AUTHOR TIP OF THE DAY: KEEP SMILING by KATIE O'SULLIVAN

Ahh, summer. The season of book fairs, craft shows, book signings, book festivals… plenty of opportunities to get you and your book out in front of readers of all ages. And what’s the most important thing you need to bring to those book signings? (Besides your well-written book?)

You might have guessed the answer from the title of this article. A positive attitude is the most important thing to remember when you’re interacting with the public for large stretches of time.

Smile, even if your feet hurt and you know the person you’re talking with has no intention of actually buying your book. Keep smiling, even if they’re the fourteenth person in a row telling you how they too would write a book, if only they had the free time.

Smile, nod, and keep chatting.

I just had my first book signing of the summer season, braving an hour and a half of brutal summer traffic and a desperate search for a parking lot with an open spot. I spent three hours hanging out in the bookstore of the pirate museum’s gift shop with my YA mermaid series, SON F A MERMAID and the new sequel, BLOOD OF A MERMAID. (Mermaids and pirates seems a natural fit, right?) (Especially since we don’t have a mermaid museum!)

I chatted with tourists from all over the U.S. about their vacations and what they like to read. I met people from upstate New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Oregon, Michigan and New Jersey, all on Cape Cod vacations, all looking to relax and have fun. Domenic from Oregon will be reading SON OF A MERMAID for his summer reading book report, and that thrills me to no end! Emma from Westchester checked the books out three times before dragging her parents over to the table.

Some bought my books as souvenirs to take home to neighbors and grandkids. Some merely bought my books for their kids as a better alternative to the plastic pirate swords. Some bought books from me because I engaged with their kids and added to their vacation experience – I helped kids figure out how to focus the pirate telescopes, understand what “pieces of eight” meant, and speculated about what the next Rick Riordan cover will look like in his latest series. And no, I don’t personally know Rick Riordan. (Several kids asked me that. Because all authors know each other, I guess.)

No one had heard of my books before they walked into the store. None of my friends or Facebook followers braved the traffic to come visit. I didn’t see a single familiar face until my own kids showed up at the end of the day to catch a ride home.

As an indie author, I don’t have a huge online buzz or following. I can’t sit behind the table and wait for people to “discover” me. I need to get out there and sell my book one at a time, to individual people.

No one wants to chat with you if you look grumpy. Heck, they have to talk to their own grumpy kids or grumpy parents. Who chooses to add more frowns to life?

Many people I chatted with walked away. Which you have to be okay with and – you guessed it – keep smiling. Because without that smile, you won’t sell any books. Several took postcards of the book covers to order online for their ebook readers. But some came back and bought the books.

So if you’re an indie author headed out to sell books this summer – remember to bring along your best smile. It really helps.

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Katie O’Sullivan writes romance and adventure for young adults and the young at heart. Her latest YA book is BLOOD OF A MERMAID, the second in her Mermaids of Cape Cod series that began last summer with SON OF A MERMAID. Follow her on Facebook to catch her at her next book signing – where she’s sure to have a big smile on her face!

The Darker Side of Controlling your Characters, by Katie O’Sullivan

You get to a point when you’re reading a book when you understood all the characters. Who’s the hero, who’s the heroine, who are the bad guys… You’ve got them figured out. Then someone goes and does something you totally didn’t expect. That completely changes your perception of them.

That happens to authors too.

At least, it happens to me.

In the second book in my Mermaids of Cape Cod series, one of the key characters is the sorcerer Zan. He gets a mention in the first book, but all of his scenes were cut from book one during the editing process. Even though he’s part of the inner circle of evil guys trying to overthrow the Atlantic kingdom in Son of a Mermaid, we never actually meet him in the first book.

But we see the deadly consequences of his magick. The tornado that destroys Shea’s home in Oklahoma. The storm that kills Shea’s grandfather and uncle. The poison that makes its way into food at the Solstice banquet. Prince Demyan may have given all those orders, but Zan followed through with their execution.

In Blood of a Mermaid, we meet Zan right from the get-go, with the first chapter in his point of view. We know he’s still in league with the evil prince and signing up for more dirty work. When I started writing Zan, he was pretty one-dimensional. A bad guy.

Originally, Zan was only going to narrate the very first chapter, to give the reader insight into what the bad guys were up to, setting the whole plot into motion. But as I was writing subsequent chapters, Zan’s voice kept popping up, asking me – begging me – to let him tell the scene from his perspective.

I decided to let him have a voice. And he surprised me!

Something happened to him when he went to kidnap Kae. Giving him one of the point-of-view voices let him show me what was going on inside of his head, and gave voice to his inner doubts.

Bad guys aren’t supposed to have doubts. But Zan did. He wanted to be better, to be worthy of a mermaid like Kae.

By the end of the book, he’d redeemed himself in my eyes. Even though he was originally going to die – yes, really, I planned to kill him off – I didn’t want to punish him at all. He’d done terrible things under orders from Prince Demyan, but I convinced Shea to let him off the hook… except a full pardon didn’t sit well with beta readers or with my editor.

Evil deeds demand consequences.

Zan’s character at the end of the book is not who I thought he was going to be. I gave up trying to control him and I like the way he grew up.

What do you think of characters who change and grow into something different? Or do you prefer to read characters who are black and white, with no grey wiggle-room for redemption?

 

About the Book: 

Mermaid blood.

When Shea MacNamara fell into the ocean for the first time, he found he could breathe underwater. The son of a mermaid, the sea is in his blood. Literally. The best part of Shea’s new life? His girlfriend Kae, who also happens to be a beautiful mermaid.

But darkness lurks under the sea. When evil mermen kidnap Kae, the king reminds Shea that having royal blood means making tough choices. 

 

An Arctic dungeon, a fiery plane crash, the legendary halls of Atlantis…and narwhals? 

Having mermaid blood just got a lot more complicated.

Grab your copy of Blood of a Mermaid on Amazon today.

Dark Secrets about Critique Groups by Katie O'Sullivan

The first writing group I ever joined was an eclectic mix. A friend dragged me along and I fell in love with the idea of being part of a group of writers, sharing dreams and goals along with our coffee. We met for two hours once a week, bringing pages to read out loud and copies for everyone to follow along and jot feedback.

We spanned genres. Two of the members were writing memoirs, one a cozy mystery, one a women’s fiction. And then there was me. I wanted to write for young adults, but the group discouraged that. I worked on an adult fiction piece that never sold, as well as the psychic ghost story that became my first published novel, UNFOLDING THE SHADOWS.

But any time I tried to start something for teens, the group disapproved. When I brought my first mermaid pages, they listened politely but wrote cutting comments on the papers they returned to me.

They didn’t understand.

Finding the right writing groups or critique partner is like dating. You need to find the right fit, and you should keep trying new ones until you do. You’re getting into a relationship, and it needs to work for everyone involved, so don’t commit before you know it’s right for you.

You might go on a second date with a guy, even if the first one wasn’t so hot. You know, give him a second chance, because anyone can have an off day. But. You wouldn’t make long term plans until you were comfortable that you actually liked him and he liked you. That you wanted the same things, had the same goals.

Same with a critique group.

When my group didn’t want to read about my mermaids, I was a little crushed. I mean, I liked these other writers. Didn’t they like me enough to respect my choices?

My middle child took pity on me and offered to read it. He turned out to be an awesome critique partner, with the added bonus of giving me insight into what a young teen likes to read. Then at a high school reunion, I ran into a guy who’s now a computer programmer and an aspiring novelist. We exchanged emails and manuscript pages, and he made some great suggestions that added action and drama to my storyline, helping me mold my bad guy into something more evil than he was before.

And SON OF A MERMAID sold soon after.

I left my group. Or should I say, we broke up. We clearly didn’t want the same things out of that relationship.

My second young adult mermaid book – BLOOD OF A MERMAID – just released YESTERDAY. And those other writers in the group? 

None of them have published anything.

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About the Author:

Katie O’Sullivan lives next to the Atlantic Ocean, drinking way too much coffee and dreaming of mermaids. Her new release, BLOOD OF A MERMAID, is available now on Kindle with a full release at the end of the month. For more information, visit her website at www.katie-osullivan.com.

 

About the Book:

Mermaid blood.

When Shea MacNamara fell into the ocean for the first time, he found he could breathe underwater. The son of a mermaid, the sea is in his blood. Literally. The best part of Shea’s new life? His girlfriend Kae, who also happens to be a beautiful mermaid.

But darkness lurks under the sea. When evil mermen kidnap Kae, the king reminds Shea that having royal blood means making tough choices. 

An Arctic dungeon, a fiery plane crash, the legendary halls of Atlantis…and narwhals?

Having mermaid blood just got a lot more complicated.
 

Spilling Cover Secrets about SON OF A MERMAID by Katie O'Sullivan

If you’re reading this blog, you already know authors don’t always have control or the final word on their cover art. You write down your ideas and key words, maybe paste a few examples of covers that you like… each publisher has their own methods and forms, but in the end you get what you get. And hope you like what the artist comes up with.

In all honesty, I hated the cover of my second book. Hated. What an awful feeling, to think your own baby is…unattractive.

So when anticipating the artwork for SON OF A MERMAID, I felt anxious. I filled out the form in as much detail as I could manage and crossed my fingers on a daily basis. And waited. And waited.

With my first two books (with other small presses) I had cover art in hand two months before my scheduled release, with plenty of time to order postcards and bookmarks. My release date for SON OF A MERMAID was looming ever closer with no word.

I finally got the email with a proof from my publisher at Crescent Moon Press – and LOVED it. Cover Artist Jeannie Ruesch did a wonderful, imaginative and beautiful job bringing my fantasy world to life.

Okay, so I love the cover. It even won a JABBIC award earlier this year, placing third in the Readers Choice contest. What’s the big secret?

Well, it’s not really a big secret. But it’s a funny story.

When the book was first released, I mentioned in a few interviews that the main character was based on my sons. I have two boys, and my main character Shea MacNamara has elements of both boys mixed into his personality.

Somehow, the rumor started at their high school that the boy on the cover was actually my older son, Sean. That he was the cover model. We didn’t hear these stories, but apparently the whispers spread. Sean…Shea… the names sound similar and it became accepted that he was the book’s hero.

The school swim coach came to one of my book signings and bought copies as gifts for a few of her star swimmers, one of whom had just made the All American team. The girl brought the book to school for my son to sign the cover, next to the photo of his muscles.

He didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or flattered. He came home with this story and we had a good laugh, and I assured him he was much cuter in person. (…and that yes, his muscles were bigger. Sheesh. Boys.)

He’s a senior this year, and headed off to the U.S. Air Force Academy in a few short months, on his journey to become a real life hero.

But he’s still not the boy on my book cover.