this is an issue, the degradation of our culture, upon which both sides can find common ground.

This would offer President Obama an opportunity to unite people around an issue. Think about how nice that might be: a big issue upon which the rhetoric is inspiring instead of divisive. And with the advent of social media, the American people can really have a say in the process. I'm really confident that some simple steps can be taken to improve our culture. And if President Obama could be one of the driving forces to make it happen, it would be a great (and doable) accomplishment for his second term.

All Americans want our culture to be the best it can be. We have so much room to make improvements, and there is so much common ground that just having the discussion will be helpful in bringing our divided populace just a little more together.

5 Star Rating for Hallways in the Night from "The Guy Who Reviews Sports Books"

1/27/2014

I'm very proud (and humbled) to announce that Hallways in the Night earned a five out of five star review from "The Guy Who Reviews Sports Book Blog." This is a great book review blog run by Lance Smith, who specializes in reviewing sports books.

Most of Lance's reviews are non-fiction books, and if you are ever seeking some good recommendations on what to read and it pertains to sports, his site is a wonderful place to start. He has a template he uses for each book, which ensures that each review is thorough and also allows for "apples to apples comparison." He gives a star rating, an analysis of the book which some info on the plot and character, as well as his opinion on the pace of the book, whether or not he skimmed it and would he recommend the book.

Lance has a wide range of tastes so you might see a book about tennis, the Negro Baseball leagues, or a Hockey memoir. Definitely a great source for some good sports books.

For anyone who is also on Goodreads, Lance also posts his reviews and book ratings there. He posted his review of Hallways in the Night on Saturday, and it definitely made my weekend. It's always great to get your book reviewed, but to get a 5 Star rating on a novel from someone who specializes in reviewing sports books is even sweeter. What was so great about reading Lance's review was that he picked up on many of the aspects of the book which were my favorite.

Specifically, there is a post-verdict scene that was one of the toughest to write for me. In several earlier drafts of the novel, there was a different ending and this "reveal" was handled differently. Finally, after more thought and struggle than I want to think about, I came up with a scene that handled it in a different way. It's an important scene to the book in many ways, and one that the reviewer specifically identified as one he enjoyed reading.

Here is the actual direct quote that Mr. Smith put in his review:

"However, what really set this legal thriller apart from others I have read for me was that after the verdict was reached, Mackno and the district attorney Maurice Bass got on the same elevator. The conversation that took place there was an even better finale to the story than the verdict. Outstanding story that should be read by all fans of legal thrillers."

That quote really made my weekend because one of my goals in writing a legal thriller was to try and find a scene or event which would have more of an exclamation point after the trial. And, I wanted it to be a bit of a surprise. One of the things I have always enjoyed are books that have a twist or surprise at the end. Because I like them, that's what I tried to do in my own novel. So to see that a reviewer appreciated it, was truly an awesome moment for me.

I'm not going to reprint the full review here, instead, I highly recommend you click through to see the review, and more importantly, see Lance's website. I'm confident that if you bookmark it and spend some time there you will find some great reads recommended by him. Click here to go directly to The Guy Who Reviews Sports Books website.

The Aforementioned Updated Book Description

1/20/2014

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I updated my book description for Hallways in the Night based upon advice from @bookgal through Joel Friedlander's site. Below is the new description. Would love to hear any feedback you have on it and any suggestions on how it might be improved.

When a veteran cop tries to arrest baseball's home run king, one of them will end up on trial and the other will end up dead.

A routine stakeout is almost over when Dave Mackno decides to pursue a speeding Porsche. It’s a decision that will have deadly consequences because the Porsche is being driven by Remo Centrella.

There’s no way Remo is going to let himself get arrested. Not when the woman in his car has a fresh black eye. And not when he's at the tail-end of a steroid cycle that makes him feel invincible.

For Ray Manning, owner of the Atlanta Barons, the timing of the shooting couldn’t be worse. His oil company is on the verge of a financial death spiral, he's running out of cash, and his investment bankers at Cohen, Wolfe are lining up to take full advantage of his situation. He’s in desperate need of the kind of justice that only money can buy.

R.C. O’Leary has written a compelling novel with a fast-paced plot that keeps the pages turning. A legal thriller that features a mix of colorful characters, backroom dealing, and well-written action.

Hallways in the Night starts off strong and never lets up: from the initial confrontation through a courtroom showdown in which the stakes are much too high for anybody to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

All the elements necessary to make it a satisfying and enjoyable read, and plot twists that will keep readers guessing until the very end.

Once begun, it’s hard to put down.

__________________________________________

About

Hallways in the Night is a legal thriller, but it is also much more. It is a novel with plot twists that surprise and will keep you guessing as you read the story. As each character joins the story, the novel widens out and becomes more complex. Each character helps add complexity to the novel because each character is pursuing their own agenda, usually at the expense of others. There's enough money, power, and consequences at stake that each character is impacted by it and it influences not only the choices they make, but also forces them to decide how much of the truth they are willing to tell and how much of the truth must be sacrificed in order to either maintain the life they have or to achieve a life they desire. As a result, two of the most powerful emotions <b> fear </b> and <b> ambition </b> have as much to do, if not more, with the outcome than the actual truth of what happened.

This novel also is a story about race and power. It's a story of how those with power wield it, often with little regards for those who will be negatively impacted by it and how they, themselves are impacted by it.

The novel also shows not only the role that race plays in modern day America, but how race relations have evolved over time and how that evolution affects the lives of those living when it takes place.

In all it's a book that will keep the pages turning. It manages to combine a complex and entertaining plot with an ease of prose that ensure an enjoyable read. By the end, the book wraps up in a way that respects the reader's time and ensures that the book was an enjoyable and satisfying read.

I updated My Book Description based on advice from Penny Sansevieri (@bookgal)

1/19/2014

I started my Sunday morning off by reading a great article by Penny Sansevieri (@bookgal) that was previously guest posted on Joel Friedlanders' site. it was a great read because the article gave me hope that I can get some more attention from Amazon.

Penny is one of publishing's most respected experts for marketing your books and she wrote a great post for Joel Friedlander on his Book Designer Blog. The article by Penny talked about how to get more recognition from Amazon's algorithm.

It's definitely an excellent read that you can find here. Her article discuses Keywords, SEO, categories and book descriptions. She also gives some very good insight on Amazon's algorithm. Some (but not all) of the key pieces of information I learned from her article are:

You need to have at least 500 words in your book description to get picked up by Amazon's search engine. When I looked at mine it was 299. I actually thought it was okay because my word count was about the same as John Grisham's. The difference is John Grisham doesn't need Amazon algorithm to find his books and promote them. Readers ping him enough he'll always get to the top. I do need to get Amazon to notice so I upped my word count.
Keywords: This was again where I was not taking full advantage of the Amazon opportunity. I think when I looked back at it I only had about 4 of the 7 categories. Not very smart on my part. Thankfully Amazon makes it very easy to make changes on the back end so I went in and added keywords to make it to 7.
Subtitle--My subtitle had been blank. I cannot manually change on Createspace so I sent a note to support and if that does not work I plan to go through Author Central. On KDP you can make the change yourself, which I did.
Changes to book description and blog: Google loves blogs that update their content and Penny thinks Amazon's algorithms may too. So it may make sense to tweak my description once in a while.

One other change I made, which I am probably way too proud about is that I figured out how to do some html coding so that my description, esp for the paperback version, should look much better. I did some bold, added paragraph breaks and even did an italics. I'm going to review some book descriptions today, especially from independently published authors, and see how many use html to improve the aesthetics of their descriptions versus those who were making the mistake of just having simple block text.

I'm excited to see how the changes look and I will up post the new description here in a future post. (What? You don't think I was going to post in this same post did you? Not after I learned that Google loves blogs that are frequently updated. The description is over 500 words which is what google likes so I'll show them some love by creating a separate post for them.)

If you want to learn more about Penny, you can find her on her blog http://www.amarketingexpert.com.

Reminder:

Please don't forget, you can sample the first 3 chapters of Hallways in the Night for free via PDF download. Simply navigate to the page and click on the Adobe logo. You can read right away or save to desktop.

Could writers band together to Create a "Super-Author" BRAND?

1/16/2014

Without a doubt, one of the best ways for an author to increase both visibility and sales is to write multiple books. It’s one of the bedrock principles of book selling, an author’s books have a synergistic relationship with each other. They help the author build an audience, reach the critical mass necessary to get noticed and build a brand.

When it comes to publishing, 1 + 1 almost equals more than 2. Sometimes just having a lot of books on the market can be enough to break through the noise and establish a presence.

My question in this blog post is whether it would make sense for multiple authors to publish multiple titles under one common name. To create a “super-author” in a sense.

We all know about the use of pseudonyms by authors and that in the pre-Digital world some authors used fictitious names because they were publishing too quickly (times have certainly changed). I’m sure you’re also familiar with authors who collaborate with each other, and even some like James Patterson and Joe Konrath who are working with co-authors in what resembles a franchising model where they leverage their personal brand and trust other authors to write with their characters. (Probably the type of thing that drove J.D. Salinger into isolation.)

But I’m not aware---correct me if I’m wrong---of multiple authors who have similar styles of writing working together to publish titles under one author/brand name.

While such an arrangement would be bereft with pitfalls-- a ironclad agreement up front would probably be essential—I think that it might both plausible and powerful. Think about if, for example, three writers got together and agreed on the books each would write, they could bring out books at a very fast clip. That would result in them increasing their reach, sales and name recognition far beyond what each of them could do individually.

This concept would likely make more sense for some genres than other. Serial Detective stories, cozies, heck even erotica where it seems like there may have been a slight increase in titles and authors over the past few years. For some kinds of books (Malcolm Gladwell and memoirs are two obvious examples) the synergies would likely be less. But for many book categories, bringing multiple books together under the same umbrella—author name, blog, advertising, social media, etc—could generate some serious economies of scale.

It would likely have a force multiplier effect to the point where one-third of the sales from their writing “brand” name could end up being a lot more than 100% of what each one does by themselves. It’s why 500 hotels called Comfort Inn do better than 500 hotels named after each owner.

As I write this I’m also reminded of the "fist" analogy that Duke’s Coach K likes to use. As he likes to explain, if you try to hit somebody with an individual finger, it’s not going to do much damage. It might even hurt you more than your target. But if you combine your fingers together into a fist, you have a lot better chance to make a powerful impact. It’s an analogy I have always liked and makes sense to me.

To be honest, I have a lot more questions than answers about this idea.

What do you think about writers (especially independents) doing this? Would it make sense for some writers to band together under a common author name in order to make more of an impact? Would the upside be worth it? How much synergy do you think could be had if this hypothetical “super author” was bringing out books every six months?

Do you think somebody might already be doing this? Has this idea already been re-hashed to death? Would it never work?

What about you as a writer? Would you be willing to give up the psychological income and praise in exchange for higher sales? Would this arrangement be unethical or is it capitalism at work creating a business model that might give you a long-term competitive advantage?

Okay, you’re right. Enough with the questions, you get the point: I would love to hear what you think about this concept.

When Marketing Your Book, Remember it's a Marathon

1/14/2014

Don't Get too Focused on How your Start

There’s no doubt that marketing a book and trying to get noticed in an increasingly crowded marketplace is difficult. But as I continue on this journey I’m doing my best to stay confident and optimistic by thinking of marketing my book like a marathon.

As a first-time independent author, I’m starting off in the back of the pack. I don’t have one of the coveted slots up-front that would allow me to start off at a full pace from the front. That’s just a fact. No matter how amped up I am or how prepared I am to run the race, I’m starting as an unknown number in the back.

The Ethiopians and other elite runners, i.e. the established writers with the big houses behind them, are going to have the advantage of being able to start from the front row. They’re going to have instant visibility from the start and the fact is they are starting ahead of me. When the starter’s gun sounds on book publishing day they have the chance to start off at a sprint, while unknown writers like me begin in the middle of a large crowd hoping to just find a little bit of elbow room as we cross the starting line.

While it would be great to have the chance to compete with the elite runners from the word “go,” it’s impossible to break out right at the start of a big marathon if you start in the pack. Anyone who has ever run a big race knows it begins with a slow walk that moves to a faster walk before you even get the chance to pick up the pace, much less even think about hitting your stride.

But the good news is that eventually, over time and during the 26.2 mile course, the field does inevitably break up and you do have a chance to run your pace. That means if you’ve done the training (written a good or great book), stay focused and keep taking stride after stride, you can eventually separate yourself from the pack and achieve your potential in the race. And when that happens, those spectators still watching the race (your readers) get to see exactly how good you are.

And while starting in the back in your first marathon likely means it will be almost impossible to catch up with those who began in the front, you can run a great race and post a strong time. And that is what just might get you the opportunity to start towards the front next time you run. And when that happens, when you have the chance to eventually start up front, then you will have the opportunity to compete with the elite for a potential win.

For writers, this is all good. Thanks to the changes in publishing, marketing a book is no longer a three month sprint. It is now a marathon that gives you plenty of time to separate yourself from the pack and show readers the kind of talent you possess. But it’s not going to happen at the start of your first one. You’re going to start off in the middle or back of the pack, at a pace that will seem excruciatingly slow, but if you don’t quit, you’ll eventually find your reach the open road and get the opportunity to achieve the result you deserve.

Book Promotion Tip: Make sure You Include Information about Your book in Your Email Signature

1/13/2014

This is a very simple and easy tool to use for book promotion. Add information about your book to your email signature. All email programs have the ability to automatically include a signature with email email you send and each reply you send. Here is what I use and I have had several people say they will buy my book after seeing it. And for those who say they will buy but "forget" it's a very subtle reminder each time you have an email contact with them.

Here is what I use and I like the simplicity of it

RC O'Leary
Author of Hallways in the Night
Legal Thriller, Available in print at Amazon
E-book at Amazon, iBooks, Kobo and Nook
When a veteran cop tries to arrest baseball's home run king, one of them ends up on trial and the other ends up dead.
rcoleary.com

I sent this tip to askDavid who added to his book promotion page. He offers 23 very good tips for writers to promote their books.

For those writers with a lot of good friends, you might even be able to ask some of your friends to add your book to their signatures.

Some Very good Book promotion tips from Askdavid.com

1/11/2014

At the bottom of this page on AskDavid.com there is some really good book promotion advice. One additional tip would offer authors is to add your book, where it's available, and a couple of lines about the story to your email signature.

I've added to all my accounts and it has led to some sales. People ask or reference it sometime

what is the Tipping Point when a good Book begins to sell Itself?

1/9/2014

Each day since Hallways in the Night has been published I have been doing some "hand-selling" of the book through a combination of phone calls, emails and some blog posts. I've essentially been trying to reach out to people on an individual basis versus going out with a big blast email. I've also been fortunate enough to get some positive referrals on Facebook.

I'm learning a lot in this process (full blog post on what I've learned in the future) but my question at the moment is how many books need to be sold before a tipping point is reached and a book begins to sell itself. I know the answer if a book is only average---it won't happen. In a world where readers have an almost infinite choice of books, an average book won't ever sell itself. Doesn't mean average books can't sell a lot of copies. They can and will but those sales will be due to fame, platform or huge marketing push. Not the book itself.

What I'm talking about is whether or not there is a number at which a very good or great book will reach the point where it begins to sustain itself. A point where a virtuous cycle can be achieved and the book will begin to replicate itself, eventually accelerating.

My guess, would be 5,000 copies for a book that people that readers think is great. Not a huge number, but not an easy one either. I would be interested to learn what other people think.

An Open Letter/Blog Post to Matthew Quick ("Q")

1/6/2014

Dear Matthew

I happened to notice that serendipity has put us next to each other in the Goodreads giveaway queue. We both have contest expiring on the 8th.

I'm assuming you probably checked out my giveaway and that when you did you probably figured I was the kind of guy who loved Silver Linings Playbook. Let me tell you, you are right. Like you, I went to college in Philly. Started at La Salle and would have stayed there if Speedy Morris hadn't cut me from the basketball team pre-season because, in his words, I was "too slow, can't jump, and don't have what it takes to compete at the Division I level."

I don't fully disagree with his analysis, but I still like to think it was more about bad timing to try and walk on while La Salle was dominating hoops with three players who went to the NBA (Lionel Simmons, Doug Overton, and Randy Woods) not to mention other players like Jack Hurd, Milko Lievert and Mike Stock.

I knew I would never make La Salle so I transferred to Penn where I'm proud to say I became a member of the Quakers' legendary 1989-1990 JV basketball team. And even though I never got to start a game for the Quakers, (political reason--another column) and even though we were forced to wear "hand me down" uniforms from the Varsity team, I did go 8 for 8 in one Friday night contest in front of almost 6 dozen fans. As I explained to my kids, that means their Dad shares the Palestra record for single game shooting percentage. I'm not even sure if Lionel Simmons, John Pinone, or Barry Pierce even shot 100 percent in a game. Not a bad little note to add to the obit one day.

But I digress. I'm reaching out because I think we can generate some synergy here with this contest. Basically my idea (which I think you're going to like) is that if you use your platform to bring attention to our books that are part of Goodreads' giveaway and I will also use my platform to do the same thing and we'll end up with more views. Cross-promotion in action. It's a win-win as far as I'm concerned. I don't see any downside, do you?

And think about it Q, say, hypothetically, the people who tell me they love my book are really being honest. What if it does go big? Ends up being a movie like your books. Think about the awesomeness we'll be able to share in saying that we originally met via a Goodreads giveaway.

You already have one of the most inspiring stories of all time. You are the book world's Rocky. You wrote in your in-laws basement in anonymity just like Rocky ran in anonymity and now---ba-bam! You got Rocky III kind of success. Now you pass it on and give another unknown contender a shot to compete for the title. That's the kind of karma Phil Jackson spends half of 11 Rings talking about. That's like a Zen Master getting his Ph.D.

I'll tell you what Q, the more I think about this scenario the more I like it. I'm going to start off my telling my 11 twitter followers and blog followers about The Good Luck of Right Now and that it's available for a Goodreads Giveaway. And while I do that, maybe you can ask your people to put out the word about my novel Hallways in the Night. It's got a good hook, probably make a good movie, and I gotta believe the book Gods knew what they were doing when they put us next to each other.

I'm already excited about promoting your book. Think about the stories we will one day be able to tell about how we teamed up to help each other with their book release. I'm already excited about your success. I sincerely hope you feel the same way about mine.

All my best,

R.C. O'Leary

<<Previous

19 5 STAR Reviews on Amazon

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD CHAPTERS
1-5 FOR FREE

From Reveiwers: 

"the courtroom scenes crackle....the setting and dialogue sing with pure authenticity." MenReadingBooks.com 

Tampa Tribune:"this legal thriller is certainly hard to put down."

BookStory: "An edge of the seat legal battle. Unputdownable."

From Readers:

"I had a hard time putting it down."

"5 Stars Across the Board!"

"A cross between John Grisham and Tom Wolfe."

"Hard to Believe this is O'Leary's first novel."

"Great action!"

"Loved every minute of it. Great twist that had my jaw dropped"

Author

R.C. O'Leary author of legal thriller Hallways in the Night.

Don't Get too Focused on How your Start

Author

Archives

Categories